Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Time 4 Learning Review

Last year I decided to pull my son out of middle school.   For years we have been trying to work with the schools with IEP's and special education classes to no avail.  He has been struggling in school since 3rd grade and just has had no interest in performing at school.  I had fought with the teachers and principle at his elementary school and decided to pull him out of public to put him in private school.  Though I really liked the private school, 2 teachers for 15 kids in 6th grade, it just wasn't working.  My son could not concentrate or stay interested enough to work in school.  He had made improvements from 20% activity ( basically writing his name on his paper) to 60%.  That still means an F.  Taking him out of school in March I needed to find a curriculum that would be interesting for him and allow for other activities through out the day.  I had planned on some neurological training and exercising to increase his focus and concentration.  Other programs just did not suit my son.  Other online programs were sitting in front of the computer and being instructed for hours. This was no different than school.  He needed something more interesting. 

Time4learning.com was suggested to us by our Brain development specialist. It is a school cirriculm that is online.  Similar to other online options, it had more flexibility for our schedule and was not as dry as others.   I was happy with the low monthly fee and that we did not need to sign up for any length of time.  I signed up quickly and my son started the lessons. 

Last school year was his 6th grade year.  He enjoyed going on his online learning sessions.  He stayed interested and was able to go through several lessons and come back later in the day to do more.  It was motivating for him to complete lessons for the game time after.  It has not been a challenge to get him to start his lessons each day. 

This year we started 7th grade and updated his lessons.  The lessons are very interesting and interactive.  As he goes through the lessons that offer reading through the colorful lessons, allow him time to read each multiple choice and choose and each character than commentate on the answers.  The voices are fun to listen to and keeps his attention.  I see that hearing and being able to read through each lesson makes a difference for my sons attention and focus.  I do supplement the lessons with work books and other lessons, but do feel that Time4 Learning does offer much of the curriculum that he needs for this year. 

Math and science are areas my son has struggled in.  The schools have kept them dry and uninteresting.  With Time4 learning he does stay more interested in Math and science but the science stops at 6th grade.  My son does wish they were more interactive with animation.  The  math does not seem to be challenging enough as of yet.  It keeps his attention and does help him catch up from all that he has missed in the past years of school.  It seems to be right were he needs it to be.

Overall, I am happy with the curriculum it offers and how it keeps my son interested in doing his lessons.  It also prepares him to complete other assignments I have prepared to supplement the online lessons.  We are planning on using it for this year. 

Time4learning goes through pre K to 7th grade. 

Tricia


















As a member of Time4Learning, I have been given the opportunity to review their program and share my experiences. While I was compensated, this review was not written or edited by Time4Learning and my opinion is entirely my own. For more information, check out their standards-based curriculum or learn how to write your own curriculum review.

2 comments:

  1. I'm so glad that you are finding something that is working! Yay!

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  2. That sounds great. I am glad to hear that Payton likes it. Too bad it only goes for one more year for him though. Hopefully you will be able to find something else that works after that.

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