Time4learning review

Well here we go! Review time!! Okay so I am a bit excited about this review. I was asked to try out this program for 30 day’s in return for an honest review. This will be a very honest review in my own words. Time4learning did not have any input on my review at all. Now that being said lets get down to the review.

Well first off I was very excited to get this program started. Because we only had one computer at the time of starting I was able to sit thru all the first lessons. which was great for the fact I was able to see what the program was really like. Well to say the least we had fun with it. Well all of us except for Croix. I think it was a bit babyish for him. But that is not the programs fault at all. It is more our family that does not do the silly songs and things like that with our kiddos so I think that that is why he thinks it is a bit babyish. I did switch his grade level to 1st grade but I had to switch it back because it was just too challenging for him after he did it for a couple of weeks. So what I ended up doing was skipping half of the Kindergarten program and now. He still does not like the fact that the lessons have so many songs but he is learning and that is the important part.

Will had enjoyed the program from the beginning. I have caught him cracking up during the lessons. He is also enjoying the science and social studies program that they have for his grade level (3rd grade). Some of the grades have a social studies and Science program and some do not but luckily for him he had it on his so we are doing the his whole school day by using T4L. The extras that he does is reading for 30-45 minutes after and our Bible studies. I just love the Language arts program on T4L. It is put together a way that it is easy for him to “get it”. The same goes for the math program. Those are the 2 main programs that they have for T4L the science and social studies is just a bonus. It took me a couple of weeks to relize that there were worksheets that could be printed off for some of the lessons but once I figured that out I was pretty happy. I was having a hard time having the boys only d stuff on the computer. I am a firm believer that kids need to learn to write well.

For Vinny he has been doing Switched on Schoolhouse this year so he didn’t have any interest in trying out this program at all. So I asked him to give it a try and he loved it! He did not go back to SOS, He has had a lot of fun. I had never seen him laugh and be excited to get started on his Language arts. He has hated Language Arts and now is enjoying it and understanding. Math he has struggled with for a long time. T4L it seems to give him that extra help. It repeats lessons in different ways so they are not bored with them . He really needs this. I do see improvement with his math. I am now working with him to be able to do math independently. He does not have much confidence in himself when it comes to math so if I even just sit next to him while he is doing his lesson and I don’t say a word he is able to get thru the lesson with no problems. For the Science and Social studies program for him he is using T4L also. It is pretty cool. He has done 2 experiments for science, so t T4L does us a hands on approach for this.

He had to learn Greek numbers this was very cool.

So the program itself is pretty easy to work with once you dive in and play around with it. I was frustrated at first because it was not very self guiding. I watched every video on there and I looked thru so many T4L reviews and now I am getting it. As I said before it took me a while t figure out there were worksheets for a lot of the lessons. I am sure I will still be finding out things the more we us it.

One of the things I do not like about the program is that it is a secular learning tool. That was just a more of an opportunity for me and Vince to step up our home bible learning as a family. So I guess in a long run it has been a blessing for our family to use this as a tool for our family to spend more quality time together learning about our Lord.

I love the grading system with T4L. I can print it off or just leave them on the website. One thing that we do is there is an area for the kids when they finish their lesson and they can click on this icon that looks like a backpack and they can see what their score was. They do this and then if they get anything under an 80% they know they have to redo it. They were not happy at first when I told them this but I explained to them that they had to do this before also. What they missed on a worksheet they had to fix. We also explained to them that the point of school is to learn and not to just finish the lesson. We want them to understand the lesson not just pass it by.

Pricing is pretty low for someone who is just doing 1 or 2 kids but when you add 3 it does seem like a big chuck. So for a family on a strict budget here this was a big decision. We did sign up and are going to keep using T4L right now. We will use it as long as I need to. I will probably go back to an eclectic style of learning one day but as for right now with the baby coming soon this is an answer to my prayers. I may keep 1 or 2 of them on T4L for a couple of years but for Vinny when he finishes this 2013-2014 school year he will be going back to Switched on Schoolhouse then he will be off to high school after that. As for Will and Croix maybe be I will keep them on the program for a few more years I just don’t know. One thing I love about T4L is that you can pause your account at anytime. So when I have this little one I will pause it for a few weeks and get right back into it. I am sure I could just let them keep going with it which we may try but I have the option to do so. Also when Summer hit we can pause it for the weeks we take off and get back to work when we are ready.

You do need an internet connection at all time for T4L. That is a pro and a con all at the same time. I like the fact I didn’t have to take up all that room on my computer to download a program so that was nice but them we cant do school on the road if we want to. I have taken the computer out to let Vinny work on his school when we go somewhere in the car so he does not get behind when we used SOS. Also our internet provider is not always the best so when if it ever goes out again for more then a day at a time I will have to just take the kiddos to the library to use their Wi-Fi.

All in all I am going to say that this program is a great program! They have a 2 week money back trial offer. So you can try it and see if you like it or not.

Well I hope that you enjoyed this review. I know I enjoyed the last 30 days of using this program. I am excited to see how this program will work for us in the long run.

God Bless,

Jen