One of the major challenges of homeschooling is balancing who does what when and what the others are doing while someone needs my one on one attention. I have to admit, one on one attention is not my best subject. I have a tendency to get drowsy when read to out loud be even the most adorable child. And I also have a tendency to get cranky when I'm trying to work with one and another is hovering wanting me to check Math, or Handwriting, or just listen to something interesting they read, you know how it goes. Kinda like going into the bathroom, suddenly everyone needs to talk to you.
A couple of years ago I saw an advertisement for an online learning site, Time4learning.com This little mouse popped up and squeaked that he was Ed Mouse and it was time for learning, and FUN! I checked the site out, and decided to give it a try. The girls loved it! But the Canadian dollar crashed and we had to give it up. Well, this fall I decided that it just might be exactly what I needed to help me out when I needed something productive for the kids to be doing at one time or another through the day.
Time4learning is the school my youngest especially looks forward to doing. If your kids have enjoyed Starfall.com then you may just love Time4learning. You can choose to pay for it monthly or even with a yearly subscription. We do the monthly fee. I've had to remind my kids that while it's fun it's also part of their school and I do expect them to do it. My oldest thought perhaps it was optional. Mmmm, no.
I love how easy it is for the kids to use. They click the next icon and it opens to the spot where they left off. It's so simple for them to follow. I love how easy it is for mom to use. I open my parent's page and click on the child's name I want to see and I can browse their work for the day, week or month, did I mention it grades it!? Yep. Sweet. I can also click and print a report if I want. Nothing like seeing progress, or seeing the need for review, right?
Some people use Time4learning as a full curriculum. I am using it as a filler and a mom's sanity saver. We read aloud our afternoon school work and enjoy our books together. In the mornings the girls work on their Math, Handwriting and Time4learning. Some days the morning work is all we get to, and because of the content in Time4Learning that is just fine!
My youngest has worked her way through all the science available to her. She's doing 1st Grade work and begging me to adjust her to 2nd grade so she can work on the 3rd grade science!! It's easy for a parent to adjust up or down a level as needed for the subjects and I have taken advantage of that several times. While the youngest has flown through Science she's quite a bit more reluctant to finish the Language Arts, so no moving up to 2nd grade until she's done some more work in Language Arts first. My middle one is a December baby and it's handy to have her working on some 3rd grade work and some 4th grade and neat to see her progress as she makes connections and advances in her skills!
Maybe you have kids who are going to be home this summer and whining "there's nothing to do!" or maybe you would like to help them bridge from one grade to the next. I know sometimes brains seem to go to jelly through the summer. This is a great site and I'm so thankful we found it. If you think you'd like to try it, I'd love for you to give my e-mail as a referal, the people at Time4Learning will reward me at the end of your trial period! ($25! Sweet!) tsadams@sympatico.ca is the e-mail I've linked to our Time4learning experience. And you know my name. ;)
Check it out at time4learning.com
*** Time4Learning has given me the opportunity to review their program and share my experiences. Time4Learning is an online educational program that can be used as a homeschool curriculum or for afterschool enrichment. While I was compensated, the content in this review was not written by Time4Learning. The opinion is entirely my own. ***
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