Friday, April 20, 2012

Time4Learning -- 30 Day Review

Thirty days already?  Time flies when you're learning!

Our free (for a review) thirty days with Time4Learning came to an end, and my biggest regret is not using the program more.  My reason for signing up was to find something completely different for math for DS9 who was frustrated beyond reason (no one learns when frustrated beyond reason!) with long division in Math-U-See Delta.  So, was it a good fit?  Yes and no, of course.

T4L did serve its purpose for me.  Most school days DS9 would pick a math concept and work through it.  On the days I sat with him and engaged him in discussion on the topic he seemed to learn quite a bit.  On the days I left him to his own learning he could tell me little if anything about what he'd covered.  Which just goes to show the ageless mathematical truth: Teacher > Curriculum!


Things I liked (primarily from math):
Easy log in.
Graphics/Animation very nicely done.
Right/Wrong completion "pie graph" very clear.
Large variety of topics.
Can pick up or down a grade level.

Things I feel the need to nitpick about (again, from math):
Right/Wrong answer animation took too long.
"Exploration" section didn't appear to offer guidance/answers.
Examples not always broad enough range (all triangles shown were equilateral, for example)


Things I cannot comment on because I never explored:
Teacher/Student score page

So...are we going to continue? No, not at this time.  I had signed all three boys (12, 9, 6) up and I don't think DS12 ever logged in, DS6 probably 2 times, and DS9 only for math...although he did one Social Studies (Vikings) and maybe one Science (Weather?).

And why the lack of eagerness for such a fun game-like learning environment?  Because here, computers are for games.  Currently, as it always comes back to, that is World of Warcraft.  I don't want to add computer time for school (my domain), nor do I want to say their computer time must be split between gaming (Dad's domain) and learning.  That would create a lot of negativity.

However, if such computer time issues are not a factor in your house, Time4Learning could be a great fit.  Check out these links:
http://www.Time4Learning.com - Online interactive curriculum for home use, PreK-8th Grade.
http://www.Time4Writing.com - Online writing tutorials for high, middle, and elementary school students.
http://www.Time4Learning.net - A forum to chat with parents online about kids, education, parenting and more.

Disclosure: The opinions in this review are entirely my own.  I was compensated with 30 days use of Time4Learning.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Sorry to hear your kids didn't try out all T4L has to offer. I understand your situation with computer time with Dad and computer time for learning. I bet they would have enjoyed playing the games at the playground. :)

Best wishes!

Jackie

Homeschooling6 said...

We use T4L occasionally. It helps when we have those seasons of being overwhelmed or just need a break from regular school. My children have enjoyed the math, phonics and grammar.