Time4Learning Review

As a homeschooling parent since 1986, I've seen a lot of changes in what is available to us as home educators.  It used to be somewhat limited to the biggies - you know - Abeka, Bob Jones, etc. - and a few radical (at the time) ideas like our first curriculum - KONOS!  Now the selections available to us seem almost endless!  This change is great for really honing in on what will work with a particular child, but sorting it all out can seem overwhelming.

Our family situation has also seen a lot of changes in the past (nearly thirty) years since we began our homeschooling journey.  The young elementary children and babies of those days have grown up and now have children of their own.  Our present day home has children ages twelve, eleven, eight and seven.  The three youngest of this group were recently adopted from China, so we have language skills to catch up on before we can really even begin to study academics seriously.  Our curriculum obviously has to change along with the needs of our family. So,  I took advantage of an offer to try a free month of  Time4Learning  in exchange for an honest review.

Our twelve year old is very bright, but math has been a challenge for her the last couple of years.  I confess that her math was a primary motivator for us to try out Time4Learning.  There are glitzier options, but Time4Learning is very functional, and according to her, FUN!  I will note that concurrent with this curriculum, we tested some other online options as well.  In all fairness to Time4Learning, whom we tested with the promise of this review, the others are not mentioned here by name.  I will be happy to provide the names if you wish to contact me privately.

So, what did we find?  First things first.  In my viewpoint if the customer service is bad, the experience will likely be equally bad.  I had occasion to contact customer service at Time4Learning both via the telephone and via email and got a quick and speedy resolution using both methods.  Score!

You can specify different grades for different subjects for each child.  For instance, I specified a fifth grade math and an eighth grade language arts for our twelve year old.  A student has access to one grade above and one grade below the grade level you specify at set up.   What happens if you need to tweak it more, as was my case with our emerging English learners?  There is a link to make this request.  In every instance it was the following day that the change was made by their personnel.

One of the best features in my opinion, and one that can potentially save a LOT of time is the Parent Admin area.

Beginning your school year?  Pick your subjects and the grade level for each.  Specify the start date of your school year and the ending date then hit generate.  The lessons will be automatically divided throughout that many weeks for you.  I haven't discovered yet how one specifies planned days off or holiday breaks.  These generated plans can be saved in pdf format or in excel.  Goodbye hours and hours with the lesson plan book!

Need to have specific plans to turn in to your superintendent to fulfill the state law requirements where you live?   The Scope and Sequence area shows you what is included in the courses you've chosen for your student. These are a ready source for specifying those beginning of the year reports to your district.

While one of the online services we tried sent a weekly progress report straight to my email (nice!) with Time4Learning you have to view the reports through the Parent Admin area.  The reports there are very thorough, however, and at any time you can click on the actual lesson or quiz/test to see what your student was taught and the answers they gave.

After your student has used the curriculum you can view a Student Portfolio giving you access to printable reports by

• Attendance - including the day's tally of how many minutes the student was engaged in their studies
• Duration - the time spent per subject
• Student Scores - by subject

You can even print personalized student reward certificates!

As I mentioned, we tried out different online sources to see what might be a good fit for our family.  In my opinion, the major difference between Time4Learning and the others we looked at is in its set up.  Time4Learning seems to present an actual curriculum WITH LESSONS TAUGHT.  The others we looked at weren't as clear cut.  The activities/worksheets were presented, but not the teaching material with them.  There were usually videos to help them learn the material, but it wasn't as obvious.

In Time4Learning the lessons are more self-contained.  The ones that I previewed offered an interactive video.  The material was explained and then I was given the option of moving forward or asking them to repeat the material again.  The quiz/tests were relevant to the lesson just presented.

Another difference I see with Time4Learning is that it goes through high school.  The others we looked at stopped either at the early elementary years or at best through the eighth grade.

And still another difference is that Time4Learning provides that spectacular Parent Admin section provided with the low monthly fee for the student.  Another website we tested charged extra for the parent features.

You can also "go on vacation."  In other words if you decide to take a month off, set your account to dormant (site says $4 per month to maintain your records) and come back to it at a later time.

Suggestions for improvement:  I would love to be able to tweak my student's grade level (more than the one grade above or one grade below) without having to submit a request for the admin to do it.  This option was available in one of the other sites we tested, and another of our children will be using that one for some subjects in the upcoming year.  That wasn't the deciding factor for us, but in this instance it went into the consideration process.

As a believer in the literal days of creation as read in the Bible, I have to disagree with their Life Science unit on the "Evidence for Evolution,"  and also with the presentation of "Absolute and Relative Dating" in the Earth Sciences unit.  Since such a large segment of home educators are made up of Christian families, it would be awesome if they could offer a creation track to the sciences.  I do, however, appreciate that I am able to preview the content and be prepared to address it with my children if we decide to use their materials for these subjects.  If you, my reader, are of a similar mind be ever watchful and preview the content (in all areas) being mindful that it is not from our worldview.

So did Time4Learning convince me?  Well, yes and no.  I really liked the parent features A LOT!  The low monthly fee works with our budget and actually ends up costing (for access to ALL of the subject areas for one child) about as much as we usually spent on Tikvah's math curriculum alone.  It is low enough that we will pick and choose the subjects we want to do online and still do some things the "traditional" book route. 

Time4Learning does seem to be a good fit (at least in a few areas) for our twelve-year-old so I plan to provide access to the website for the coming school year.  It was not a good fit at this time for our three children recently home from China.  But that is one of the beauties of homeschooling, isn't it?  We can tailor each child's education according to what works best for them as individuals.

Fast Friends!

These two are great friends!  Tikvah begged and begged us for a little sister.  Who knew it would be the brother who would be her closest sibling?  Here they are walking the bike trail and discussing - what else?- the next Hobbit movie and how they (and the older siblings) will dress up to go see it.

Swinging Royalty!

Having a swinging good time in the back yard!

Our Ramp - painted, trimmed and complete!

I just realized that a couple of months ago I'd updated you about the ramp being completed, and some landscaping going back into the area, but I never showed it as finished.  Since adding the ramp extended the planting area a few feet further into the yard, I ended up having to move all the hostas to the backyard.  They were getting scorched in front.  So, no WOW plants, but after painting and adding trim the ramp looks great!    Isaac zooms right up in his chair, and Jen has a much easier time getting her walker into the house.  Come on up!

Looking down the ramp onto the porch from the front door.

Looking up the ramp from the porch swing towards the front door.

So thankful to the crew who volunteered their time and made this happen!

Jenisms

Our middle girl has been amusing today.  This morning began with some funny Jenisms!  It started at breakfast.  We've been teaching the girls how to make requests politely. You know... "May I...... please?" So this morning Jen asked, "May I have more cereal?"

And I replied, "What do you say?" 

Her answer - "Yeah!" Guess I need to work a little more on the please thing....

 BUT, she is catching on to something I'm telling her, even if she isn't actually doing it.  Jen frequently grasps the front bar on her walker which of course causes it to fall over. This morning as she crashed onto the floor again, and I looked to see if she was ok she said, "Hold the handles." Sigh.

Jennifer has been our child that was the most affected by institutional care.  While the other two royalty had the benefit of spending some time with a foster family, Jen never did.  Seven years of being basically invisible (as near as I can tell she wasn't special to anyone) left her with little trust in people, and really having no idea of how to function in a family.  She also doesn't know how to cope with changes in her schedule or routine.

Another BIG problem has been receiving medical care.  She has been so terrified that even seeing a sign to any of the doctor offices we go to has often resulted in screaming and big crocodile tears.  She has told me on numerous occasions, "Doctor hurt me."  There was some kind of bad experience in her past, for sure.

Jen has made great strides as she has begun to trust us.  After delaying some appointments and tests for several months to give her the time she needed to adjust, we are at last able to go to a doctor without her going into a panic.  Yesterday she had a renal scan (kidneys) and did SUPER!  I'm a huge believer in reinforcing and rewarding good behavior, so she  got to choose what we had for lunch. She chose a hamburger and fries in case you are curious, and also got a chocolate Frosty.  We followed this kid approved lunch with an afternoon at the park.  Yay for progress!

Meeting Isaac's Foster Family!

Thursday evening had to have been one of the highlights in this entire adoption adventure.  Our Prince had the unique situation of being fostered by a Canadian family who works in China.  They returned to their home country a couple of weeks ago, and are currently traveling a bit.  We heard from them early this week that they were within a couple hours of our home, and would be able to stop for a visit.  What an amazing thing it was to spend time with the family who was such a big part of Isaac's story!

After a simple dinner they all checked out Isaac's new bike.  Most of them even took it out for a spin!

Back inside the kids decided to go play on the Wii while the adults visited, then we all ended up in the back yard making everyone's favorite - s'mores.

I didn't say a whole lot on my blog about the meeting of and those first couple of days with Isaac. While I can't begin to equate my experience with that of Mary, I do believe that there are some instances where a mother can only ponder.  I still don't have adequate words to express it.

Meeting the foster family was another one of those experiences where my words just can't do justice to how special this night was to me.  How perfect their family was for our boy astounds me, and lining up their behind-the-scenes story with ours that was occurring at the same time is amazing.  That our two families were destined to be a part of this boy's story is so obvious (now).  I am forever in their debt for their loving on our boy!

A Miraculous Find at Goodwill!

I stop in at the local Goodwill store every now and then if I happen to drive by it and have a  few extra minutes.  This happens perhaps (at most) once a month.  Earlier this week I returned some library books and took the "back way" home which took me by the store.  So I wandered in to see what I could see.  The first thing I saw was a big sign that said "50% off on everything".  The next thing I saw was an odd looking wheelchair parked near the sign.

I took a few steps, then suddenly stopped.  What WAS that?  I went back to the odd looking wheelchair and inspected it further.  It had a long section with a third wheel and lots of gears and things.  Hmmmmmm.... very interesting.  I checked the sign again.  Sure enough it said that everything was 50% off.

I quickly walked the rest of the store just in case something else jumped out at me then got out of there in record time.  When I arrived home I told my husband about what I had just seen, and asked him to quick go back and look at it.  I told him the price that I *thought* I saw listed on the thing.

Ethan arrived back home just as I was getting dinner on the table, so I quick stepped out to ask what he thought about this unusual wheelchair thingy.  The first thing he told me was, "You missed a zero on the price."  Oh dear.  That kind of makes a difference.  I commented back, "Well, that still isn't awful, perhaps we should get it anyway."  What I didn't realize was that he was a step ahead of me and had already researched these unusual wheelchairs and knew their (very hefty) pricetag.  He said, "It was actually a VERY good deal and I bought it!"

So then we had to get through dinner with me so excited I could hardly swallow.  As soon as we were finished eating we told Isaac he should go outside to see a surprise.  Now our boy's English is coming along nicely, but that was one word he didn't seem to know.  After explaining the word surprise we got him out of the house and onto the porch where he saw this...

It has hand pedals and brakes.

After we explained how to use it we got out the bike helmets.  Our Prince did not like the helmet, and that is one of the few complaints we have heard from him since he's been home!  Still, like it or not, this family wears helmets when we bike. (NOTE: As I say that I have to giggle to myself, because generally this family also wears SHOES when we bike.  I TOLD you I was excited!  I see photographic evidence that I neglected to tell him he should put his shoes on!)

Our Prince is quite athletic and I've been praying for something he can do to satisfy that "need for speed" in him.  In fact one of the first things he asked was, "Maybe I can race?"  LOL!  I cannot express how excited I was to see Isaac out biking with his sister!  One thing our family has loved to do in the not so distant past is bike on the trails close to our home.  We recently got notice that it is nearly Jen's turn for a modified tricycle sponsored by a local group (very similar to the bike she rides while at therapy - see a few posts back).  So I'm looking forward to lots of fun family times biking this summer!