MomOfAllTrades
- Reviewed on Sunday, July 18, 2010
- Grades Used: K-8
- Dates used: 2006-current
A TALE OF 3 LEARNERS
Because other children have educational needs that are probably similar to our own children, I want to share the education stories of our three daughters. Our family has used Time4Learning for about four years. We’ve used it as a core curriculum for homeschooling, and in conjunction with and as a supplementary curriculum for online charter school and traditional school grades K-8.
Time4Learning provides an online academic curriculum for students in grades K-8 based on national U.S Education Standards in the areas of Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Students access Time4Learning software online, and progress through the curriculum at their own pace. Time4Learning’s intriguing and entertaining graphical software and interactive program design stimulate curiosity, continued interest, and high-level thinking skills. Students continuously apply meta cognitive skills by being in control of their own learning. The characters and stories provided in the lessons maintain students’ attention by using humor and game-like activities. Many of the activities are open-ended, allowing for additional student-driven creativity and initiative. The curriculum is so effective that very little intervention from a teacher or parent is required. This works great if your home schooling multiple children, because when one child is on T4L, it frees you up to spend one-on-one time with another child. If needed, printable resources are available for students to use on their own for additional practice, or for parents or teachers to use in providing additional instruction.
Our youngest daughter has suffered from health conditions that have limited her ability to participate in the traditional learning process. Additionally, four years ago I witnessed her kindergarten teacher shake and yell at one of her classmates. We decided to home school for the remainder of kindergarten. We used Time4Learning as her core curriculum, and it was the best educational experience of her life. We had so much fun! She loved learning! However, the next year she returned to the local school for 1st grade, and her learning failed to progress. So, for 2nd and 3rd grade, she was enrolled in an online charter school and used Time4Learning again in tandem with the charter school curriculum. With Time4Learing, she was able to work at a variety of levels in different subjects, which helped her continue to progress ahead as she was ready in one subject and be able to take more time to learn in a different subject. For example, she could work at the first grade level in math, and at the kindergarten level in reading. Sometimes I wished that there were more practice activities or worksheets available for her, and that the quizzes would vary the questions more, because she needed lots of extra practice. I was able to supplement with a variety of other materials. When she began 2nd grade two years ago, she tested one grade level behind her peers. Now, at the end of 3rd grade, she has caught up and is testing at her current grade level in all subjects, showing promise of excelling in math in the near future.
Our middle daughter is cognitively gifted, and has cruised through the Time4Learning lessons, moving ahead of her peers in all subjects. She completed 5th grade this past year enrolled in an online state charter school, using Time4Learning in tandem with her online school curriculum. Since she has been able to work at her own pace, she has had more time to pursue diverse interests such as competitive gymnastics, foreign language, electronics projects, and creative writing. At the end of the school year she took nationally standardized tests and she was ranked in the 99th percentile nationally in math and in the 95th percentile nationally in language arts.
Our eldest daughter will be in 9th grade this fall and she has dyslexia. When she was in 5th grade, she was placed with the lowest achieving students and left out of the advanced academic track at her school. The school did not provide parent notification of our daughter’s placement decisions. The next year, in 6th grade, we found out about her low placement, and she began to use Time4Learning at home as a supplement to her traditional schoolwork. She eventually tested into the highest level of advanced courses available at her school. This past year, she competed a stellar 8th grade year in a traditional school setting, earning A+’s on her final report card. She took Advanced Math, Advanced Language Arts, Advanced Science, and Advanced Social Studies, including a 9th grade accelerated algebra course for which she earned high school credit. The only course out of all of her classes that she didn’t earn an A+ in was Advanced Language Arts because she has dyslexia. Even though she has dyslexia, she still earned a B+ in Advanced Language Arts.
In addition to schooling our own children, my professional teaching experience includes about 5 years of part-time classroom teaching experience in grades K-college. I have a Masters Degree in Education, and I am a certified teacher in our state.
***Time4Learning has been a godsend to our family***
We don’t have the time or finances to plan curriculums for all of our children, and Time4Learning has provided an enjoyable, enriching, motivating and confidence-building platform for our daughters. Our daughters would not have been able to achieve their academic successes without T4L. And, without T4L, I probably would not have been able to maintain some semblance of sanity while homeschooling. It’s my hope that our stories will help other parents take positive steps to provide for their children’s educational needs, and possibly try Time4Learning as part of their children’s foundation for learning.
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