Schoolhouse Review: Time4Learning Online 8th Grade School

 

 For review, I received a six-month online subscription for my 8th grade son, to Time4Learning.com


   

This online learning is intended for students PreK-8th grade, It costs $19.95 per month per student, and $14.95 for each additional student in the same family. They also now have high school level learning available for $30 a month per student. The level I received was 8th grade.

For an example of what is covered, you can read the Time4Learning 8th Grade Overview here.

Time4Learning is an online program that students use to learn.  It can be used for a supplemental program, or as a complete curriculum.  I chose to use it as a complete curriculum.  It covers:

• Science
• Social Studies
• Language Arts
• Writing (Language Arts Extension)
• Math

It requires an internet connection and a computer or laptop, or other device that allows for Adobe Flash playback interaction.  I used a Dell Inspiron that runs Windows 7.

For my son, however, I prefer to allow him to use his iPad.  I did not see anywhere on their site whether or not there is an iPad version available, but I had my son log on with his iPad using a browser that supports Flash which he already had on his iPad.  He was able to maneuver everything with ease.

The lessons are presented in colorful, fun, video and bright picture formats with interactive questions.  At the end of each presentation are quizzes and tests that are completed online with immediate feedback.

The program has a parent log in and a student log in.  Once the student logs in, he sees the lessons which the parent has set up for him to view.

The first time the parent logs in, there is an easy-to-understand tutorial of how to get started along with parent forums and other helpful information for setting up and monitoring your student.




The parent log in provides options of creating a curriculum plan, progress reports, and additional resources, like creating your own certificates you can print out for your child, like this one:

There are also additional worksheets you can print out, and you can set limits and requirements for the lessons and the games, "playground" area.  I really like the spelling lists that are specific to each grade level.  I was happy to see that there is one for 8th grade.

The parent is able to adjust each subject according to grade level within the range Time4Learning offers.  I really liked this option to rearrange learning levels as needed.

Overall, I really like the program as does my son.  Most of the teaching seemed to be on the proper 8th grade level, offering both review of material my son had already covered as well as some challenging work, with the exception of Science and Social Studies, which were listed as topping out at 6th and 7th grade.  For the most part, this feature would be great for lower level learners, but at the 8th grade level, in order to get a higher level for these subjects, I would need to upgrade to the High School level.  It was still interesting to follow, but I would love for this to be a bit more advanced to put it at the 8th grade level and provide challenging work.

For math, I started out at the 8th grade level, and then requested an upgrade to Algebra.  I received and email immediately saying that my upgrade had been set up, even though it said it could take up to 24 hours to get set up.

Also, the art program looks very exciting, but it keeps saying that it's "coming" or "almost here" even though another announcement says that the art lessons are "0" days away.  When it finally does launch, we are looking forward to using it.

Please read what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew thought of Time4Learning, here, or click on the picture below:

Review of Time 4 Learning

"Really?  This counts as school?"  "It looks like fun!"  "I really like it!"  These are the quotes I heard from my children as they discovered all that the Time4Learning.com teaching site has to offer.

I had the recent privilege of reviewing the teaching website, Time4Learning.com.  I should say, my children had the enjoyment of the review.  I have seen the site advertised, and it looked interesting to me.  However, I did not know how well my children would receive it.  See, we have a history of mom (me) getting extremely excited about curriculum, until I present it to my kids.  Suddenly, my enthusiasm is drained like a flat balloon.  Fully anticipating this could be the case with Time4Learning, as it has been with other curriculum packages we have tried, I presented it to my children.  Here's what happened: 

My 11 year old son is a computer fanatic.  He is very bright (I don't just say this as his mother), his SAT test scores were falling into the post-high school level, in 5th grade.  However, this child absolutely hates using text books to learn.  I knew he would like the idea of the lessons being on the computer, but I was not prepared for his response.  The first day of school, which he dreaded with a passion, I told him to turn on his computer and go to the Time4Learning.com website.  Then, I told him that I wanted him to complete at least one lesson in each subject, set up his home page, and spend some time getting to know the site.  All I wanted in return was his honest opinion.  His reaction? 

"You're kidding!  This counts as school?"

The rest of the school day was a breeze.  He thoroughly enjoyed learning, using Time4Learning as a teaching tool.  He discovered games, interactive teaching, and some reading/instructional segments.

I was curious to see what he thought of the level of teaching.  At first, he described it as mostly review lessons.  However, after a few days of use, he began to say that they are right on par - not too hard, not too easy.

I am definitely considering using Time4Learning as his core curriculum base, for the rest of the year.

My 9 year old daughter -  My oldest daughter loves using workbooks, so I was not surprised when she examined Time4Learning and gave me her response.  She told me that it was really fun, and she enjoyed it a lot.   However, she would prefer to stick with the workbooks for daily learning - using Time4Learning as a supplement, for fun!  She found the first lessons to be review of information she already knew.  As she dove deeper into the lessons, she found them to be challenging.


My Kindergartner - My 4 year old, turns 5 in September.  According to her birthday cutoff, she would not be in Kindergarten until next school year (if she went to public school).  However, she is begging me to teach her how to read, and can already count above 100.  So, I decided to start her in Kindergarten this year.  She loved the games on Time4Learning.  She said, "I think it's going to be really fun!"  As I watched her work through the site, I noticed that it seemed to present the lessons in a preschool manner.  Being a Dora The Explorer fanatic, it reminded us all of how Dora talks - slow, and precise.  It was asking her questions about stripes, etc. which she was working through with ease.

All in all, I found Time4Learning to be a helpful site, which I am considering using for my son.  I think it is definitely a good supplemental learning site, possibly fills in the blanks to form a complete year-long curriculum as well.

I was given one month to check out the site, and then describe what my family thought of it, giving our honest opinion - whether good or bad!  I did not receive payment for this review, other than the 30-day free review trial.  Everything in the above review is 100% my opinion.