Time4Learning Review -TOS Crew #hsreviews

Recently as a member of the TOS Crew Review Team we received a 6 month subscription for free to Time4Learning to review.  We have been using it with our oldest who is in 2nd grade.  She is 8.  They offer learning programs for preschool through high school as well so really any student could learn from this site and use it.

Time4Learning covers the five main subjects so really it is an entire curriculum in and of itself.  You can use it without having to use another curriculum.  We, however, do still like to include Bible as a subject and you don't find that on here.  You do have access to math, science, social studies, language arts, and LA extensions.

This online program is student focused so it moves at the pace that the student sets.  There are no deadlines or strict standards for how fast a child has to complete the course or how many lessons must be done per week.  It's a really simple program that requires very little adult supervision.  All I had to do was be available if she didn't understand something or needed help with a word she didn't know.  During the very beginning there were some issues with the fact that she isn't extremely comfortable with the computer yet as we haven't done a lot online.  That just gets better the more she uses it and she now is pretty much a pro with clicking and doing her lessons.

The cost  really isn't too bad.  For the preschool through 8th grade courses it is $19.95 for the first student each month and $14.95 for each additional student per month.   High school coursework is a bit more at $30.00 for the month which includes four courses.  My children are far from being close to starting high school so I really didn't dig too deep into that one.  We used the 2nd grade course as we have two children in that grade.  All my others are younger than that.

Our favorite subject was math.  I say was because I think the course we used last year for math must have been an advanced first grade course as we knew most of the second grade lessons already and she was able to breeze right through them.  That most likely is why it's her favorite subject!  It's done!

Next was science.  Oh my but she loved the Earth and Space section.  We hadn't covered that at all in our school yet and she just loved learning about the planets and moon.  This was one of those where she'd get done a lesson for the day and need to move on to her other subjects and try to tell me she hadn't done her science yet so she could do another lesson.  I would be giggling in my head because I LOVE that my kids love to learn so much.  It's a great feeling to know that your child is engaged and interested enough in a subject to want to keep learning even after they're supposed to be done for the day.

Our least favorite subject was reading.  She tends  to struggle with reading still.  This program is very good for struggling readers as it does let them move at their own pace.  The "reading" or language arts  is divided into two sections.  You have language arts and language arts extensions.  In the extensions you have 22 chapters that help children work on their vocabulary and building their vocabulary as well as work on learning to write short sentences using proper grammar and punctuation.

Social studies was a good one too as it really seemed to work into what we're doing in school as well.  It took her on "virtual tours" really and let her see more of what our monuments and such are like.  It went perfectly with the section we were doing on states as well.  She liked this and we often brought things out of what she learned on the computer into our school discussions with the rest of the kids.

You can learn more about the entire second grade coursework by visiting this page on Time4Learning which gives you an overview.  I've tried to highlight some of the specifics that we liked about the program.  The only thing to dislike is that it is all on the computer and there are no hands on books.  It also requires a computer of course which some families may not have.  Our problem would be if we used it with more than one student that we only have one computer and it would not work very well with that set up.

All in all we loved this and recommend to others.  Main things, you need a computer and your child needs to have special time set aside to use it.  Make sure you're available to help with questions especially for the younger grades.

As members of the Crew Review Team we all reviewed Time4Learning but different grades and levels.  Crew reviewers can tell you about preschool through 8th grade as we did not review the High School levels though they are available now.  Make sure to hop on over to the Main Crew Blog and read all the Crew Reviews!

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Reading Kingdom Online Reading Course Review -TOS #hsreviews

Reading Kingdom is an online reading course available for use in schools or at home to help teach children to read and help them learn to read better.  It is designed for children ages 4-10 or grades preschool through third grade as well as struggling readers who would read at one of these levels.  In our home it has been used primarily by our oldest who is 8 years old and in 2nd grade this fall.  As part of the review we received a full year subscription for up to three children in our house.  The other two who I've decided get to use Reading Kingdom are in 1st grade this fall ages 8 and 7.

This program teaches reading and writing including working on sequencing, motor skills, sounds, meaning, grammar, and comprehension.  The thing that sets this program apart from other online programs is that it is customized for each child, individually.  The customization and how it allows the child to work on something until they master it are my favorite things of the program.  Oh and that the computer has more patience than me! Somedays I'd just say okay we're done for the day even though they hadn't grasped the concept because I didn't want to lose  my patience with my children.  The computer never does that!

Created by Dr. Marion Blank, this program is affordable.  You can sign up for a 30 day free trial, and after that it is only $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year for the first child with each child after costing an additional $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year.  Though not required, you can purchase other materials to use with the program on their site as well.  These include Early Reader story books, Story Smarts for Reading Comprehension, handwriting help, phonics help, the Reading Remedy book by Dr. Blank, and Steps to Stories for children on the Autism spectrum.

There are also several free online resources that you can take advantage of.  You will find extra worksheets and sample pages as well as activities, apps, books, games, and learning tips.  This is an intensive program which requires your child to work at their own pace but to do so on a regular basis.  It is recommended that they work on this daily for 4-5 days a week so that they can continue to progress.  Reading Kingdom also helps parents as well as students by providing progress reports including strengths and weaknesses.  This shows their improvement through the course.  Your child, through the individualization, will receive extra help in areas that they were weaker in while not having to repeat and work on areas that they are strong in.  They give an example of skipping over words that your child can already read and spell so as not to bore the child.

 

The "struggling" reader in our house is an 8 year old girl who is slowly working her way along her academic route.  She has a few things limiting her growth and has trouble comprehending and learning at times.  This made me think that the program would be wonderful for her and really help her to grasp and hopefully progress faster.  We have not used a lot of online resources for her but had been going the paper and pencil route. So, this was her first computer program.  She was very excited to get started and get to use the computer.  Right now we are a one computer family so we had to be a bit creative in what times of the day she could work on her reading.

I have tried several phonics programs with her and she can sound out things wonderfully, except for those dreaded words that don't follow the rules.  She has troubles with them.  This program has really helped her with the rule breakers.

Now I have to admit I wasn't too sold on this at the beginning.  It seemed like I had to help her a lot and I thought everyone always raved about computer classes like this being so great for independence.  To this I have to say, stick with it because at the beginning it is definitely not independent work, or at least it wasn't in our house.  But now, after using it for several weeks she is blossoming and emerging onto new areas that she hasn't been able to do before and really starting to show progress!

Stop back next week if you wonder what taking a week off of the reading program will do to their progress.  I'm not sure I want to know but with the death of my grandmother(the children's great grandmother) we are taking the week off so I can help with funeral arrangements and to attend the funeral.  I'm not sure that I can handle teaching them this week, nor am I sure they could handle the stress of school this week.

We did get 3 spots for a full year with this review, but so far have only used one.  With how intense and how long it took our oldest in the beginning I didn't want to start any of the others yet.  I am prepared to start two other girls who struggle with reading next week when we start back after our little hiatus.  One really struggles more than the other.  She can sound out the word but can't put the sounds together into a word.  I'm interested to see how she does with the program.

If you would like to hear and see how others responded to the program and what they thought make sure to check out the Main Crew Blog Post and look around!

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