Time4Learning – Product Review

We were recently given a trial membership for Time4Learning to review as part of my participation in the TOS Homeschool Crew. We already have a Time4Learning membership, but for review purposes, I was asked to take a look at the Pre-K to Kindergarten curriculum. I was curious how my son would react to it since he was already using some of the higher level Time4Learning modules. I was pleasantly surprised when he really enjoyed it. The Pre-K1 section – that my son calls “Time4Learning Bags” due to the look of the interface – is divided into topics such as “Feelings”, “Colors”, “Shapes” and Tornado Boy’s personal favorite “Vehicles”.

The Pre-K2 section (shown above) continues with more in-depth treatment of several of the PK1 themes, plus adds more advanced topics such as time and measurement. Each topic typically contains a story or interactive content such as a song along with activities such as matching, painting and making choices. Tornado Boy particularly enjoys the topics that have a music component, like the “Wheels on the Bus” song that’s part of the PK1 Vehicles activity.

The games in the PK1 and PK2 have minimal interface and instruction. This is typically good for a pre-reader, but I found it frustrating when TB wanted help doing something and there were no tool tips for me to work with. In general, a preschooler only needs basic mouse skills in order to use the Pre-K levels of time for learning. The content is fun, educational and easy to deal with.

The Kindergarten curriculum is significantly different from the Pre-K modules. There is a lot more walking the child through the modules and introductory instruction in understanding and using the interface that was absent at the Pre-K levels. The process can be quite tedious, especially if the child already has good mouse skills. One of the things that frustrated me is the “this (ring) means that you have assignments” on the launch page (see above graphic). I wanted to be able to assign certain modules to my son and send him on his way, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to use the feature. It took extensive digging in the background Parent area of the site to see that the feature is not currently in use. I really wish that it would not display. It’s confusing to both parents and students.

The Kindergarten content is divided into Language Arts, Math and a few introductory Science lessons that are actually intended to be part of the 1st grade curriculum. One of my favorite things about Time4Learning is that while there are suggested sequences of lessons, the children are not required to follow that sequence. In several instances, we started with the “test” section of a topic to see if the individual lessons were worth spending our time on, or if we should move on. Also available for the Kindergarten units are extensive lesson plans and worksheets in pdf form. They are in the parent login area of the Time4Learning site under the “additional resources” header. I like having this type of resource for the content because I can review the content in advance and select items that match things that I am teaching in our homeschool. The worksheets typically use the characters that are in the animated T4L sequences online, so they’re familiar to the student. These enrichment materials are not available at the PK1 and PK2 levels.

One of the things that I really like about Time4Learning is the score reporting system. I typically sit with my son as he completes lessons, but I do like that I can easily review what he’s completed and see if there are areas that require review. To access the reporting, you’ll need to click on the “bookbag” labeled “My Portfolio” on the assignments/”launch” screen. From there, you can select reporting by category and time range. The report is displayed on-screen, but can also be saved to a pdf file for printing or later review. Each lesson, quiz and test is shown in detail. You can link to the individual lesson to see the content that the student was shown. The quizzes and tests actually display the student’s answers on the quiz as well. The student can review any content at any time. I love the level of detail that the reporting affords. I feel confident that I can easily identify areas that my son needs more work on.

A parent can opt to allow their child to play on the “Playground” after their lessons are done. There are time settings in the Parent Login area that allow the parent to set the minimum lesson duration and the maximum playground time, either for today or for all sessions going forward. The Playground is the part of the site that I have the biggest beef with. Many of the activities are not at all educational. There is also access to commercial sites like PBS Kids that I want to control my child’s access to. I also don’t want him to waste a half hour playing “Asteriods”. It seems like this section needs to some work.

Some suggestions to improve Time4Learning:

• Offer “tool tips” (pop-up text) for lesson content in the parent areas and the reporting. There is an icon guide, but I can’t easily view it and the reports at the same time.
• Allow parents to constrain “Playground” activities by type, or perhaps select only specific games to access.
• I think that there are a lot of resources on the Time4Learning parent site that aren’t that easy to find. They really do add a lot of value, so it might help to do more to “feature” them.
• The science section doesn’t have the same feel and presentation as the other sections. The tests are harder to take and require more specific mouse skills as the answers require selecting a small radio button rather just touching the object beside it to automatically select the radio button. This can be problematic for small children. I also found several “resources” linked in the science area that were dead links to Internet content external to the Time4Learning site.

Overall, my son loves the site. He was just as happy playing around with the Pre-K content as he is learning in the 1st and 2nd grade areas. In my opinion, the content is typically well-developed (especially with the extra resources available at the Kindergarten level and beyond) and it seems to be a lot of fun for my child. I really appreciate the flexibility that Time4Learning offers. I like that you have access to 3 years of lessons at any time. I like that we can do the lessons in the sequence that we choose and repeat lessons as desired. I wouldn’t use Time4Learning as my entire curriculum, but it’s worthwhile as an enhancement, especially if I pick and choose the lessons in advance to coordinate with what we’re already working on. It also has helped me to “catch” a few things that I hadn’t thought to teach my son yet, so that was valuable as well.

Time4Learning has varying costs depending on the number of people in your family who want to use the program and typically offers introductory offers as well as lesson demos on their site. The program is entirely online, with no additional software needed. You can access your account from any computer with Internet access. If you need to adjust the grade level (PK-8th) for your child, it is easy to contact T4L and have them make the adjustment for you, keeping three grade levels of content available at all times. There is a great Hints & Helps page here that gives great insight into using the site.

If you’d like to see what other TOS Review Crew members think of this product, you can visit our Crew blog. Different crew members reviewed Time4Learning affiliated products such as Time4Writing and Spelling City, so you can check to see if any are of interest to you as well.

Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew for 2010-2011 and receive free products and services in exchange for a thorough and honest review. Though I am compensated with free products, I am not compensated in the form of cash for my reviews. My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences with the products and services that I have received.