Why I use time4learning as my homeschool program

You may or may not have noticed that I insert time4learning links in my blog. That is because I am biased. I use and really love this program and I want others to know about it to.

Here is our story. We started homeschooling in fall of 2002. I spent the entire winter before that reading as many homeschooling books that I could get my hand on, and having the kids try different programs, and sample programs after school.

When the school was over, I had narrowed down my choices to the following:

1. ChildU.com
2. A series of books called "What your ___ grader needs to know
3. Do it yourself classical approach based on a book called the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

We spent the summer trying it all.

In the end, as a novice homeschooler, ChildU.com just made my life a whole lot easier. It is a full, comprehensive online interactive program that allowed my already tech savvy kids to move at thier own pace. The other option while good, involved a whole lot of teaching on my part.

Yes, isn't that what homeschooling is about? you ask. I guess so, but for me and my kids who had already been exposed to traditional teaching for a few years, seeing me as thier teacher was quite a stretch. It just didn't work... and personally, my patience level didn't allow for the struggle that ensued.

But all did not end happily ever after!

The program, was so good infact, that it was too good. Public and other online schools were intergrating it into their program and we began to lose some of the aspects of the program that we loved so much. Elements were added to make it more compatible with homeschooling that caused problems for us. Over the next year, our second year, we found it harder and harder to use and also found that they were no longer offering phone support to homeschoolers.

So we went back to plan two. By this time I already had the kids enrolled in a one day a week "fine arts and history school". For the other subjects, I went back to the Hirsch books "What your__ grader needs to know. This worked ok. We read each chapter, and searched online for activities that corresponded. We used Brainpop.com, and AAA math.com to reinforce what we were learning. But the Children were bored.

It was at this point that we realized my son needed more outside interraction and my daughter needed more fun. We put my son in another 1 day a week program his current school was running for middle school academics, so now we just have to help him with his homework (and there is lots of it). Then we went searching for a program like childU. It was early summer and my child and I were reviewing math to prepare for standardized testing. I knew her reading and comprehension were good, but math was shaky. It was then that I discovered time4learning.

As I read and looked through the site, I discovered that it looked alot like childU. I called and spoke to the owner and found that it was indeed the same program from Compass learning Oddyssey, but he tailoring his program for parents to work with thier kids. I was cautiously optimistic.

My daughter spend the six weeks testing herself using the programs chapter tests, and then going back and relearning areas she had problems in. When we took the CAT test for her then grade (3rd). She aced it! I was elated, and wrote to the owner of Time4learning to tell him the news, and to have her elevated to the 4th grade level in this program.

Although the progammers were not quite ready for 4th graders to sign on, They gave us what programming they could and kept in communication with us through the programming process, and a couple of hurricaines two (they are based in florida).

I am glad to say, just a few months later, they are at the top of thier game and my child is learning well, and without any struggle with me. I am so glad I had the patience and good sense to go back to what worked best for us (even if it goes by a different name)... And wouldn't a rose by any other name smell just as sweet?

I am so pleased that this company made homeschoolers a priority and customized this program for us. I suggest you at least try it. Summer is coming. Use it for review. At such a low monthly subscription price, it wouldn't hurt to try it and find out if it is for you.

As of the time of this post, Time4learning is available for grades pre-k through middle school.