Schoolhouse Review: Time4Learning

Time4Learning is a fun, online educational program for grades K-8, and high school. It can be utilized for homeschoolers, as well as after school, and summers for children in school.

The program includes language arts, math, science, social studies and art, in a fun, interactive way that kids enjoy.

See below for the lesson plans of what is included by grade and subject:



Time4Learning offered members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew a 6 month subscription to the level of their choice. We received a 5th grade subscription. As soon as I set Ashlyn up with the account, she, not surprisingly, headed straight to the art area. Here's her description of the portrait section:

They don't have you DO much art. The part that says you're doing art isn't REALLY doing art. The portrait section tells you alot about the ancient history of art and the paintings and stuff. So I learned about ancient Egyptian portraits and more modern ones. I really like it!

When she says they don't let you "do art" she's referring to the fact that, obviously, it's all on the computer, which isn't going to be as open ended and . . . tactile (for lack of a better word) as actually painting or whatever. There IS an area where the kids can be creative and apply the things they've learned about art, it just wasn't what she was looking for LOL.

Another area that she's spent time in is the Language Arts section. She's been motivated recently to learn more about grammar and parts of speech, so she went hunting for that. Here's what she had to say:

It's fun because they use a "talk show" format, I've been learning about different kinds of words like synonyms are words that mean the same. It has multiple choice questions about stuff. And it says what different words mean.

I think the "says what different words means" refers to the vocabulary section.  I did have to laugh, one thing I heard her listening to said something about it being common (only it used a bigger word, trying to show the meaning of the word) to eat lunch with friends. She muttered "that's not true, we don't get to eat lunch with friends very often."  So, while the program is marketed to homeschoolers, it sounds like some assumptions still focus on typical school environment type stuff :)

One other area she wanted to make sure I mentioned is the "playground".  This is the "for fun" section, and, while I haven't figured out exactly how it works, the amount of time they can spend there is somehow tied to how much time they spend on the regular lessons. She mentioned that she likes the puzzle games and fun things like air hockey.

Time4Learning is available for $19.95/month for your first K-8th grade student, and $14.95 for each additional K-8 student. High school students are $30/month.  There are no long-term contracts.

I have to admit, I was surprised at how much Ashlyn has enjoyed this. Since we don't do much typical "classroom" type learning, I wasn't sure how interesting she would find this program, but she REALLY likes it. I suspect she wouldn't like it as much if I required her to spend set amounts of time on set subjects, but since I let her choose the subjects that interested her, she's been begging to do more.  I really wish it wasn't primarily flash based, since that means it doesn't work on my iPad or her iTouch. Finding time for her to use my laptop can be challenging.

Time4Learning offers free demos, that you can view before signing up, to make sure it's a good fit for your child. If you're looking for an online educational program, this seems like a great choice!

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All prices are accurate at time of posting.