Monday, April 25, 2011

Time 4 Learning Review

I feel rather bad that I was selected as a reviewer. I had such high hopes for this program. My 14 year old son is in Pre-Algebra for the second time and still failing it. I thought using a homeschool program would do one of two things - give him the needed information to pass his class or be a substitute for the class with a better grade. My son, however, felt like it was pure torture.
The format of Time 4 Learning is really nice. There are short videos with some "homework" and then a quiz. Each quiz has 10 questions. Every time the child takes the same quiz the questions change. The only complaint I would have is that you can't skip parts of the video if you watch it a second time. I went back over a video with my son trying to find an equation I wanted him to write down. It would be nice if there was a "notes" section where you could just pull up the equations. There might be but I didn't find it.
Aside from my son's unwillingness to participate, I loved this program. I was prepared to pay the $20 a month to keep my son in math all summer. I think it's a great program. He was at the top end of the classes but they didn't seem to capture his attention (I have a feeling he will be stuck in Pre-Algebra forever because he refuses to co-operate with his math teachers - he hates math that much).
I do recommend this program for those homeschooling or for those who want a supplement for their child's education. I love the parent features and the fact that all the scores are stored in a special place for parents to access. There are parent support features that I didn't spend much time looking in to. All my energy was focused on getting my son interested.
I think most children will enjoy the video features. Designers at Time 4 Learning made a good attempt to make the videos engaging and entertaining as well as easy to learn. My son was in the upper grades but he could go back and work on 6th and 7th grade features as well as 8th grade. I had hoped he'd be willing to go over all the years (at least do the quizzes) so we could see where his deficiences lay.
Our experience with the program really was a positive one even if I didn't get the results I had hoped for. Ironically, my son asked about being homeschooled last week so he wouldn't have to get up so early for school. I reminded him of just trying to get him to do math online and he quickly recinded his request.

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