The five year old: He loved it! The learning games were engaging and he couldn't get enough.
Me, I liked the resources that go along with it that you can print off to reinforce what they learned. It was not an overwhelming amount either. We would continue to use it for our five year old.
The 8th graders:
Girl really enjoyed the format and the paperwork that went along with it.
Boy did not like reading online, and zipped through it without really reading it all.
Me, I think it is a great resource for a child you can trust to use it correctly. For a child such as my son who just kept hitting the "next" button, there is no accountability. Only being extremely supervised would this work for him, so I might as well sit down and teach him the material rather than using the computer. Also, there was a LOT of material to print out for the older kids as enrichment activities, and that is a drain on the printer. Having these available to purchase separately as a workbook would be highly preferable.
Hi there! I enjoyed your review. We have been using Time4Learning for 4 years now and we love it. HOW we use it has changed over the years, but my 1st grader and my 6th grader still enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteMy children are opposite of yours, lol...my youngest is the one who just clicks right through things. My oldest will take time to read, but I know that some days, he does so only under duress. :D
I can completely understand your thoughts on if you have to sit with them to make them do it, you may as well teach it. I know for me, the joy of the program isn't so much that I can get them to do it all (or mostly) independently, but that I don't have to plan out lessons for them. Unless I choose to. We tried boxed/book curriculum we when we first started and we were all miserable, lol.
As far as the printable resources that are available for the older kids, there can be a large amount. I try to only print those resource sheets if my son struggled with a lesson or is having difficulty grasping a concept. I used to print out everything it told me to print, but then I realized that it was a waste of paper and time to make him do a worksheet for something that he was breezing through.
Again, I enjoyed your review and readng through your blog!
Hope you and your family have a wonderful New Year! :)
Katie
Thank you Katie.
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