Monday, May 7, 2012

Time4Learning Review


So, this was totally different for me. Reviewing curriculum instead of books. I thought it would be pretty cool to get a free month and try out a computer based curriculum and I'm glad I did.

My son actually laughed. Daily. Over language arts!!! He doesn't like to do any school, unless it's science; Physics to be exact, although he loves creating different concoctions with Chemistry. But I heard him laugh. And I didn't have to be the main one getting him to do punctuation. I also didn't have to worry that I'm missing some key component of grammar.

I like the language arts and math portions. He liked the LA and math as well. It wasn't as hard to get him to do his school work during the days we used it. He retained-which is super-important. I gave 'em my credit card to continue the program.

We didn't care for the history or science portion. Partly because there was a bit of reading and he hates when he has a lot to read. If they pages would've been read to him, he would've liked it more. There were things I liked about it, but the current curriculum I use for those subjects work for us better. We didn't try the art.

I found the web-site very easy to navigate and want to figure out how to do the lesson plans. This trial period came when I was planning and catering my middle child's Bat Mitzvah, (for those who aren't Jewish, think of planning a wedding) so I wasn't able to give much time to learning the program. But it did turn out to be a life saver during this busy time, and was so simple to get started, many brain cells were saved.

Bottom line, we'll be using Time4Learning for our LA and math until he starts Cyber School this fall with the public school system. It's a stop-gap right now and if I weren't going with GCA, I'd continue with T4L. In fact, if I ever need it, T4L would be great to support concepts with public school.

If you want to know more, check out Time4Learning.

I guess this can be considered a paid review, but an unbiased one. The opinions are solely mine. Time4Learning had no input here.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Curriculum review

I've been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment and for summer skill sharpening. Find out how to write your own curriculum review for Time4Learning.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Homeschooling

I've been homeschooling for ten years and that seems like a long time. This year I put my girls in school and it has been a crazy experience. It's amazing what so many teachers think of homeschoolers.

Some of the comments:
"We know your daughter has gaps on her math education but we haven't been able to figure them out." Maybe that's because she's fine. I mean, making all As in Math and understanding the concepts is a good indicator that there's not much to worry about, right?
"You're doing so well with your grammar work and improved so much since your mother didn't teach you to write." Really? So those papers from last year don't count? And how about when my twelve year old writes about Shakespeare's play and how much she loved Puck? How many other kids have read the classics by seventh grade?
"We didn't expect H to do well because she was homeschooled, but she's doing very well." Uh, yeah. I didn't sit at home eating bon bons while my kids poked knives into the wall sockets.
And so many other comments. I wish I would've been blogging about it since last August.

I still have my son at home and he's doing okay. In fact, that Physics and Biology program he's completing has been good for him. Not to mention Myth Busters and YouTube...what a great education.
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