I've never used time4learning, but my DS loved using Aleks for a few months in 4th grade (they had been working on perimeter for 6 weeks, writing letters about ordering bricks to build an airport runway, or some such) and DS said: I hate MATH!
So we afterschooled a bit with Aleks.
I loved it because if DS got 3 questions right, he moved on to the next problem. If he made a mistake, he had to practice. It was so cool watching Behaviorism in action. DS found 'new material' to be a positive reinforcer, and he would modify his 'careless' behavior to avoid the negative reinforcer of practice and gain the positve reinforcer of new material. Wow! That was something to see. Much more effecitive for my DS that inspirational speeches or emotional appeals.
I did sit with him, and he prefered me to explain how to do stuff than Alek's explaination page. I sometimes refered to 'homework help.com' to remember what the procedure was and then teach it to DS.
But he found it very satisfying to fill in the pie shaped pieces and 'unlock' now material to try.
He didn't hate math anymore, and he learned that at least in some situations, checking his work was in his best interest!
smiles,
Grinity
