I just found this last week based on something I read and I searched and saw that a couple of you here used it as well. I was thinking that this would be a good way for DS8 to keep busy when I'm busy. He enjoys it - especially since he gets play time after lessons.

Wondering what you think of the curriculum for an 8 yr. old and if you use it, what you use as your work/play ratio.

Looking forward to learning more about your experiences.

Thanks.

I am going to check this out because I'm always looking for productive things for him to do online. i'll let you know what I think.

We used it this summer. The biggest problem and reason we don't use it anymore is that you have to sit through every explination every time you start something. My girls quickly tired of this and would complain and beg not to have to do it anymore. On to something different...

Once you get to the upper level which starts at 4th grade, the explanations drop off. We've used it quite a bit. My DS2 and DS3 use the K format. My DS6 used several different grades. My DD14 used the math section 5-8 for remedial work. The nice thing about using it for a giftie is that it's self explanatory, so they can just go.....

Shari, Did you find that there is some repetition in the levels? I'm not sure where to start DS8. I read on their forum that if I sign him up for 3 on math and 4 on language arts, or vice vesra, I'll have access to both levels at once. (And I emailed them about that today).

DS really liked it (probably b/c it was easy and fun). Not sure if I should just let him whip through 3rd grade to reinforce his skills and cover anything he might not have had yet, or go to 4, 5 or whatever. Does it spiral?

Did you print out the worksheets?

And what have you used as a good mix of work/fun?

Thank you, everyone, for responding.

DS6 used it last year and quickly made it through 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade math. He also did some of the language art activities in the 2nd and 3rd grade. I loved that moving grade levels was so easy. I also loved the $20 a month price tag--very manageable. My son did get bored and we stopped our membership. Had we actually be homeschooling and not just fun afterschooling I might have continued to use the program since it as so cheap and flexible.

We also never printed out the worksheets since DS6 rarely needed the repetition.

We never used the worksheets. At the end of each math section there is a quiz. I started him out in 3rd grade and let him test out of any section he thought he knew. The deal we had was that he had to get 90% or 9/10 to pass. He leapfrog through much of the early material this way but there were some parts that he legitimately had to learn. No matter what method you use for teaching there will always be holes or gaps. T4L exposed a few of his. He worked on it about 1.5 hrs a day while we were homeschooling, covering all the core subjects. Surprisingly the Social Studies section is very extensive and as that was something we had pretty much ignored up until then he spent alot of time in that area.

We used both 3rd and 4th for my daughter this last summer and it didn't go well. They lost all her progress because they had to manually override to allow a student into both levels, lower and upper. I believe they solved this problem right as we were finishing with our subscription so you shouldn't have any problem with that now.

Thank you. I moved him up a level in math and they emailed me saying he'd have to sign in as upper or lower, accordingly, or they wouldn't show his progress. I noticed that if he's signed up for 4th, grades 3, 4 and 5 are available, so I emailed them back asking them to put him in 4th for both. Thanks for pointing that out. He really likes it, so we're going to give it a try.

Hey, I finally checked this out this morning with my son, and I liked it. I am confused by a lot of these sites, but this one seemed easy and totally worth $20... plus if they'll track what he's doing, great! I'm actually pretty excited because I've been at such a loss about how to motivate him.

I had him do the demo lessons this morning... he did grade 2/3 math (which he said was too easy, but there was no computation, which is what slows him down) and put him on grades 4/5 for science and language stuff... he did all those demos while I was showering and putting baby down for a nap, then he moved on and did all the grade 6-8 demos as well. He loved it!

For years I have been struggling to keep him off the computer completely, thinking it would be like poison to him or something.

By the way I kept him home from school today for no particular reason at all... it's like I'm becoming a secret homeschooler.

Nice!

There are all flavors of home schooling: afterschooling, weekendschooling, unschooling, etc... even deschooling!

I just like to say I am a
"homeschooler at heart"

- EW

p.s. check your Private Message (blinking envelope)

I want to like this program, but am still on the fence. We tried it for a few days for my DD who just turned 4, but I found the graphics and silliness annoying (but I'm not 4 so what do you expect, but I tend to like to keep things simple and not over-stimulating for her) and the directions and pace were painfully slow. It also broke things down into tiny parts that are not neccessary for her, and it was hard to find the right level. The grade expectations seemed really low to me, and the level never seemed right so I canceled it after a few days, but am considering trying it again just to give us something to do when it is rainy and she is bored and I need to clean etc. Based on others reports, I bet the program is better for older students or students who need early reading etc. really broken down for them.

TwinkleToes,

If what you're looking for is just occassional edutainment, you should check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/
The frustrating thing is you might have to sift through materials to find out what is appropriate for her personality, interests, and abilities... but at least it's free. I haven't played around with it much, but
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/ seems like it will work well for my dd (who will turn 4 in July).

That being said, I have been using T4L for about 3 weeks now and have figured out how to do it in a way that makes sense for us. No quizzes or tests, except the ones at the end of the math sections that are required for the lesson to be considered "complete". No going in order unless we feel like it. No comprehension stuff -- it's superficial, multiple-choice, anyway. DD isn't doing the phonics stuff, but she's ~ 2/3 through Math 1; after burning through Science 1 and 2, she's doing the games on Science 3 (which is mostly text, so we just look through til we find a "game" -- or interactive lesson; and, so far, yes, the Grade 3 games still seem simple and slow). She's almost done with Social Studies 2, and will be soon be doing the same thing with Social Studies 3, and we're picking and choosing our way through LAs 1-3 based on what sounds interesting (she's gone through all the LA Extention 1-2 stories (which I think are awful, but she goes through so many books that I can't fault her these few more stories) and last night we did a neat family tree section on LA 3).

Basically, I let her do as much as she wants (or occasionally less) of what she wants (though if she begins something, she needs to finish it, unless it's clear to me that it's not developmentally appropriate at this time). I'm not sure if I'll keep the subscription past this month, and if I do, I doubt I'll keep it more than two months total. By then, she'll have exhausted most of the non-textbook type stuff, and if she's going to be looking at books, I figure it might as well be offline. But she's enjoying the math portion, because it's big on stuff like patterns, geometry, and measurement, which she really enjoys -- and which I just haven't found a cool alternative for, so that's worth it for me. The science, social studies, and LA she enjoys, too, but it's definitely replaceable. And, yes, I find the little lessons repetitious and boring -- and sometimes it seems like the easier it is, the more repeating there is-- but dd doesn't mind, so there you go.

One downside is I feel like since I'm paying for this, I should let her take as much advantage as she wants to; T4L has significantly increased her computer time -- but decreased her tv time, so maybe it balances out in the end?

I gave Time for Learning another shot as an alternative to TV. She doesn't seem to like it that much, but I am giving her more time to see if she changes her mind. It does seem very slow, but she hasn't complained. We really don't do any of the language related activities since this is such a strength for her that the activities don't seem right. Maybe I need to move her up in the levels. She just turned four and I set it to be on first grade with the ability to move back and forth with second. At one point I checked out fifth grade science and she could answer all the questions on a quiz before we even did the lesson, but she loves science and we have read a lot of science. She is much farther ahead in language and science than she is in math. Her math is still ahead, but she certainly isn't doing the same level as she can with reading etc. I am still going to give it a chance because it seems one step above TV and I had been allowing more TV than I used to allow.

That's awesome that she knew the 5th grade science. (My dd could zoom ahead *almost* like that, but I'm worried about letting her get too far ahead in science, b/c eventually she'll need math skills for it? Or perhaps needing the math will make learning it more appealing? I dunno...)

We haven't learned anything new in 3rd grade science, but, like I said, she likes it, and it doesn't hurt to cement skills, especially when the lessons last 5-8 minutes.(We did learn one sort-of new thing in 1st grade science: thunderstorm safety! The repetition was PAINFUL and unnecessary, but, still... new...

I just found a math site this morning that seems cools: http://www.whizz.us/ Supposedly, it's adaptive. We'll probably try it out after we cancel our T4L subscription next month.