Time4Learning is a hit!!!

Several months ago I was introduced to Time4Learning by a friend who had just began homeschooling. I logged on and watched a demo and was not impressed enough to let go of all my hard work of pulling together curriculum from multiple sources for multiple children. I thought that the quality of the program was not what I was looking for.
Then life changed....we had an eighth child...we had two kids start high school...we began a large move 600 miles from our home, family, friends, and home school co-op. Overwhelm set in. Time4Learning was seeming like a very good idea. I jumped at the chance to try it out for a month in exchange for this review.

I was delighted that I could sign up 4 children for the first month. We began in the 6th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st grade. Each of the children used the feature that allows you to do work in the grade ahead or below the chosen grade. Our second grade child is really a third grader who has some trouble with reading. It was a relief to her to do the language arts curriculum from 2nd grade as it was easier for her to read. I was pleasantly surprised that the phonics lessons really helped her to improve her reading also.
Our first grader was just happy with all of it. She says she especially liked doing the science. Our third grader is a fourth grade student with a low desire to read. He loved all of the Time4Learning subjects and I look forward to convincing him that he is capable of performing at grade level. Our oldest child in Time4Learning was willing to do all the subjects because it was on the computer. In contrast, my most convincing teaching from other sources could not persuade her to enjoy reading about many of the subjects that were covered in this curriculum.
There is a lovely feature included in the curriculum where the student earns a certain amount of computer game time in the Playground after completing their schoolwork. I especially liked this because I didn't have to worry about the kids accidently going to a site that was not safe. For the first week I didn't even tell the kids this feature existed. Then, on the day they were all dancing around telling a friend how fun school was, I decided I was convinced too that Time4Learning was a keeper.
My initial opinion that the quality of the curriculum was not what I would like was based on my viewing of a demo. The demo was animated and loud. I didn't want the kids learning from cartoons. On using the curriculum I was pleased with the levels for 3rd grade and up. There was a lot of reading and actual photographs of the people and places the kids were learning about. There were also internet links to sites with more information. The lower grades have a lot of animation but it kept the kids attention and they did remember what they were learning. Sometimes it was hard for them to understand the animated characters, but I think it would be solved if we got headphones.
I really liked the record keeping features. It made it really easy for me to keep track of each child. I could tell where they needed to review and when the level they were working on was too easy.
There are some features we haven't used such as the word processing for writing and journaling as the kids need some typing instruction first. But we are looking forward to using this curriculum. I may even enroll my Kindergartner also.
I had thought I might wait to begin this curriculum until after our move but I am so glad I didn't wait. It was great to be able to pack up the laptop for our move and not have to lug around boxes of books to keep everyone busy. It was especially great to have something worthwhile for them to do while we were stuck in a hotel room for hours on end as we were house hunting!
Time4Learning has freed up my time to do things with the kids that are more fun for me. When I know the basics are covered we can read stories together and take on bigger projects that I have been too overwhelmed in the past to do with them. I hope time for learning can continue to be the blessing it has been so far!
(the opinion expressed in this review is entirely my own, the content was not written by Time4Learning, but I have been compensated)