Time4Learning now offers online learning for Middle School students. Time4Learning is one of the fastest growing online learning services. The site’s traffic increased by eight hundred percent between 2005 and 2006 according to Alexa — the authoritative web popularity measuring service. According to Time4Learning founder John Edelson: “The rapid growth is due to our intelligent system which provides a fun student-paced educational system both for home schooling and enrichment.”
Time4Learning was launched in 2004 with preschool and early elementary programs for math and reading. Children like learning with Time4Learning since it holds their interest while teaching a standards-based curriculum. Time4Learning is a full home-based learning system that systematically teaches children with lessons, reinforcement exercises, printable worksheets, and assessments.
Time4Learning initially focused on preschool and early elementary kids. Parents quickly requested additional grades. Parents wanted a middle school learning program for several reasons. There were kids who liked the system and were moving up and wanted to keep using it. More often, it was families with multiple children where the older children “grew jealous” of their younger siblings using Time4Learning.
According to Samantha, a fourth grade homeschooler in Houston TX: “It’s official. Time4Learning is the best! I get to learn at my own speed and it’s not boring. I started with Time4Learning in third grade and was so happy to hear that I didn’t have to leave it when I moved up to fourth grade. Its a perfect way to end each morning. I do Time4Learning every morning from 11-12.”
Samantha’s mom adds: “I homeschool my daughter because she is really bright but she has some attention and learning issues which became a problem in a school setting. When she started homeschooling in third grade, her reading level was more like second grade. With Time4Learning, she is back at grade level in reading and way ahead in math. With Time4Learning, our daily schedule has become easier to manage, I get reports on what she is learning and where she is having troubles, and then I focus on her problem areas. I also decided to homeschool my middle school son this year and he was jealous of his sister. We’ve now put him on Time4Learning too. The middleschool program, particularly in math, gets very advanced: he is doing algebra with Time4Learning.”
The younger children first complete lessons and are then granted access to the Online Playground. The lesson time and play-time are managed automatically by the Time4Learning intelligent system. The system, similarly to the AOL parental controls, helps parents manage the child’s computer time to get the best mix of education, entertainment, and safety.
Time4Learning provides a complete math and language arts curriculum with science and social studies provided as a bonus. Typical uses for online learning include homeschool education, enrichment tutoring, remedial and special needs education.
The middle school language arts program teaches advanced reading comprehension, literary analysis, critical thinking, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, and writing skills. These reading, writing, and critical thinking skills are vital to success including doing well on the increasingly important high-stakes tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act. The math program covers number sense (fractions, real and imaginary numbers, etc), prealgebra, algebra, geometry, data analysis, probability, word problems, estimation, and measurement.
Time4Learning features self-paced learning which combines animated lessons, interactive multimedia exercises, printable worksheets, and tests in one integrated systems.
Time4Learning includes reports for parents and provides a fun entertaining learning environment. Almost half of the members are homeschooling. Around a third of the Time4Learning families have children with special education needs. Many parents with special needs children such as ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, austism, aspergers, and learning difficulties find their children do better with Time4Learning as part of their overall educational program.
