The Blessing of Time

For all the homeschool Mom's and Dad's reading along every week, I wanted to share a time-saving blessing I came across. All of you know the value of this precious commodity we call time. A few years ago, I bumped into a company that has blessed my family.

If you did not already know, I am a mother of four children. Although I have graduated my oldest (married with his first child on the way,) as well as our second child, who’s now in Kansas City, Missouri, attending a missions-based internship, our other two children are still being schooled at home. My youngest is in the 4^th grade and the other sibling is in the 6^th. With over 16 years of homeschooling behind me, I take a deep breath and gear up for the next nine more years. I have been a part of a co-op for all the years I have been teaching, which meets one day a week.

As you can see from my years of experience, I am quite familiar with the many types of curriculum out there. I am amazed every year at the new products being offered to us and delighted there is such a variety of things available. Whether you enjoy hands-on or workbooks, it’s all there. I think I have a little of almost everything on my bookshelf or have tried most of it. One thing I have learned over the years… what works for one may not work for another so you should always use a teaching style that suits your individual child.

In my quest to save time, money and cut down on lesson plans, I began searching for ways my kids could study some of their core subjects with a little independence. I wanted to have more time for hands-on, exploration and field trips. I was introduced to a program that was free to those who qualified and we were part of their pilot program. We were given all the books, readers, workbooks, teacher’s manuals, and even a computer to use. The program was bright, colorful and very interesting. The problem came in completing the work as there was so much that had to be accomplished. By the end of the day, we were exhausted. There was never any time leftover to do the really fun stuff. When my youngest was old enough to start school, they “grandfathered” her in to the program and I attempted to teach two this way. I don’t know what I was thinking. But hey, it was free so I thought I would give it another try. That year was a failure in some senses, but a victory in others. We learned how we didn’t want to homeschool and parted ways graciously, shipping all of the colorful readers and computer back.

Because I still wanted my kids to have a few independent classes, I began to explore other avenues. We tried a few subjects from a company that helped “pace” us along, but were very boring. We then tried another popular company which offered both a pack of consumable workbooks, as well as a computer-type “schoolhouse” for many of their subjects. I purchased a few subjects on CD and some workbooks packs for each child. Again, I was disappointed.

I knew there had to be something out there that was fun and engaging, yet academically challenging. I still wanted to foster independence so I began a search on the internet. I typed in a few keywords and found Time4Learning. The demo showed me exactly what I wanted to know and all of us felt we found just what we were looking for.

There are many ways to use Time4Learning. It really depends if you are using other texts or workbooks alongside T4L. When we first started the program, we needed to do a lot of catching up and the kids spent more time in specific areas than they do now. Because we are a part of a co-op that offers History & Science, I let the kids explore these two subject areas as a part of their “playground” time, without a time limit. Also, I use a few things at home that have been favorites of mine, both to teach and for them to learn from. I have my own spelling program as well as a grammar book that we use. I also use a math program along side T4L that is more visual in concept (“build and see”). I have found that this never conflicts with what they are learning, but only enhances the T4L program. I feel that not only does T4L fill in possible learning gaps, it gives me the confidence to know that no matter what area we slow down and concentrating on, we will always have a solid “core subject” base.

How I use Time4Learning:

Since we are at a co-op one day a week, we only do T4L Monday through Thursday. We prefer to get this done in the morning and save the afternoon for other subjects and activities. This gives me time to do a few chores and get ready for our learning time in the afternoon. Each child has a computer and can work independently. I have assigned them a specific amount of time they must spend in a subject area per day. The older the child is, the longer the session. For example:

6^th Grader- Daily Schedule (Monday –Thursday)

Time spent in each subject area on a daily basis:

Math – 30 minutes

Language Arts – 30 minutes

Language Extensions –30 minutes

Total learning time – 1 ½ hours

20 minutes of playtime are allowed between each subject.

4^th Grader- Daily Schedule (Monday –Thursday)

Time spent in each subject area on a daily basis:

Math – 20 minutes

Language Arts – 20 minutes

Language Extensions –20 minutes

Total learning time – 1 hour

20 minutes of playtime are allowed between each subject.

*Note – on occasion, one of my kids will ask to spend their entire T4L session in one subject area, such as Math. I will let them do that one day if they promise me to “make it up” in the other subjects the other days of the week. One way to can accomplish this would be to do all Language Arts the following day and all Language Extensions the day after that. The last day of the week would go back to a regular schedule.

This schedule can be flexed to suit your needs. Keep an open mind and heart about what you are doing. Your kids have bad days just like you so apply grace when needed. The beauty of Time4Learning is the fact that they will have their academic bases covered, allowing us the liberty to focus on different learning bents our children have, while not sacrificing the basics.

We are in our 3^rd year of using Time4Learning and all love it. Its one thing to hear how parents like and use Time4Learning but it’s another thing to know that the kids love it as well. Thank you, Time4Learning!