Time4Learning contacted us about doing a review of their site. We don’t follow a curriculum or do things because we feel they are “educational” (because what isn’t?) but Zeb wanted to do this for the monetary compensation they offered.
This is the honest review from a 10 year old autodidact:
He logged in and seemed to grasp the site navigation instantly. It was pretty simple. His immediate reaction however was “This looks stupid”. The animation was a little young for him and the graphics pretty rudimentary, something he’s not used to.
He clicked on the “Math” category and went straight to multiplication. Totally proud unschooling mama moment: My 10 year old who has never been “taught” multiplication easily and quickly answered the questions.
He played for awhile and said it was “kinda fun” but was very irritated by the repetition of the directions and his inability to skip them. Also, the way the directions were explained didn’t make a lot of sense to either of us and it wasn’t until he started practicing them did he figure it out. Although he liked the “games” (lessons), the presentation was still too young for him, and he lost interest quickly. He clicked around the site a bit more, played the “playground” (the non-learning area?) and got bored. Perhaps if he was younger or the site were designed to appeal to older kids, he would have hung out for longer.
On the parents side, there was an option to set a minimum and maximum amount of time they are “allowed” to play in a given section. Personally, I don’t see how controlling a child’s time on the site would be necessary or helpful. I mean, the entire site is geared toward learning. How can you say when your child has had enough?
Zeb’s final remarks on the program?
“Well, it’s okay. But I don’t get why anyone would pay to learn when they can learn all the time for free.”
Good point Zeb.
Kids are so smart!
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That’s awesome. The last comment from him is just awesome.
Don’t you think accepting compensation for something should be earned? It doesn’t sound like you gave the curriculum much of a chance. My family loves Time4Learning, and you are really doing a disservice to home schooling parents by dismissing it! I love the fact that your child is interested in learning, and that he has his own opinions, but if you are going to offer an opinion about an educational curriculum, wouldn’t it have been better to offer a more educated view of it than from a ten year old’s point of view? I hope your child continues with his love of learning, but I wonder, as he gets older how long will it be before he will become irritated and …
Avalon signed up for it too. She played for about 20 minutes one time, and was bored out of her mind. I had her set up on the kindergarten level, and it seemed so basic. She had the same issue with the instructions too. She may have liked it more on the 1st grade, but I don’t really think so. She loves playing games online, so I think it’s their specific methods. We’re big pbskids.org game players here
Just found your blog… love it and I can’t wait to read more.
Cheers
Kristen
Nice review! Totally honest, and well written.
@whisker6, Time4Learning approached us. I informed them we don’t do curriculum and they asked for our honest opinion. Our honest opinion was that this didn’t hold our attention for very long and gave us the impressions we shared. Do I think our personal opinion – one that was requested – is doing someone a disservice? I don’t see how. I think it’s awesome if your family loves Time4Learning. Mine didn’t. As for your half question, I’m not sure I understand what you mean…become irritated with what and…what?
I love that Zeb did the review! This is exactly the kind of review I want about an educational site that my kids might be interested in.
Regardless of what I think of the site and what it has to offer, if my kids think it is confusing, boring, or childish, they won’t like it, and it is useless to us.
Thanks for the informative review, you’ve saved us a lot of time. *smile*
As for the person who didn’t like your review, paid reviews are paid. Companies don’t pay for a positive review, they pay for an honest one. Without reviews like this one, how would they know if there were any problems with the site so they could improve?
I appreciate your honesty and candor in this review, and KNOW tat no matter what, I can trust any review you post here to be completely honest.
Truly, that is what any company wants from their reviewer; credibility. *smile*
Want to review one of my products?
His quote at the end totally sums it all up. heh.
I think the user has spoken.
After all it is the kids who will be using the program.
I ask Jack for his opinion on the cloth diapers and carrier we review and it is usually honest and straight from the horse’s mouth.
Isn’t that what all product designers want?
That last comment was worth its weight in computers.
I’m not quite sure why @whisker6 has such a bee in their bonnet. I personally (as a homeschool mom) didn’t give Time4Learning a chance when I was googling for some games for Josh to play because it’s not FREE!! There are a ton of sites that ARE free, that have way better games than that site. JumpStart.com for one. My problem with most the sites that the boys like to play is that they aren’t for older age groups. Just found one today while looking up art on line for kids… http://accessarts.org/ArtKids/ There’s a Spirograph simulator on there!! Looks fun. Haven’t tried it yet.
also: it’s ridiculous to state that because you didn’t LIE and say you loved a product means that you shouldn’t have been COMPENSATED for trying it. What a crock. Reviews are JUST THAT a review. When you read a review from a person you know to be LIKE MINDED with you, it makes making the choice to try something or not easier. ESPECIALLY when there isn’t an option to try that product without PAYING for it.
PS (again) The compensation you took was for trying OUT the product. Pretty sure they didn’t say “we’ll pay you to say you liked this”
yep, surely the point is that, having given an honest review, the company got their feedback and can take steps to improve (rather than everyone saying, oh it’s great, then not buying it), and readers of your review get to hear an honest opinion, which means when you do praise something, it’s really worth the praise. You weren’t asked to write a PR blurb, you were asked to give your opinion. And did, clearly, fairly, and with good explanation as to why you had the issues you had.
PS, I think you son rocks, and a better advertisement for what you do, couldn’t be found!
Hi, I run Time4Learning.com so I love reading the reviews. This one is original.
I like that Zeb, age ten, reviewed the program. I would have liked to have the review written by him too. It’s a unique perspective.
It sounds like the initial placement was too low a level for him. I would have liked to hear his opinion once he was moved to a more challenging level for him. It might turn out that he doesn’t like listening to lessons and is committed to exploratory learning. For students like that, interactive curriculum is not a good choice. Fair enough.
Comparing Time4Learning with learning games (PBSkids or learninggamesforkids.com for instance) is apples and oranges. It’s more appropriate to compare Time4Learning with a textbook or a course. Time4Learning is meant to take students through a curriculum, not just to play games where students may or may not learn anything.
Time4Learning’s review policy is to invite a homeschoolers to review the program. The review is supposed to be frank and personal. Many reviewers love us. Some don’t. The best reviews explain what they like or don’t like, what they find useful and what they don’t. We think this provides quality info to the public and anyone can surf around the net and get a large variety of views. We encourage reviewers to disclose the nature of their relationship with us. For more info: http://www.time4learning.com/homeschool-curriculum-review.shtml
The only time that we intervene on content is when they misrepresent the price (there are problems and legal exposures if we allow misrepresentations to stand).
It sounds like Zeb is quite a kid getting a good education that’s appropriate to him. I hope we paid him (actually, his parents) the $25 promptly.
And thanks for all the rest of you who posted your comments, agreeing or disagreeing. If you have blogs, you too can have your say.
This was the best review I’ve read in a long time. And I do appreciate Time4Learning’s stance, too. Good for both of you for being honest!