When I started homeschooling my kids, I had a few curriculum requirements: Firstly, our homeschooling program had to be internet based. Secondly, curriculum had to meet national standards. Thirdly, it had to make my job easier. Finally, it had to be fun. In the summer of 2002, I found a website called Compass Learning (also known as ChildU) that provided online curriculum that was used in both public schools and homeschools. It taught the kids and me (when needed) the lessons and information, and it made us laugh. I was very happy, and it went very well, for a while.
Halfway through the year, we started having problems with the site freezing and later found out that more and more schools were using the curriculum. It was not before long that the individual homeschooler was forgotten. Fortunately, a named John Edelson started an online school, which allowed him to continue to make the Compass Learning available to homeschoolers. It is called time4learning. While getting this curriculum to the masses were not easy, nor smooth (as a lot of programming was necessary on his part), he hung in there for us, and so I hung in there for him. I continue to use Time4learning to homeschool my 10 year old, for the following reasons.
1. It is internet based. Some children are born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Mine were born with a computer mouse in their hands. Starting in the year 1994, I nursed my children while sitting at the computer teaching myself how to use it. It did not take too long for them to start grabbing and navigating the mouse. In the past 12 years, we have graduated from one of the few families we knew to have a home computer to having 1.25 computers per person, with .75 printers each. There is a story behind our love for the computer, but to keep it short, my husband self educated himself on computer programming back in the 1980’s, and ended up building our high school computer lab. Needless to say, he is a successful IT executive. We wanted to keep such tools available for our kids.
2. It does meet national standards. At the time, I figured if it was good enough for the schools, then it was good enough for us. Yes, I was naïve, but I did not want to be accused of educational neglect should our homeschooling “experiment” fail. The time4learning website actually shows you how it meets state standards as well.
3. It taught me, when I did not know the material. I have read that the easiest way to learn something is to read a related children’s book. Just like a children’s book, the time4learning animated characters gets the point across and if the kids need extra help, understanding something, I can review the lesson, get the point and help them to understand.
4. It was fun. From the beginning, my kids felt like they were playing fun. My son, who has kind of a dry personality occasionally chuckles, but my daughter has an outright ball. Sometimes after the lesson time was over, the kids would actually go back to “play”. Of course, they were actually learning.
Now that our time with time4learning is almost over, as both kids will be taking homeschool classes next year, (as 6th and 8th graders) I have to say that although the ride was bumpy at times, because of company changes, and programming glitches in the transition, as well as waiting for them to add upper level lessons, it has been a pleasant ride. (Also, the ride is now smooth for any newcomers.) The children test very well, especially the one who was supposed to be ADHD. In addition, I have been able to print out the lesson and test results and keep realistic grades.
So now that you can see what I have used for elementary homeschooling, I would love to hear what you have used and why. Did you have requirements when you started homeschooling. Have your requirements stayed the same (as mine did) or did they change? Are you happy with the outcome? What is next for you?