Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Funnix Reading & Math--FREE downloads

All of my kids have learned to read on their own terms.  I've had several early readers and a couple of late readers.  Melanie is 6 and reading has not fully "clicked" for her yet.  She is the baby and seems to think that reading will change that.  I've heard great things about Funnix Reading and they are offering a free download of both their reading and math programs until December 20th.

The program also provides a printable workbook to go along with the computer driven lessons.  I think this may be just the thing to help Melanie finish putting together the little pieces needed to fully grasp reading on her own.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Time 4 Learning Review!

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Over the last month, Maggie has been using Time 4 Learning as part of her school work. I have been impressed with the amount of options and flexibility.  As an 8th grader, she is rather complex.  Time 4 Learning gives the option of working at grade level, one level above or one level below.  In Math she had been struggling with Algebra 1, so we chose to go back to Pre-Algebra  and reinforce the math concepts she will need in order to be successful in Algebra.  Science, History and Language Arts each have options that allowed Maggie to choose WHAT she wanted to study each day. The program tracks what they have completed and starts back up where they left off in each subject. 

In the Parent Account, I am able to access reports that show how long she worked on each subject, what material she completed and the results of any quizzes/tests.  I can also print out reports on what she is doing. 

My younger girls also used the program, but not as extensively as Maggie.  Melanie is in 1st grade, she primarily used the phonics and math lessons for review/enrichment.  She was a bit disappointed that the "Recess" rewards games were links to websites that she already uses.  Marissa is in 2nd grade and a bit more serious about school, she did not like the humor in the lessons and quickly decided not to use it anymore.

Overall, I am very impressed with Time 4 Learning.  It is very affordable, it covers all the subjects my middle schooler needs and it is enjoyable for her, which makes it much easier to get her to DO her schoolwork.  We are on a tight budget so I can not see us paying to use it as a supplement for the younger kids, but it is nice to know it is out there in case we ever need a complete program for them.