How Does Time4Learning Stack Up?

Our family came to Time4Learning a little late in the game.  The first couple of years of homeschooling, I created all my son’s curriculum myself.  I got into full-on “teacher mode”, and cut out every construction paper letter with my own little safety scissors, molded every playdough math manipulative with my own dexterity-challenged fingers, and sang every kindergarten song with my own off-key enthusiasm.  It was awesome to behold.

Then my younger son deigned to grow up and need some educating, and I was now a homeschool mom of two.  Things would have to be different now.  I dipped my toe into the big waters of homeschool curriculum, and was elated to discover Sonlight.  I LOVED the idea of reading aloud to my boys all day, and discussing good literature, and doing projects based on what we were reading.

SLAM

That was the door of reality hitting me in the face, as I quickly found that my boys didn’t WANT to read aloud all day, discuss good literature, or do projects based on what we were reading.

So then it was back to the drawing board of various and sundry curricula.  Saxon was thorough, but dry as dirt.  Charlotte Mason had a lovely philosophy, but I couldn’t fathom the fur that would fly when I introduced “copywork” to my two active learners.  Bob Jones had complete curriculum kits, but didn’t really fit with our family value system.

So the drawing board soon became our home away from home as we flipped through homeschool catalogs, studied learning styles, and tested out free trial periods on various curriculum.  And then one day, as I was doing yet another eye-twitching hour of online research, I came across a search engine entry for a curriculum called Time4Learning. 

I had recently discovered that our youngest son was a very right-brained visual learner, and this sounded straight up his alley!  It was multimedia.  It was interactive.  It was fun!  We tried the lesson demos and were immediately hooked.  Quality lessons, record-keeping and assessments, and all for less than $20 per month!  This was exactly what we had been waiting for.  For us, Time4Learning far exceeded every other homeschool product or method we had tried.

What about you?  Did you come to Time4Learning after a series of trials with other materials or curriculum?  How does T4L compare with other homeschool programs you have tried?