or

Unit Studies and Time4Learning

Time4Learning is a leading online curriculum provider to homeschoolers. Our members are a diverse group with widely different approaches to homeschooling. Our families include every educational philosophy under the sun....., Traditional, Eclectic, Unschooling, Charlotte Mason, Unit Studies, Classical, Five in a Row, you name it.

We have children that are gifted, those who learn differently and those that learn typically. How does Time4Learning fit in with so many different philosophies and learners? Great Question! Time4Learning provides an excellent academic foundation, but has the flexibility that allows you the parent, to jump in and personalize your child's education based on your teaching style, and more importantly their learning style. This page is intended as a resource for to help our families tie Time4Learning together with the Unit Study philosophy of education.

What are Unit Studies? How do homeschoolers use unit studies?

Unit studies are an excellent way to pull learning together so that everything connects. For example, a unit study on the five senses might include reading books about Helen Keller and writing a paper outlining her purpose, passions and teachings. It might include hands on activities, such as blind folding your child and asking them to follow simple directions so they can understand what it feels like to be without sight. You could then study the time period of when Helen was born and what was going on in the world around her.

You would take time to explore the anatomy of an eye and how it works. You could even order a cows eye from a science supply company and dissect it. We could add the other senses in...., tasting, touching, smelling and hearing, and talk about the importance they play in helping us function on a day by day basis. Then to close out your fun filled learning adventure you could grab a box of popcorn, snuggle up on the couch with your children, and watch, "The Miracle Worker" (Helen Keller's true story). This is Unit Study learning at it's best. Unit Studies pull families together.

One of the most popular unit study programs on the homeschool market is put out by Five In A Row Publishing. Many of our Time4learning families find that "FIAR" is a perfect partner to Time4Learning!

Unit Studies Can Capitalize on Students’ Interests

Learning with unit studies combines several subjects and pulls them together. It allows children to be in the drivers seat as they are able to explore their special interest, rather than a more typical learning situation where you are following a specific scope and sequence.

Unit studies are conducive to teaching multiple ages and abilities. Whole families can study together. For example, when studying the 1800s, a third grader can read the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, and an eleventh grader can read the works of Edgar Allen Poe.

Many unit study homeschoolers purchase unit-study guides that suggest materials, projects and shopping lists. Other unit study families have a parent who enjoys building specialized units for each of the children around their selected units. In other families, the children themselves are tasked to find appropriate materials for each unit.

Unit Studies and Time4Learning

Some of our unit study families rely on Time4Learning to provide a solid scope and sequence from which to loosely follow. They love that Time4Learning gives them subjects and order, but that they have the flexibility to bring those subjects to life through unit studies that pull their whole family together. Yet each child is able to stay on track with their own math and language art programs. Some of our families use Time4Learning simply as a resource to complement their unit studies, finding lessons from within Time4Learning to fit within their units.

Many families are delighted to discover that large parts of our language arts curriculum are built around thematic units. For example, in the second grade Language Arts program, there are twenty two lessons. The first one focuses on spiders. It starts with a lesson teaching about spiders. The first animation explains about the type of spider webs and with simple animation, shows how the web is used to trap food. The next section is an original animated short story about a spider. The following lessons teach vocabulary, reading comprehension, and grammar using the spider story as source material. A little unit study! :}

What is Time4Learning?

 Time4Learning is used by homeschooling parents either as a primary curriculum or as a supplemental program to other materials, such as purchased workbooks or texts, and other methods, such as unschooling, Charlotte Mason, and Unit Studies.

Time4Learning appeals to a wide range of learning styles. Our online learning materials are especially well-suited to children who are visual or kinesthetic learners. These children can take advantage of Time4Learning's interactive, multi-media materials.

Children like using the computer to learn. It's a convenient, interactive homeschool resource that provides a welcome change each day to paper-and-pencil workbooks and textbook-based lessons.

Parents like that it tracks progress and helps children advance by clearly presenting and reinforcing the each lesson.

Time4Learning is self-paced, modularized. Lesson plans allow you to move forward and back through the materials whenever you want. You can skip lessons that teach concepts your child has already mastered and repeat those he or she has not. The choice is yours. With Time4Learning, you are always in control.

Time4Learning is proven effective with homeschoolers , has a low monthly price, is easy-to-use , and provides a money-back guarantee so you can make sure that it works for your children, 100% guaranteed! Sign up for Time4Learning as part of your overall homeschool program.

If you would like to learn more about how Time4Learning can benefit your homeschool, click here for more information.