Time For Learning-Preschool edition

I am always amazed at the computer savviness of my youngest child. Aidan is 5 years old and although not completely literate, definitely computer literate. He navigates his favorite websites and can spend hours playing games. The computer, next to Legos, is his favorite toy. Many times, however, I find myself in a battle of wills with Aidan and his computer time. I wouldn't mind his favorite toy taking most of his time if I was assured it was well spent. Like his older siblings and mother, Aidan can easily fall into the trap of the "hypnotic passive stare"; a common side effect of too much screen time.

Lucky for Aidan, more computer time was required for him to help me with my review of Time 4 Learning's newest product created for students in pre-K. Time 4 Learning, an on-line curriculum designed for home education, provides pre-school activities completed on a home computer linked into the company's website. Aidan and I were given a FREE one month subscription to Time 4 Learning- PK edition in exchange for this review.

Our family was familiar with Time 4 Learning since reviewing the program last year for two elementary aged kids. At the time only limited portions of the Pre-school program were available. You can read that review here.

Time 4 Learning Pre-K is now a comprehensive pre-school curriculum with two different levels of ability with an average of 20 units per level. Time 4 Learning promises to be a "learning program that's fun and effective" providing a 100% satisfaction guarantee upon registering. In addition, Time 4 Learning placed in Homeschool.com's top three "100 Educational Websites for 2009".

After assisting him with log in procedures, Aidan easily navigated through the program without supervision. Graphics and visual cues like a smiling happy face nodding yes or a frowning face nodding no are provided to aid the non-reader with screen selections. Aidan chose a topic to study, clicking on the graphic which matched the description. Each topic consisted of 4-5 different activities to explore and learn taking him approximately 4-5 mins. to complete each unit.

Aidan's first choice of topic was "Garden". Within the topic he was presented with the choices of "storybook", "patterns" or "paint it" activities. Clicking on "Storybook", for example, provided him with a listening activity as a brief storybook related to gardens was read to him. Words of the narration were displayed to encourage reading. Aidan easily clicked the mouse to turn pages of the e-story book.

One of my favorite activities Aidan participated in was called "Write It!". Pre-schoolers are guided through making choices in plot, setting or characters by answering a series of simple questions. The activity concludes with the new story "written" being read aloud to the child complete with illustrations.

"I like the 'make the story' activity because it is really exciting", shared Aidan.

Level two topics and activities of Time 4 Learning, pre-K edition are more involved and require greater critical thinking skills. For example, one activity, "Re-call" asked questions to demonstrate reading comprehension for the "Manners" unit of Level 2. The "Color Mixing" unit contained an activity allowing kids to virtually mix paint colors to create new ones. The newly mixed colors were expressed as round circles with eyes. They appear to be spray painted to life in a factory. I thought the graphics were adorable and held great kid appeal. I noted Aidan spent more time playing the paint game than he had with previous activities; meaning it captured and held his attention well.

From storybooks to games to ideas for parents to extend topics with pre-schoolers, Time 4

Learning has a lot to offer parents and pre-schoolers. Subscriptions cost $19.95 a month for the first child and $14.95 a month for the second child. Although I am not a huge fan of on-line curricula especially for pre-schoolers, I believe Time 4 Learning provides age appropriate, engaging and valuable activities for little ones in love with computer time. Customers interested, but not convinced may try a free demo of Time 4 Learning on the company website.

When asked for the final word, my little computer game consultant provided a high recommendation for Time 4 Learning- preK.

"It was very cool! I got to do the games and stuff and watch the shows".

Write Shop Story Builders

“Once upon a time the hysterical peacock noticed a forest fire while he was riding a rollercoaster at the amusement park.”—Aidan, age 4

“A disobedient seahorse that lived in a toybox never listened to his mother, Raggedy Ann. God was displeased by the little seahorse’s disobedience so he caused his lips to grow larger then smaller every time he disobeyed his mother”. ---Micah, age 11

“An obnoxious ant was captured by a tribe of warrior ants and placed in a cage. He escaped and continued to spy on the enemy ants.”---Jonah, age 14

The beginning sentences of the stories above may not be Pulitzer worthy, but they are certainly creative. All were written through the help of Write Shop’s newest product, World of Animals Story Builders. Whether used as a game, creative writing assignment, or brainstorming session, these handy little cards promise hours and hours of language arts fun.

The foundation of the Write Shop writing curriculum was laid in 1997, when two homeschool moms, Kim Kautzer and Debra Oldar agreed to teach a co-op writing class to a small group of homeschoolers. Kautzer states on the Write Shop website, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” And for Debbie and me, necessity came in the shape of two twelve-year-old boys who simply could not write.”

The duo intended to utilize one or two writing curriculums already on the market, but through their summer planning sessions developed their own. The writing class was such a success that parents convinced them to market their curriculum and a business was born. Story Builders is the latest addition to the Write Shop curriculum family.

Story Builders sold in thematic e-books for $7.95 can easily add a dimension to anyone’s creative writing curriculum. Customers can choose from World of Animals Story Builders, World of People Story Builders, World of Sports Story Builders, and Story Builders: Christmas mini builder. The books consist of instruction pages and two deck options of cards; one deck designed to be printed on colored paper and one in color on white paper. Parents will want to purchase a ream of cardstock copy paper and have a fresh supply of ink in their printer after downloading the e-book to their home computer. It took me a half hour to print my white cardstock cards with colored ink and about an hour or so to cut them all apart. Once the initial set-up work is complete, Story Builders can be stored in small Ziploc bags, card files, small boxes, etc., allowing for easy implementation at a moment’s notice.

The decks of cards are divided into four categories; the four basic elements to good story telling. Forty-seven cards each of “Character”, “Setting”, “Character Trait”, and “Plot” cards as well as blank cards for inspired writers make Story Builders an endless supply of possibilities and creativity. Aidan’s story, for example, used the cards “peacock”, “amusement park”, “hysterical” and “notices a forest fire”. The job of the person that draws the cards is to find a way to combine them into a story.

There are many ways to utilize Story Builders and most are suggested in the instructions portion of the e-book. My kids and I decided to narrate our stories while sitting around the kitchen table after dinner one night. We placed the cards in their separate categories face down on the table and took one card each from all four of the category decks. After a few minutes for brainstorming ideas, we took turns “telling our stories” based on the story elements we held in our hands. As we used the element we laid the card down for others to see enabling the audience to understand which parts were creative license and which were scripted. The stories were wacky at best, but brought forth gales of laughter even from my 14 year old.

My initial reaction; the cards are fun, but not very educational. To prove me wrong, when asked what they thought the kids unanimously said, “I like it! It’s a lot of fun. Let’s play one more round”.

After a few more rounds I noticed that the 1st grader was attempting to read vocabulary way beyond her years, the pre-schooler was winning the creativity award for most unusual story telling and my fourteen year old was easily working away at creative story telling techniques, an enemy of his for many, many years. My respect for Write Shop Story Builders deepened and I began to admire the cleverness of disguising this educational tool as a “game”.

My experience using Write Shop Story Builders over the past few weeks has reinforced my belief that education is a never ending fun-filled journey of family memories. Although easily adapted to a classroom or co-op setting, Story Builders is a special treat for the home educator.