I believe I first came across t4l a few years ago on the internet. At some point, we tried the demos, but my learning disabled(LD) son was so easily frustrated then, he didn’t like them.When I first saw it, I was deterred by the cost. T4l is reasonably priced, but it seemed like too much since I have 4 children.

As the kids get older(one is finishing 7th grade), and as we have discovered some special needs, we figured a raise in the school budget was warranted. It is worth it for our family( and everyone’s situation is different :) )to invest in whatever we need to school our children. At this point in my life, I do not have the time, energy and everything else that is necessary to seek out freebies on the internet, make frequent trips to the library,etc. And in the end, it is cheaper than private school.

It was very hard getting started w/ t4l. Thank goodness, I visited the forums frequently and already knew it would take about 2 weeks to feel comfortable. I would get discouraged and want to give up, but I kept going.

And now, I could do commercials for t4l!

Wednesday I had my 3rd grader and 4th grader work from their Sonlight language arts and then do the other subjects on t4l. The newly revamped Sonlight LA program focuses on being a good writer. My special needs son prefers t4l learning LA because he doesn’t have to come up w/ the answer on his own, he gets to choose the answer. And he doesn’t have to write! He feels the same way about math!

I would like to have them do some Sonlight LA more regularly, but I love though that if things get hectic, I can depend again on t4l LA.

Also, I signed up for a free month of Pokemon learning league for my neighbor’s grandson(age 11, almost 12). My kids never watched the show, but this kid loves it. Everyday I let him do one lesson of t4l and then the other subjects on the Pokemon site. Anything to help the medicine go down, I say. He has some learning differences, too. I just love hearing the Pokemon characters teach what he has already been taught on t4l w/ a “Pokemon” spin to it. I hope it really reinforces the lessons for him.

My daughter who is a first grader is doing awesome. I tended to let her just listen in to lessons as she wanted to, many times skipping activities I had planned just for her. Sometimes she would just play in her room or maybe watch a movie or play on the computer while I tended to the other kids. Now she gets on t4l and does the most lessons and the most subjects of all my kids!  We were all telling my husband Wednesday night what a hard worker she is. I am so glad; and she is very proud of herself.

I have tried several different homeschool programs, I even tried public school.

This school year specifically, I was using Sonlight. I have recently discovered something about myself and that is that I don’t adapt things very well unless I am very sure and very familiar with it. So, for example, when doing the Sonlight Language Arts lessons, I read the directions and if it is not clear or I have questions, or the kids don’t understand, I am lost. I don’t know another way to explain it or help the kids see it from another angle.

As far as the other subjects, I cannot explain how frustrating it was. My plan was to teach my kids as a group. I wanted to have some time set aside for my youngest, who is a first grader(phonics, language arts).Then I realized the the older son should be doing more if he was going to be prepared to do Sonlight high school. So, then the plan was to do some reading outloud as a group, doing things one on one w/ my youngest daughter and also w/ my oldest son. The middle 3 were all very similar and I kept them in a group.

It seemed like a good idea, but it was such a headache. Each one in that group of 3 could be taught the same thing, but worked at a different pace! And my older son wasn’t ready to take off and do more on his own and my first grader wasn’t getting any time w/ me because I was too frazzled. I wasn’t able to personalize each child’s education the way I wanted to.

 When I started T4L, I started those 3 off at about the same place, but they are so different now! My 8 year old daughter is in 3rd grade math and 3rd grade Language arts. My 10 year old son does a fluency lesson from 2nd grade(he is dyslexic) and just started working on 4th grade Language arts and math. He will have to go back and work on multiplication/division facts, but he is doing well. My other student, the neighbor’s grandson is 11 and he is doing 2 lessons of 2nd grade language arts(fluency, comprehension, some phonics) and one lesson of 3rd grade LA. He is working on 2nd grade math.

I am going to wrap it up for now since I have gone on so long, but I would be happy to answer any specific questions or go into more detail if needed. Just ask!

We are actually taking this week off for spring break. I am using the off time to catch up on printing records and marking off the lessons the kids have completed.

Once a month, I generate reports for all activities in each subject and print them out. Then I send them to work with my husband so he can use the hole punch at his office and punch holes in all my papers at once.

Using t4l and having records is especially helpful to me because I still seek services from the public school for my son who has learning disabilities(LD).Now I can tell them in language they understand exactly what he is working on and what level is doing.

My name is Jennifer and I homeschool my 4 kids ages 7-12, and the neighbor’s grandson who is 11. I suffered depression after the birth of my 4th child in 5 years and have recently been diagnosed with ADD. I also just found out that I have sleep apnea, which means I stop breathing during sleep, which doesn’t allow me to get deep, refreshing sleep.

My second son has Learning Disabilities, ADD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, some muscle and coordination delays and Sensory Processing Dysfunction. My youngest daughter has ADHD and is going to be tested for dyslexia.

I thought maybe the kids would be better off in public school, but it was not meant to be.  

At the beginning of this school year, I was very excited to be using Sonlight Curriculum,”one room schoolhouse” style. I felt confident about the neighbor’s grandson joining us.(What’s one more?)And because my own son had LD, I wasn’t worried when his mom told me he’d been tested and had no LD, dyslexia,etc, but was 2 years behind.

As I would soon learn, being “behind” and having LD are two totally different animals! My son cannot read or write well, but has normal comprehension ability. This little boy can read and write better than my son, but doesn’t understand things easily. So they have have distinct and OPPOSITE needs. Not to mention the needs of my other 3 kids!!

I started searching out a solution to the madness and found t4l. We have one computer and each child takes their turn while I observe. Some days a child will wake up before everyone else and start without me. It does help us get everyone in earlier, but I don’t allow that everyday, as they don’t always get as much out of it when I am not there.

What is kind of funny is that with the kids being so close in age and ability, I hear some of the lessons 3(and sometimes 4!) times!!

They still read from their Sonlight readers. One day I hope to be able to add in more of Sonlight History and Geography.

Sorry it turned out so long. I look forward to getting acquainted with everyone!