Beginning Computer School a Little Early

We started computer school this week.  No, I’ve not had the baby, but everyone is sick (seriously, all five kids and mommy are all sick).  Computer school adds a bit of excitement to the day and makes life a bit easier on mom.  With that, I have a new product we’re reviewing that came at just the right time.  Want to hear a little about it?

Time4Learning contacted me late last week to see if we wanted to try their website for a month with any of our children.  (This is NOT related to my TOS Homeschool Crew work, in case you are wondering.)  As I had already planned to move to computer school for a month or so as soon as baby Caleb is born, this was a great opportunity.  I chose to sign up 3 of my children: Joseph, Emma, and Daniel.  I actually put Joseph in the 1st grade level, Emma in K, and Daniel in PreK.  By the end of the week I may shift Emma up a grade too, we’ll see.  So here is what each child is doing in homeschool so far this week:

Makayla (age 9)

• Mathletics – She likes this math website, we’re nearing the end of our 1 year subscription, which we purchased after a review last year (read that review here).
• Building Life Castles – a new Bible study we’re reviewing.
• Piano – she’s doing great here and having fun.
• Reading on her own – more books than I can type.

Joseph (age 6)

• Time4Learning Grade 1 – He’s enjoying it so far, he alternates between the phonics and math sections each day, then does science on here too.
• Reading aloud to mommy.

Emma (age 4, nearly 5)

• Time4Learning Grade K – She’s liking it okay, but is asking to move up to the same level as Joseph, which we just may do.
• Reading aloud to mommy.

Daniel (age 3)

• Time4Learning PreK – He’s thrilled with anything on the computer, and is pretty good with the mouse.
• Little Reader software – Still asking to do this every day.  Read my review here.

Oliver (age 20 months)

• Little Reader software – snuggled up on mommy’s lap with Daniel, or even sneaking to do it when brother is busy playing, he loves this too.

The Whole Family (What we’re doing together)

• Reading Stories of the Pilgrims
• Singing our Christmas hymns.
• Reciting our scripture memory verses.
• Reading Christmas with the Prophets (review coming Sunday).
• Reading the scriptures as a family.

There are several other things we’re going to be incorporating in computer time, but they will get posts of their own as we go along.  They include more math, scripture games, and other things.  What computer resources do you use with your children?  Have you found anything you (or they) absolutely love?