Time 4 Learning Review

Monday, July 14th

2025 Learn to Read Program Reviews

Time 4 Learning

• $29.95 per month for elementary students, 30% off additional students
• Automated grading and reporting
• Pop-up offers, like 10% off the cost of subscription
• Customer support available through phone, email or chat
• 14-day money-back guarantee
• Start, stop, or pause membership anytime
• Over 1 million customers over 20 years
• PreK-12th online curriculum
• 24/7 access to 3,500+ lessons and activities
• Automated grading & reporting

Time 4 Learning's learn to read program is a popular platform with over 1 million customers over 20 years. They've kept up with technology to create an online curriculum geared toward homeschoolers, but it will work for those who want to supplement school or keep up skills during school breaks. This program has a beautiful website and has a history of mostly good reviews. But, there are some problems, like software glitches and recent changes that have frustrated parents. It has a hefty price tag, so it's important to do your research before committing to purchase.

Great for beginning homeschoolers

If you are trying to start a homeschooling journey and lack confidence, Time 4 Learning will not just help your child learn to read, but will act almost as a teacher's assistant and school administrator for you. From making sure you are schooling to meet state requirements, to grading and preparing progress reports for you, Time 4 Learning will definitely save you time and help to reduce the stress of record-keeping.

Making it easy to teach all the way through high school

If you are planning on teaching your child at home through high school, you will not have to worry about changing curriculum if you don't want to. You will also have the option every year to personalize the curriculum, customize the pace and schedule of different classes, and you can have Time 4 Learning help you to prepare transcripts and grades in order to meet state homeschool requirements.

View a demo before committing to purchase

Time 4 Learning offers an online demo of their program on their website so you can get a feel for what the curriculum is like before signing up.

Hard-to-find pricing and invasive data gathering

While we appreciate the level of personalization that Time 4 Learning offers, we did not like that pricing is hidden until you go through a process that involves entering personal information about yourself, your child, and where you live before you can even see a price point. We also had to sign up for an account before we could see if they offered an annual discount or not. We wonder if they count accounts or actual subscribers for their marketing claims. In the fine print, we read that because we signed up we were agreeing to receive marketing materials from them. This was a big negative.

Low-quality graphics and music

Specific to the learn to read grade levels (K-3), we found that the graphics and music were low-quality and lacking. Some moms reviewed Time 4 Learning and said their children didn't want to use it after one time, as they weren't engaged. While looking at the demos, we were unimpressed with the presentation of the curriculum and the videos were sometimes even eye-wateringly ugly.

Active online community

Time 4 Learning has a beautiful online presence - the website is well developed and laid out nicely, and the social media channels are very interactive. It is obvious they spend a lot of effort engaging their subscribers. It's nice to see real-life pictures of families who use the curriculum, and they even have online activities like "Homeschool Spirit Week” to encourage that sense of community and fun. It is actually a rare thing to see this much online engagement in a learn to read program. We are truly impressed with their robust social media presence and their dedication to bringing a sense of belonging to all their students.

Complaints of imitative conversations that may be undesirable

While potty humor is an easy way to get a laugh from a child, many parents are not happy with Time 4 Learning's inclusion of this in the curriculum. From stories about "stupid babies” to characters saying they like dictionaries to look up words like "poop”, examples abound of crass humor and sometimes developmentally inappropriate content. More examples include references to passing gas, murder and jokes like "If you're born in a bathroom, you're a pee-an - get it? European?” and things like that. It just doesn't seem necessary at all, and can lead to kids imitating this behavior, which often is disruptive in group settings and actually in a classroom would not be welcome. We are mystified as to why a curriculum would include things like this. There are also things in the curriculum that seem to border on prejudice or racial slurs. This is not what we would expect from something that is on the higher end of the price points for online learning programs.

Glitches and typos

Some parents complain that the Time 4 Learning online activities can glitch, causing students to have to start over. More problematic, though, are parents reporting that there are typos and misspellings in the reading curriculum. While this could be tolerated in another subject, misspelling in a reading curriculum is really embarrassing. Things like "glided” instead of "gilded' and missing capitalization for "English” are just examples of typos that should never have been published.

Recent problems with updates

People who've used the program for many years are recently reporting frustration with online updates. They complain that there aren't enough updates for the recent price increases and that the new updates are causing problems. They wish that student reports would be available the same day so that parents can plan better for the following day. They also express that the newer version does not allow parents to assign activities by day and it has become hard to navigate. Tutorials constantly pop up even if you've already done them.

Some reviewers say their children used this program and fell behind

Some reviewers say that when their children were temporarily homeschooled using this program, they fell far behind when returning to public school. Still others claim that there are too many crass jokes to try and get the kids to like the program and not enough learning. Still others say they like the program, but feel their children aren't learning enough or keeping up with other students in public school or other curricula.

Auto-renewal, but satisfaction guaranteed

Time 4 Learning offers a 14-day money-back guarantee period. This offer is only valid for new members and does not include reactivated accounts. Cancellation policies are spelled out in fine print, and the membership does auto-renew, so be sure to calendar a cancellation if you don't want to be charged for a renewal. Time 4 Learning also reserves the right to raise their prices, but it won't affect your current month. This might be a sticker shock for those depending on the curriculum on a budget. It also appears they no longer offer an annual plan, so the prices could be raised on your subscription at any time.

Beautiful website, great community - but some problems

Any busy homeschool parent loves the idea of having someone else grade student work, and take care of state-mandated homeschool requirements and paperwork. The Time 4 Learning website does great at customizing curricula for individual students to align with personal goals and state requirements. It has a fabulous community on social media channels. But there are enough problems that we can only recommend this as a learn to read program with caution and an understanding that there may be problems that are not easy to spot at first glance with Time 4 Learning.