Before the pandemic, it was business as usual for Boca Raton resident Nikki Warris. Her two daughters, 5-year-old Natalie and 8-year-old Lexi, were attending brick and mortar schools, and her tutoring business, which she opened in 2018, was growing steadily.
Fast forward to March 2020 when the pandemic forced schools to transition to remote learning, and Nikki’s personal and professional life were about to change, much like it did for millions of parents around the world. From the get-go, Nikki knew that remote learning wasn’t going to work for her family, so she began to homeschool her girls.
An Expert Educator in the Homeschool Classroom
As a former public school teacher with a degree in secondary English education, Nikki has quite a bit of experience when it comes to educating children and helping them succeed. She understands firsthand how difficult it can be to give each student your undivided attention.
Today, she provides tutoring services and homeschool help to close to 20 students ranging from elementary to high school. What she’s hearing most from parents is that they are seeking a better alternative to the learning experiences children were exposed to with crowded Zoom-type virtual classrooms.
Creating Customized Education with Time4Learning Tools
Since Nikki helps students of varying ages and skill levels, she loves the control that she has with Time4Learning. According to Nikki, Time4Learning empowers her with the tools and resources to provide individualized learning, which is at the core of her tutoring business. “Everyone does not learn the same way,” she says. Some of her students use Time4Learning full time, while others only use it for certain subjects or topics.
“I love that you can choose the material instead of having to do everything,” she says. She can preview lessons, have the students skip material on concepts they have mastered, as well as determine what a passing grade is.
Nikki finds the activity planner especially helpful for a number of reasons. “It (Time4Learning) does it all for you,” she says. “You just put in your dates and what you want.” A few clicks and her students have an easy-to-follow schedule with the amount of activities they have to complete every week.
“It (Time4Learning) does it all for you. You just put in your dates and what you want.”
Nikki
The records are another time (and space) saver, according to the Time4Learning member. “Being able to store all their records without having to keep paper is just phenomenal.” Additionally, the reporting helps her keep track of each student’s progress and determine where there may be a ‘disconnect’ with material. If that’s the case, they can easily go back and redo the lessons, or she can review it with the student.
For those parents that worry about screen time, Nikki believes that as long you include activities like hands-on projects, things will balance themselves out. That is one of the reasons Nikki loves the Time4Learning science curriculum, since it includes tons of ideas for hands-on activities. She also incorporates physical education, music, and art into the students’ schedules. These are activities that families can integrate into their own homeschool plans, or complete within a group setting.
Keeping All Students Engaged
Having the ability to fine-tune and customize everything means everyone is kept engaged. Her older students are big fans of the newest updates to the middle school and high school curriculum, including the electives and the wide-range of courses. For example, rather than just science or social studies, Time4Learning offers Earth science, biology, chemistry, American history, and ancient world history, just to name a few.
For her younger daughter, Natalie, who attended preschool, the transition to homeschooling was easier. She’s now learning to read, and although she is using Time4learning as her core curriculum, Nikki says it’s important to include outside reading as well. She uses leveled books and motivates her little one by giving her a prize for every level she completes.
Initially, her older daughter, Lexi, who she says is a social butterfly, wasn’t thrilled about being away from her friends, but now with more students joining them in their homeschool learning, things have gotten easier.
Nikki wants other families to feel empowered too, regardless of their experience. In her opinion, nothing compares to homeschooling and the one-on-one instruction it provides. If you’re on the fence and considering making the transition, Nikki says, “Just do it. Whatever is best for your child is what you should do.”
