Math is not our best subject here, though we’ve settled into some solutions for our family. I am keenly aware of our deficits and learning gaps in math, so when the opportunity came to give CTCMath a try, I excitedly jumped at the opportunity for some homeschool math help.
I was thrilled with both how easy it was to use and how excited my kids were to do math!
What I loved about CTCMath:
Disclaimer: I was compensated for my time reviewing this product, writing this review, and hosting the giveaway.
Highly Motivated Learners
The CTCMath 12 month family membership is an online math program for the whole family that is both well-designed and very user-friendly. After trying one online math this year with my oldest, I wasn’t sure that another online program would work for us. But both the student site and the parent site were easy to navigate. Also, the certificates and medals had all of my kids very motivated to learn the material thoroughly. My kids even went back on their own to repeat lessons and bring up their scores in an attempt to earn gold medal certificates!
The lesson videos are short, averaging about 5 minutes each, followed by 10 to 20 questions. The fact that my kids could move through the lesson material quickly was also highly motivating for them. Overall, my kids enjoyed the program, my fifth grade daughter most of all.
Diagnostic Math Help and Progress Reports
Weekly progress reports were emailed to me, as well as PDFs of the certificates the kids had earned during their lessons. Accessing reports on the kids’ progress, the number of times they had attempted a lesson, and their final score on each lesson were all easy to find and keep up with. Another part of the program that I absolutely loved were the diagnostic tests available for each topic. For each topic, three optional diagnostic tests are provided: short, standard, and comprehensive. I had my kids take the standard diagnostic for each topic they worked on. The complete results of each question are provided along with the final score. This made it very easy for me to quickly assess what they had understood and what they were not yet understanding. Then, my kids could just do the lessons on the particular area of that topic where they were struggling.
What didn’t work well for us
The program is mastery-based, with only a little review, and offers more of a procedural approach to math. In other words, it teaches how to work a problem and provides practice problems for that topic, but it does not offer multiple approaches to the problem or emphasize critical thinking necessarily. If you are using this as your sole curriculum, I would recommend supplementing with a critical thinking math activity book.
While there are review worksheets included for most grade levels, we found these to be difficult to use because the sheets reviewed topics for the entire year’s worth of material, in other words, topics the student had yet to learn. Each time I tried to offer the review sheets, there were topics that had not yet been taught in the lessons which frustrated my kids. However, you could have your child simply skip the problems you haven’t yet covered.
Also, while my younger two loved the Australian accent, my oldest struggled with understanding the instruction in the videos because of the accent.
Benefits of CTCMath
After using this program for a couple of months, I would highly recommend this program to two groups of families: those looking to fill learning gaps and those needing an independent option for math.
Discover Learning Gaps and Get Fun Math Help
First, if you are needing to discover and address learning gaps, this program is ideal, especially because a subscription allows you access to all grades and all topics for all your kids. The diagnostics really did a great job of helping me to discover where my kids had missed key concepts that I thought we had covered. Also, CTCMath would be a great tool for preparing for standardized testing. In addition to the lessons, CTCMath has three great review games that had my kids thoroughly engaged. One is a speeds skill game that reviews all your basic operations and even order of operations in a game-based format. Another reviews time tables in an arcade “shoot the alien” style speed game. The last is a critical thinking puzzle that my kids have yet to solve. And as I mentioned before, my kids were very motivated to raise their percentage scores in order to earn gold medal certificates for the topics they were working on.
Independent Math Help for Your Whole Family
A second group of families that would benefit from a CTCMath 12 month family subscription would be those who are going through challenging life stages and need a good math program that frees them up from the actual one-on-one teaching. Whether you have a new baby, are going through a health crisis, are moving to a new home, or just have a houseful of children and need to maximize your time, CTCMath is ideal for keeping your kids up to speed in math while you devote your energy elsewhere. And it is extremely affordable.
For my family, we will continue to enjoy it as a supplement to our main curricula, to fill in learning gaps, and to cover basic skills on the days when we need a little something different. CTCMath is a fantastic math option that makes teaching math procedures fun and engaging for your kids and virtually effortless for you! They also offer a free trial.
Visit the link to explore more about CTCMath and start your free trial. Homeschooling families receive a massive 60% discount from regular price. Purchase any 12 Month Membership and receive a bonus 6 months for FREE! (total 18 months).
Plus, enter to win the giveaway for a free subscription!
