When my child has trouble with language arts, there is a myriad of resources that help me customize my homeschool to fit that child’s various needs. I can get spelling on one level, reading on a different level, and writing on yet another level. But finding math resources that allow for that kind of flexibility is a challenge. What do I do if my child excels in multiplication and division but struggles with fractions and telling time? Do I hold that child back? Do we work at two separate grade levels? The ability to create a customized homeschool math program that fits my child’s unique needs is one of the top reasons I’ve loved CTCMath.
Creating a Customized Homeschool Math Program for your unique child
Disclaimer: I was compensated for my time in reviewing this product and writing an honest review. All opinions are my own, and I was under no obligation to post a positive review.
The more I use CTCMath, the more I love it. I love the freedom it has given me to ensure each of my kids is exactly where they need to be. I love the ability to scaffold weaknesses and support strengths. And I love that the lessons are in bite-sizes, which makes it easy to combine with other resources when we need to (without math taking all day). It has been very easy to use, schedule, and keep track of student progress. And it allows even my youngest student the ability to work with a level of independence when I need him to.
What is CTCMath?
CTCMath is an online K-12 math curriculum that offers a brief, straight-forward presentation of the lesson material followed by an online quiz of about 10 questions with automatic grading and instant feedback on incorrect answers. The topics are incremental and bite-sized, with each lesson taking about 10-15 minutes. There are diagnostics available for each topic that allow the parent to determine quickly and easily how much your child understands in each area of math rather than a broad grade-level diagnostic.
On the parent-end, the child’s score on each lesson, how many attempts the child made on each lesson, as well as overall grades for each child are easy to find and easy to print. The parent even has the ability to schedule lessons from various grade levels and hide the grade level from the child, so that the child can work on what he needs most without the pressure of feeling held back. The weekly email reports are another of my favorite features of this program. Each week, I receive an email that lets me know how many times my child logged in, how many lessons each child completed, and the overall scores for each child.
Customer service has also been very helpful. When I wanted the option to be able to replace a grade on a particular lesson rather than calculating an average of all their attempts, I emailed them my question and received a very quick response letting me know about the feature to edit topics and lessons in the parent view. I was able to very easily delete the grade for a particular lesson and allow my child to retry the questions for a new grade.
Another fantastic feature is that the questions are new each time my child attempts the lesson again. No matter how many tries it takes, my child has never ended up “memorizing questions” to move on but actually masters the concept. It is a mastery-based curriculum, which means there isn’t a lot of review worked into the program. However, there is an option to complete “Weekly Revision Sets” which include questions from all the math topics. These are not my kids’ favorite assignments, and they are very challenging. But they are also optional; you can choose whether or not to use it.
And that really is the beauty of this math curriculum: you get to choose exactly what you want to include in your child’s homeschool math program. You are not required to complete certain lessons before accessing other parts of the program. Instead, you have access to everything—all topics, all grade levels. I have not seen this degree of flexibility in any other math program. CTCMath is the best option for creating a customized homeschool math program I have found. And it’s economical! You can get half-off a homeschool family membership for up to 5 kids for $148 a year.
How we use CTCMath to create our own customized homeschool math
I use CTCMath differently for each of my three kids. One child uses CTCMath as his primary curriculum; I’ve used grades 1-3 with him over the last few years. Another child uses CTCMath every other day alongside a second curriculum; she’s used grades 6-7 and is now using the Basic Math and Pre-Algebra level. My oldest prefers to use CTCMath as a supplement when he gets stuck on a particular topic and needs a little extra explanation; he’s worked through the Basic Math and Pre-Algebra as well as Algebra I.
The ability to have an economical resource to fill in those math gaps and help my kids exactly where they need the help has been amazing.
Why customize your homeschool math?
Different seasons of life require different needs and accommodations.
- Maybe you are transitioning to homeschool for the first time and have no idea where to place your child or have noticed that your child has several gaps in what they know.
- Maybe your child has learning struggles and you need a program to accommodate those struggles without demeaning your child.
- Maybe you have a child that is incredibly advanced in one area while behind in another area. Finding a curriculum to match those asynchronous skills can be a challenge.
- Maybe you are in a season of life that requires as much flexibility as possible.
Want to give it a try for free? Visit the CTCMath website for a free trial. Or, sign up to get half-off a homeschool family membership.
Whatever the reasons for needing the ability to customize a child’s education, CTCMath is the option I immediately recommend when someone mentions a need for flexibility and independent learning in a math curriculum.
