My family does a lot of computer-based and online school, so the family membership to the online math curriculum from CTCMath is always a welcome addition to our homeschool curriculum line up. As part of my review, I am able to share a free trial with you if you are interested in checking it out yourself. You will be able to access the wide array of topics, but your child will only be able to complete the first few lessons per topic as part of the trial. I think that’s an excellent way to see if this teaching style will work well with your child’s learning style.
The lessons are colorful and show students how to work each problem. When they get to the questions, it is done in the same style as the video, so they’re already familiar with what they should be doing. They’re able to see their progress and how many they’ve gotten correct as they move along.
My kindergartner likes that he can press the little speaker button and it will repeat what was asked of him. He has a hard time paying attention, so sometimes he has to have the question read and repeated to him a few times before typing in his answer. We all like that it will tell you right away if you got the question right or wrong.
For further practice, older students are also given the option of doing worksheets. High school students have multiple worksheets and access to the solutions. I found that my middle schooler was able to access a worksheet and enter her answers in there. I’m glad she wasn’t able to view the solutions right on that screen, because she might have been tempted to check it first!
While working through the overall program, students can see all of the available lessons, as well as their grades and progress. My kindergarten student son got really excited when he got the blue bar, indicating an A, on his topics.
If you want to give your child the diagnostic tests on each topic of study, there are a few options. You can choose to have them answer 20, 30, or 40 questions. This can be used to see if your student has mastery BEFORE completing the corresponding lessons or to make sure your student mastered everything before moving on. With my kindergarten son, we skipped these altogether. I have used this feature with my older students in the past, especially for topics that I’m almost sure they would ace. It’s a good measure of competence in a specific subject area.
Reporting
It’s easy to see that your students are working regularly on their math at a glance within the program.
CTC Math provides parents with all of the information they might need about their student’s progress. I get a weekly email telling me how my kids are doing and exactly what they’ve been working on. You can also log in and see what they were working on, when they passed a topic, how many tries it took, what their scores were, and a grade. If your state required reporting, this feature is a simple way to generate those reports and keep tabs on how your child is progressing through the program.
Final Thoughts
Our family enjoys using this math program. For my younger students, I absolutely love using it as a full curriculum. I love the flexibility to move around, making it great for older students who can’t get enough of math and want to move quickly. Some children will just need more practice to grasp these concepts, particularly if they struggle in math, so I recommend trying it out through the free trial to see how it works for your student. At the least, this program is a comprehensive and thorough math supplement. I think most families will find, however, that CTCMath can be used as a complete math curriculum solution for the whole family.
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