CTCMath is a wonderful online math curriculum and resource for anyone with school-aged children. Covering math from kindergarten through high school, the 12-month Family Membership (a subscription that can be used for up to 5 students) is a great value and is easy to use. Your child will simply log in to the website and start using it! Work at grade level, go back a few to review concepts they’re having trouble with, or jump ahead if they are more advanced. It’s so flexible.
My kids enjoy working through the video lessons. There are plenty of practice problems built into the program, but if students need more practice, you can assign them extra by using the Question Bank Wizard tool. There are diagnostic tests, progress reports, and there is even a place to assign specific tasks to your students.
To see how CTCMath works, check out their video below:
This math program is a very affordable option, especially if you have a lot of kids. Their website currently offers half off to homeschoolers, making it less than $150 for an entire year for up to 5 students to have access. This is as of today (August 2019), and the pricing details may change if you are reading this at a later date.
It can be used as a comprehensive, full math curriculum or as a supplement to help your children practice particular skills whenever they would like. The program covers math all the way from Kindergarten to Sixth Grade, as well as Elementary Measurement, Elementary Geometry, Basic Math & Pre-Algebra, and high school level Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus.
I will have my daughter take a placement test at a local community college soon so she can do dual enrollment, and I know she will need some extra lessons in algebra and possibly higher math skills to do well on that, so we will use CTCMath to get her a little bit ahead to do well on that! This would also be an amazing tool for getting your child PSAT, SAT, and ACT ready. CTCMath also works well as a supplement for students enrolled in private or public school in place of hiring an expensive tutor. The videos and exercises are easy to understand and cover a huge range of topics.
There are diagnostic tests that each student can take so you are able to see how well they know the material. These can be taken any time, and could be useful before and after coursework is completed. If you give the test prior to them beginning working on the course, you could exempt them from completing things they’ve already shown competency in to streamline their coursework more if you don’t feel that they need the extra review. I know a few of my kids do better this way, and a few of them need the review. This is very flexible for you to do what you wish with the information you gather! As a post-test, the diagnostic tests can be good as a “final exam”.
The video lessons work well for auditory or visual learners, and worksheets can be generated for students who learn better by physically writing out and working on the problems. Of course, once students reach high levels of math, they will likely be taking notes and using scratch paper anyway!
The questions help students to solidify their knowledge in the skill.
You can even scroll down under the lesson and view and/or print a lesson summary. If your child needs to be able to see it on paper, this is a good option to have to help them follow along with the videos and possibly make notes on it.
An optional part of the program is the Worksheets section. I love it! As you can see from the screenshot below, you can view and/or print the worksheet, and then you can enter in the answers online and view the solutions. This is a great way to be able to have your student do math offline if you don’t have internet access available, and then you can get online later and check the answers and view how they arrived at those answers.
Parent Tools
I love that you can look at detailed reports for each child and the different topics and subjects they have been working on. I particularly like being able to see how many times my kids have attempted a lesson and what their initial score was compared to their highest score. You can see what I mean by looking below at Heath’s lesson on Ascending Order.
A feature that is new since we used CTCMath last time is that you can assign tasks to students. You can require them to complete the lesson or to complete the lesson and pass the test, you can assign diagnostic tests, or you can use a question bank to generate practice work for students to be assigned to complete as a task.
This feature is great if there are certain skills your student needs to work on specifically, or if your child is overwhelmed with the options of the full program. This helps to zero in on exactly what you want them to work on for the time frame that you designate and they will see it upon logging in.
Another thing I found while looking around in my Teacher Dashboard, under Tools, was a page full of checklists. You can download and print checklists for Kindergarten through Calculus. It has all of the topics and sections and lessons listed, along with a place to write your child’s name, when they completed the lesson, and what their grade was.
If your state requires you to keep a portfolio, or perhaps you have a high school student that needs to keep track for a transcript, this printable form will make hard copy record keeping so easy. Just punch some holes in these pages and place in a folder or binder and you or your child can fill this out as they go along.
This also works well so that they can visually be able to tell what they’ve finished and what they still need to complete to master a particular level of mathematics. I know my kids love lists like this so that they are able to feel like they are truly making progress during the school year!
We have another program that we use for our core coursework, but I absolutely love having CTCMath as a supplement. We used it this summer with my oldest, who just started 9th grade, and my middlest, who just started 4th grade. The exercises on CTCMath kept their math skills sharp so that they didn’t suffer that summer slump that so many kids have to work through when school starts.
We love how easy the lessons are to choose from and complete. My daughter and son both alternated doing the lessons on iPhones and computers. It worked well either way. I liked that they could do lessons on their phones while they were away from home visiting my mom since they didn’t have their laptops or desktops with them there. This makes lessons portable and perfect for on the go!
If your family is looking for a new math curriculum or supplement, give CTCMath a try! They offer a free trial, so you have nothing to lose.
To see how other families used the CTCMath program, click the graphic banner below: