We had the chance to review the CTC Math 12 Month Family Plan with our oldest two children who are ages almost 8 and 6 and are both at the 2nd Grade level for Math. It has been our main Math curriculum, and we’ve been using it at the 2nd Grade level 4-5 days per week.
CTC math is an online Math program for grades K-12. It is a tutorial program that first begins with a video lesson followed by questions. Because the video isn’t live it can be watched as many times as needed or the kids can go back to the part they didn’t quite understand to hear and see it again. Because they are younger and need help reading the questions, I do sit nearby, but for the most part the “teaching” is done for me.
The videos offer step by step instructions on the topic they are learning while showing examples of the problems. The questions then correspond to what they have learned. There is some reading involved in the questions, which is why I have to sit nearby. The questions aren’t always intuitive, and they do actually need to read the questions. Since our kids are still learning reading, we do need to help them. This has actually helped them start to recognize the number words, though, which is a welcomed benefit!
After submitting the answer to the question, it will then show if it is right or wrong or what parts (if there are multiple choices) are right or wrong. I take this opportunity to explain why the answer is wrong to help them understand. It doesn’t explain it for them, so this is another advantage of sitting nearby. I do think that would be a helpful feature. At the end it gives a percentage based score. They are able to answer the set of questions again (though the questions will be different) to improve their score. It then takes the averages of the scores. It does offer a reward system for those that average a 95% or higher will get a gold medal, next is the silver medal and so on. At the end, we also got to print out certificates, which they really enjoy!
CTC Math does allow for multiple children, and they can be of different grade levels as well. They don’t have to be at the same grade levels like ours are. Each child gets their own login information, but because our children are younger, I log them in. They do their work one at a time so they don’t distract each other as they both have to solve problems out loud. When they finish the questions the first time and don’t do so well, I ask them to try again right away.
We also took a few days just to go over some of the questions we had done before to help them improve their averages and get more practice. So, we didn’t necessarily do a new lesson each day because sometimes they needed more practice on a specific topic, so we only did questions. Counting objects on the computer screen was particularly challenge especially since they weren’t in even rows. I have to admit, I tried to help them by pointing them out while they counted, and even I missed one or pointed to one twice!
CTC Math also has a login specifically for parents called the “Parents’ Area” where we can see all of our students and get a quick view of their overall efficiency rating. We can also see all of their recent activity, view detailed reports, view summary reports, and view any certificates earned. Although I could see this from their accounts, it was nice to have the “big picture” right in front of me as well to assess what we would need to work on that day or week.
Overall, I think CTC Math is a good online Math program that really works through Math in a very thorough way that kids can understand. It offers something unique in the fact that it does have a lesson, and that it’s readily available at any time.
I do think it can be a little trickier for kids who may need more hands-on work. In that case, though, I really do feel like you can easily supplement it by being involved in the lessons and adding to it that little extra your child may need. For example, I got out physical objects they could touch and move around for the estimating lessons because they were having a hard time with the grouping concept. That factor alone doesn’t deter me from wanting to use the program since I know my children just learn differently and will need that extra help sometimes.
CTC Math for homeschoolers can be purchased for $118.80 for your whole family for 12 Months. There is also the option to purchase monthly for $15.97 or 6 months for $78.80 (these are also Family Plans – Individual Student Plans are available as well.) *Please note these are the SALE prices at the time of this posting, and they may change.
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Our CTC Math review reflects our use of the 2nd Grade Level. The grade levels are slightly different in what CTC Math offers and how they are structured, so be sure to click on the banner below to read other reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew!
