23
Apr

CTC Math Review

I have always loved math. It always came very easy to me and I found it to be fun. I loved having math homework to do every night.  It’s always been hard for me to understand why anyone would not like math.  So, of course- Hailey has never been very fond of math. She was in public school for 2 years and math was definitely not her favorite subject.  This year, her first year being homeschooled, math has definitely not been her favorite subject. So, I wondered- does she just hate math? Or, is it the curriculum we are using?  Surely she can’t really hate math.  I have been researching math curriculum for the last few months, talking to other homeschool moms about the math curriculum they use, and just trying to decide what to do about math.  Just stick with what we’re using or change things up??  So, when we had the chance to review CTC Math, I was really hopeful that it would help Hailey with her math struggles.  We were given the 12 Month Family Plan to review.

CTC Math Review
CTC Math is an entirely online math program, so I would recommend having a reliable internet connection to use this program.  You can purchase a membership monthly, every 6 months, or yearly- whatever would work best for you.  Right now, you can get a huge savings of 60% off the regular price!  For a family plan, including 2 or more children, you can purchase a yearly membership for $118.80 (normally $297).  Yearly membership for only one student is $78.80 (normally $197).  

CTC Math Review
When you sign up for a membership you are given access to all grade levels (Kindergarten- 12th grade) and all lessons for each grade level.  For each grade level (or course) there are several “streams.”  For example, in Kindergarten through sixth grade the streams include:

  • Numbers, Patterns and Algebra
  • Measurement
  • Space and Geometry
  • Statistics and Probabilty

From those streams you can pick one and click on it.  Then you will find the topics within those streams.  Once you have picked a topic for your child to work on, your child will listen to the lesson about the topic.  After the lesson is over your child will work on some practice questions.  There are also practice speed drills, that vary in difficulty level to help your child practice his or her math facts.

CTC Math

Each week the parent receives a weekly activity log (by email) that looks like the picture above.  It will tell you when your child logged in and what he or she did.  The overall performance section will tell you how many lessons were completed and what the overall score was of the questions your child answered.

So, what did we think of CTC Math?

Before we started reviewing CTC Math, Hailey had been working on 3 digit addition and subtraction.  When we would work on her math problems together she did great.  But, as soon as I had her do it on her own, she couldn’t do it.  So, I had her start with the addition and subtraction lessons.  I loved that I could use any grade level because she needed practice with 4th grade addition and 3rd grade subtraction.  I had her watch the lessons- they are each only a few minutes long and are very easy to understand.  If she didn’t understand something we could easily go back and watch it again.   Then she did the practice math questions.

CTC Math

I really liked how she could cross numbers out to borrow from when subtracting, and to carry numbers when necessary while adding.  She didn’t need to do it on paper, she was able to do everything right on the computer.  She really loved that!

I had her answer the questions for addition for several days because she really needed the practice, then she did the same for subtraction.  She did great using CTC Math and usually got all of the problems correct, only missing a problem once in a while.

CTC Math

Since I see Hailey still counting on her fingers from time to time, I also had her use the speed skills practice.  In just a weeks times I could see a huge improvement in how fast she completed her math facts.  I even used the speed skills to see if I was getting rusty on my math facts.  In the level 4 group of speed skills there is an “Order of Operations” option, which I definitely needed some practice with 🙂

Here is what is boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey loved it!  If there was a day we didn’t use CTC Math, she was asking for it.  This is the biggest plus for me- she actually enjoyed using this online math program.
The lessons were short and kept Hailey’s attention.
I saw a big improvement in Hailey’s speed skills as well as her understanding of the topics we covered.
I loved that I could use any grade level.

Cons:
When Hailey would get a problem wrong, I wish the program would have explained to her right then what she did wrong and how to do it correctly.

Overall- I would recommend this math program and we definitely intend to continue using it!  Using CTC Math has confirmed for me that we need to make a change in the curriculum we have been using this school year.

Want to see more of CTC Math?  You can also check them out on Facebook.

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