Is CTCMath Right for Your Homeschool? What You Need to Know {Review}

Teaching math in homeschool can be daunting for many parents. In fact, it can play a big part in whether or not parents choose to homeschool or to continue homeschooling through the upper grades. CTCMath aims to take the fear out of homeschool math. With their Family Membership, homeschool families can add up to five children for half the price of a regular membership.

How CTCMath Works

CTCMath is a full math curriculum. It contains math for K-6, Pre-Algebra, Geometry, Algebra, Algebra II, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus and Calculus. A family membership gets you access to all levels for all students.

Once you sign up for an account, it is easy to add your students. Each student gets their own login.

Assigning Tasks

As the parent, you are then able to assign daily tasks to your students. When your child logs in they will see the task that is due for that day. From the parent dashboard, you will be able to see not only if they completed the task, but also whether or not they completed it on time.

You can also customize whether or not they are required to get a certain percentage to pass the lesson and therefore finish the task, and if tasks must be done in the order assigned. For my children, I set the passing grade at 90%. If they score less than that, then they must repeat the lesson.

If you choose not to assign the tasks, then the student is free to work on whichever lesson they choose within a category.

Since CTCMath does not remember which grade your child is in, each time you go to assign a task, you will need to select the child, the grade level, and the specific lesson. This is so you can choose problem sets from anywhere; however, I wish there was a way to select a default.

Diagnostic Tests

There are also diagnostic tests for grades K-6 the students can take to see what information within a category they may already know or need help with. I used the diagnostic tests to choose which tasks to assign within each part for the lower grades.

From the parent dashboard you are also able to toggle between the parent dashboard and the student view. You may also work on the lessons yourself, but nothing done in student view gets saved.

The parent dashboard allows you to view reports and to see your students progress. You also have access to the lessons and answers from the parent side.

If you choose, you may also have progress reports emailed to you weekly.

The Lesson Layout

The lessons are designed to be short in length. Each one has a quick video for the student to watch. Or if they prefer, they can open the PDF of the lesson and read through it instead.

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After watching the lesson, then there are questions for them to answer online. The questions are randomly generated, although a few times my kids would be given the exact same problem back to back.

For the higher math, there are also worksheet lessons. These lessons are meant to have the worksheet printed for the student to do. The student then completes the sheet selecting the correct answer out of the answer bank. The letter for that answer is then entered online.

New Feature–Question Bank

The newest feature to CTCMath is the addition of a question bank. Through it you can add questions from previous levels for your child to work on as review. We did not utilize this during the review period. You can check out the other Crew Reviews to see families that did.

How We Used CTCMath

For the five student accounts we received, we used all five of them. Raena, my senior, worked on Trigonometry. My freshman, Allie, worked on Geometry. My sixth grader, Ellawyn, worked on sixth grade math. Haydn, my fourth grader, worked on fifth grade math. And my first grader, Olivia, worked on first grade math.

Each of my children had a different experience and preference for CTCMath.

Raena’s Experience

Raena has used many math programs during her high school years on our quest to find the math program. She didn’t feel CTCMath was as rigorous or in depth as some of the other programs she has used. She felt it would be okay if you were not going into a math heavy field, but questioned whether it would prepare you enough if you were.

That being said, she didn’t spend nearly as much time doing these lessons as she has previous curriculum. She disliked, however, that some lessons had both online questions and a worksheet. It made her feel like she was constantly hopping on and off the computer.

She also said that some of the lessons assumed the material had been covered previously and therefore they did not explain why they were doing things. She felt a link to where to go to review previous concepts would have been helpful. Or a detailed answer key that showed the steps. Both of which were missing. Thankfully, my husband is skilled in math and could help explain things.

Allie’s Experience

Allie has loved CTCMath. She likes the short lessons and the ability to have tasks assigned so she can keep track of her progress. The teaching style also works well for her. She likes being able to print the worksheets and having a hard copy to work from.

Her only complaint was that she wished every lesson also had a worksheet.

Ellawyn’s Experience

Ellawyn really disliked CTCMath and can’t wait to resume her old curriculum. We had one day where she was just in tears because she felt the lesson was asking her questions on material it hadn’t taught.

When I looked over the lesson with her, I realized that they had taught the concept and had given an example, but then expected her to apply the concept to solve different, but similar, questions. Since they hadn’t shown how to solve that specific type of question in the lesson it confused her.

Mostly, I think the teaching style just didn’t jive for her.

She did like the games. And she liked that the assigned tasks helped to keep her accountable.

Haydn’s Experience

Haydn liked CTCMath. Mostly, he liked playing the games. Often, I would have to pull him off of the games and remind him that he needed to do his lesson first.

For the most part, Haydn likes any subject that can be done online. He did dislike that because there were not many questions sometimes, he had to get all of them right. Missing even one meant he didn’t get the required 90% to pass.

Olivia’s Experience

Olivia had a hard time knowing when she had done well enough on a lesson to be able to move on. There were also some lessons I had to reteach so she could understand it. For her, this was not a program I could just have her do on her own. I found I needed to supervise each lesson.

I have not decided if I will continue on with the program for her.

My Overall Thoughts

I was a little disappointed to learn that not all of the lessons had a worksheet that you first downloaded, but instead you just answered the questions online. One of the things that drew me to CTCMath was that it was a combination of online and physical worksheets.

I liked having my kids watch the lessons online; however, I would have preferred that all the lessons were then a worksheet they printed and completed and then entered the answers in online. Or that it was at least an option. I feel like for the younger grades, especially, having that muscle memory from working out the problem is so important. I really missed that for my first grader. And for my son who was having to answer long division or multiple digit multiplication, a worksheet, as opposed to an online question, would have been better.

I do like that the lessons are short and to the point. Having access to all the levels is also a plus because it allows you the freedom to place your child at the appropriate level throughout the year.

The accountability that comes with being able to assign tasks to a specific day and knowing whether or not it was completed on time is something I really liked about this program.

Is CTCMath Right for Your Family?

Like any math program CTCMath has its pros and cons. As you can see from our family, it worked well for some of my children, but not for others. Even within the same family you will have different learning styles and not all are going to be compatible with CTCMath.

As a program, I think for the lower grades it is sufficient. I do share my oldest daughter’s concern on whether or not it would really prepare you for a math intensive major. And I think if you had a child who really loves and thrives in math, then this program would not be enough for them.

If you are considering CTCMath for your homeschool, I would recommend utilizing their free trial for all students who would be using it.