Category Archives: CTC Math

CTCMath Review

If you are looking for online math curriculum for your kids, or a supplement to the math curriculum you are already using, then you might want to check out a Family Membership to CTCMath.

CTCMath

Family Membership

Online Subscription

1,400 Math Lessons

Access

24/7/365

At Your Convenience

CTCMath is an online Math Curriculum and Math Supplement program with over 1,400 Video Tutorial Lessons in all grade course levels. Video lessons are taught by Pat Murray and he has a very pleasant easy to understand voice with an Australian accent. Every lesson has a tutorial video, a written lesson summary, questions, and quizzes.

Math Courses & Lessons:

CTCMATH has courses for every grade level include:

Elementary Grades:

Kindergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
Third Grade
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade
Sixth Grade

Middle School Grades:

Basic Math
Pre-Algebra
Elementary Measurement
Elementary Geometry

High School Grades:

Algebra 1
Algebra 2
Triganometry
Geometry
Calculus

As you can see from the above grade course list, they have something for every age level. Lesson lengths for the various grade level courses varies. For example an Elementary School lesson might consist of a 2 to 4 minute video, and then another 5 – 15 minutes of problems to complete. The Middle School and High School lessons might include a 4 to 10 minute video, and then the assignment problems might take another 10 to 30 minutes to complete depending on the level of difficulty.

Video Example 2nd Grade:

Summary Example 2nd Grade:

Video Example 3rd Grade:

Summary Example 3rd Grade:

Video Example Geometry:

Summary of Elementary Geometry Lesson:

CTCMath offers both monthly and yearly memebership options. You can subscribe to CTCMath for one individual student, or get a subscription membership for the entire family for one low price. See the current special at the time of writing this review at the bottom of this post.

Parents are kept informed of their student’s progress every step of the way. Parents have their own dashboard in addition to the student’s dashboard. In addition to checking on student progress, parents can make changes to assignment tasks and more if desired. Parents are also sent progress emails and weekly summary reports.

Our Experience

We have been using CTCMath since we were first introduced to it three years ago. It is an audio visual online math program and it has greatly helped my kids (who learn better with audio visual courses than text book courses) math scores improve. The various CTCMath course levels my kids have used over the past several years include:

Kindgergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
Third Grade
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade
Sixth Grade
Basic Math PreAlgebra
Elementary Geometry
Algebra

I was very excited to learn that we would be reviewing this program this fall for the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew. Though we have a paid subscription to CTCMath, we were also sent a new Family Membership 1 Year Subscription for the purpose of writing this review and they added the additional time onto our current subscription. The folks at CTCMath are very easy to talk to and you can always email them with any questions or needs you have.

All of our kids use CTCMath as their main math curriculum. Our oldest kids have used the program the longest, since 2014, and our younger kids have used it for about two years, and the youngest son who is 5 years old, is just starting out. Kids can move around to different grade levels if they choose. If one level is to difficult, you can go back to the previous level and build those skills needed to be ready for the next level. You can also move ahead if a level is too easy or if your kids already have learned those skills. There is an optional placement test with suggestions if you wish for your kids to take the test, CTCMath will offer suggestions about where they have mastered certain skills and where they still need more work in a specific level.

Also I have tried out several of the lessons myself in the past as a parent, and recently I asked CTCMath to give me one of the student spots (you can have up to 10 student spots with the Family Membership). This isn’t necessary as parents can do any of the lessons they want to from their dashboard. But I wanted to put myself into my kids shoes, and log in as they do and have a student dashboard in addition to the parent dashboard and just try it on for size. The kids think it is hilarious that I became a student too.

For this review I skipped around and tried out several lessons in Kindergarten, Second Grade, Geometry, and Algebra. Though the younger levels were fairly easy and went quickly, it took me longer to complete the lessons in the upper levels. The methods to solve the questions for each lesson are clearly explained.

Math and Bible are our first and second courses of the day. We have two computers for the kids to use (we recently got these inexpensive ones when our one nicer computer died). So usually two kids are working on their CTCMath at the same time (usually the first two that wake up), and the other kids (who wake a little later) are usually working on Bible or another course while they wait for a computer to be available.

My younger kids typically spend about 20 minutes on their math lessons each day and the older kids typically spend about 40 to 60 minutes each day. Typically they view a video lesson, then complete the assignment or quiz. If the lesson is fairly quick, then I ask them to complete two lessons that day. Most days they complete two or more lessons. The program automatically shows the children on their dashboard what they still need to complete to move forward to the next level. They love getting awards and love the opportunity to repeat lessons and improve their score.

The parent dashboard lets me know when they have logged in, what video lesson they viewed, and how they scored on the lesson questions. This gives us a chance to talk about where they might need to review some more or retake the lesson. It also allows me to set tasks or assignments for them to do if I wish or just let it alone in default mode. I receive email reports from the program when the kids have achieved various levels in a section: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, and weekly updated summary reports too and these are available on my dashboard, but it is really nice to get the email too. I can also delete a lesson so the kids will repeat the lesson if I feel they need more practice. I also have the option to print out each lesson tutorial page. A nice option is that you can create a folder or a binder with the printed lessons and a copy of their worksheet answers, and awards if desired.

All of my kids are different and learn somewhat differently. I like that I have to option to set the passing grade level for each of my kids at a level that works best for them. The default level to move forward to the next level is to acheive an 80% or better on the lessons within the current level, though you can skip around on different lessons within a level as much as you want. It is up to the parent to decide if they want to leave it at default or to adjust the passing score based on how challenging they feel the work is for the student and if it needs adjusted. For a few of my kids that are either just starting out or are slower to grasp details, need directions explained more than once, and need a little more room for mistakes, I have left the level for passing the lesson at 80%.

However, two of my kids learn quickly, seldom need anything explained more than once, are very detail oriented and math comes easy for them. I have increased the passing level for lessons at 90% for these guys and their scores are usually consistently at 95% to 100% every time.

A very nice feature for the younger grades is the ability to improve one’s score. The younger grades are much easier fix mistakes and improve one’s grade by retaking the lesson and quizzes as many times as you like and then the top three scores are kept and averaged together.

However, in the older grades, students are only allowed to take the lesson one additional time if they want to try to improve their score. The first score is kept and if you retake the lesson that second score is kept and the two are averaged.

For the older student, it is much harder to improve your score just by retaking the lesson if you didn’t score very high to start with. If you did very bad the first time, for example perhaps only got 50% correct, and then re-watched the video and understood what you did wrong and got a 100% the second time you took the lesson, then your grade is a 75% and not a 100%. This part of the program is frustrating for the older kids and for me as a parent. The kids were very motivated in the younger levels because of the opportunity to record their highest score or highest three scores. I wish the program would allow the first score to be discarded if the teen student shows improvement in their knowledge and understanding of the lesson, especially if they are able to master the lesson and get a 100% the second time around. I do love the feature for the younger grades that allowed them to retake the lesson as many times as they desired and then it averaged the top three scores and threw away the rest.

I found it was easier to listen to the video lesson, then select to view the optional written lesson summary below the video before moving on to the other tabs to view and complete questions, worksheets, and quizzes. I don’t know why I never realized the importance of the written summary in this program before.

This tip became very helpful for one of my kids. He is 12 and likes to hurry through the video and jump right into the questions before really understanding the method. He has finished pre-Algebra and is now taking some lessons in Elementary Geometry and Algebra. I have had to ask him to listen again to the video lesson when he is struggling with answering a problem. Sometimes he fusses about listening more than one time to the lesson, though his two older brothers have no hesitation to listen to the lessons as many times as needed to get the understanding. This one’s personality is different and he doesn’t like to repeat anything and gets frustrated if he has to repeat it. Though when he plows through things in life, he often ends up redoing them because he didn’t listen or didn’t review before jumping ahead. So having the written summary of the verbal lesson has made a huge improvement for him in his Elementary Geometry course. Though he is dedicated to do his lessons and he is highly motivated (sometimes will complete three or four lessons in a day), he likes to do his lessons quick and doesn’t prefer to redo them. So he now is able to reduce his mistakes by reviewing the written summary after hearing the video lesson. Win! Win!

I am definitely rusty on the upper grade level courses like Algebra and have struggled to help my three older boys with Algebra type problems in their course work over the years. For some time now I have wanted to take the upper level math courses, but I find it hard to sit down on a regular basis and get it done with my other responsibilities. When I was in school, I struggled in math, especially Algebra. I never took Calculus or Trigonometry back then. Thankfully I had a wonderful Algebra teacher in college who took extra time to tutor me back then and though I struggled through it, I passed the course. So I am greatful for the CTCMath program with video lessons where my kids have an instructor that is tutoring them in these areas that I am not as strong in. However, I plan to do better and be a student of CTCMath myself and use this program to it’s fullest potential to improve not only my kids math skills, but mine as well. With a family subscription opportunity, why not learn or relearn these great skills right along with my kids?

What do the kids have to say?

I caught up with two of my guys and asked them to share their thoughts about using CTCMath:

View from my almost 15 year old son (this boy has completed over 230 CTCMath lessons):

“I am currently taking Algebra. I have taken CTCMath 5th Grade as review and completed 6th Grade and Basic Math and Pre-Algebra courses. As long as I stayed with it and wrote down the examples, I did fine. The questions with lots of Algebra calculations involved are the hardest. But it is easier when you have a person explaining it rather than just seeing it on paper in a book. CTCMath is my favorite class. I like that you are not listening to a robotic computer voice, but you are listening to an actual person instructing you step by step. I had another program before that was not like this and I hated it. My younger brother tried this program on the individual membership and liked it and Mom wanted me to give it a try. It worked out a lot better and I finally felt like I understood my math. I like CTCMath and it is the best way for me to learn math.”

View from my 12 year old son (this boy has already completed over 470 CTCMath lessons over the past few years):

“I am currently at the end of the Basic Math PreAlgebra course. I am almost finished with Elementary Geometry too. I have taken CTCMath lessons in 3rd and 4th Grade as review, and completed the 5th Grade and 6th Grade courses. I like using CTCMath. I am looking forward to starting Algebra soon and hope to bypass my brothers!”

Printables

You have the option of printing out student awards they earn. You also have the option to print lesson worksheets with some of the courses, mainly the middle and upper grade levels. So far we printed only a couple of awards and do not usually print the rest because of the cost of ink. But I like having the option to print things if I want to, and I think if I get some extra time, and extra ink, printing all of these things out and putting a binder together for each of the kids of their lesson summaries and awards would be a nice thing for each of them to have. This feature would also help homeschool families who are required to create portfolios. However in the state we live in, portfolios are not a requirement, but would be nice to keep as a keep sake and for later review if desired.

Final Thoughts

Our family has really enjoyed using CTCMath for the past three years. I have seen a huge improvement in my slower audio visual learners as well as my kids who are quick to learn no matter what method is offered. I would encourage families with all types of learners to look into using this program with their families and see if it meets their needs as either a full curriculum or a supplement to a curriculum. I think most families would be pleasantly surprized as we have been at how well this program works.

CTCMath Special Offers

60% Off & Free Trial Offers

Be sure to check out the CTCMath website and Social Media links for all the latest sales and special offers, news, tips, and product updates. They are currently running a Special Sale of 60% off + 6 bonus months for Homeschool Memberships. They also offer a FREE Trial to try before you buy.

Social Media

CTCMath (US and Canda)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ctcmath?ref=hl
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctcmathofficial
Periscope: https://www.periscope.tv/ctcmathofficial
Pinterest: https://au.pinterest.com/ctcmath/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWn5e6974bpIEAe46VnovZw

Maths Online (Australia Only)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsonline.com.au
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MathsOnlineAU

Homeschool Review Crew

Be sure to check out what others on the Homeschool Review Crew had to say about using products from CTCMath in their home.

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CTC Math Review

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Have you ever wished for easy access to a math teacher that you could understand? Trust me when I say, if it hadn’t been for a math teacher that I could understand, I would not have passed math when I was in school. I just could not read a math book and “get it”. The concepts eluded my understanding no matter how much I practiced. I struggled with math all the way through college too. My college math teacher, Dale Hawkinson from Kansas State University, made himself available to me and tutored me to help me learn the concepts I was struggling with. It is hard to find that kind of support these days, and I will always be grateful for the help he gave me. Somedays, I wish there was a teacher / tutor like him easily available for my kids.

Thankfully, there is a math teacher / tutor that is available to come right into your home and help you and your kids master math! It is called CTC Math. We were sent a 12 Month Family Plan For Homeschoolers to CTC Math to try out and tell folks everywhere about this program. We are amazed that our math skills are quickly improving using this program.

CTC MATH 12 MONTH FAMILY PLAN

Unlimited online access of over 1,367 teaching videos, and 57,000 questions and activities, for up to 10 students, 24 hours a day / 7 days a week to all lessons and all grade levels K-12 for one family price! Currently this great resource is on sale (60 % off) for homeschool families for $118 a year. It normally runs $297, so this current sale is a huge savings. Please check out the website for single student use and other pricing options too.

How we used CTC Math 12 Month Family Plan:

First we decided what grade levels to have the kids start in. Four of our six kids are school age. We chose to work in 3rd, 5th, and 6th as a review, and a little bit with K as review. We chose not to test out of any sections, and worked through the lessons one by one even if it was reviewing a concept they already knew. We will soon add our pre-K 5 year old into the K math with his sister, and the son using 6th grade as review will move into Pre-Algebra. I usually ask the kids to complete two lessons a day. The lessons are short, and they can easily complete a lesson in about 20 minutes or less. So doing two lessons, gives them about 30 to 40 minutes of good math instruction and practice each day. I receive reports from the program when the kids have achieved various levels in a section: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, and weekly updated summary reports too.

My oldest is 13, and though he is in 7th grade, he wanted to go through the 6th grade CTC Math as a review first to be sure he had a good handle on it before he moved ahead into pre-Algebra. PRE-ALGEBRA is a SCARY word! We moved during his 6th grade year, and that resulted in him not feeling confident in some of his math skills. He was using 7th grade math curriculum this school year in another program, and he felt it moved along to fast for him, and he needed to spend more time on certain skills.

I am so glad he likes CTC Math! Going back a grade for review is giving him a strong grasp of division, fractions, and several skills he was struggling in that the other program a year ahead didn’t spend time on. He tells me every day, “Mom, I love this math program. I am so thankful we got to review this.” He is self motivated and completes 2 to 4 lessons each day. He is also using the Speed Skills Practice challenges to improve his skills too. (Like me, you might be wondering why would you want to do more math than you are required? Are we really related? Yes, he wasn’t adopted, we really are related, but I honestly think he is closer related to my paternal Grandma who is a genius at everything she sets her mind to, and believe it or not, his desire to improve is rubbing off on me too).

He is mastering the lessons and gets an average of 95% to 100%. One great thing about this program is that the kids can repeat the lesson questions and bring up their average scores on each lesson. So if he got 90% the first time, and then re-did the lesson and got 95% his second time, and 100% his third time, then his average score for the lesson rises to 95%. He usually scores high his first time through and doesn’t need to repeat it, because the teacher / tutor explains the lesson so well. But I have seen him get a 97% and want to raise his average and retake the lesson two more times. So 97%, then 100%, and 100% raises his overall score to 99%. He loves this opportunity to raise his score!

My 5th grader also works independantly with CTC Math in the 5th grade level. I used to pull my own hair out trying to teach this one to read and do math computations. He could do math, he just wanted me to read it to him. And he worked so slowly at it or needed it repeated several times as he forgot what you said in the begining by the time he got to the end of the question. It seemed he didn’t want to try. But actually it was a maturing process and he also processed the information differently. He truly associates facts and things completely different than his older brother. So it has been a huge challenge for me to help him master some of the skills that came so easily to his older brother. Yep, this one is definately related to me!

Like me, he didn’t understand many concepts just because he read them, no matter how many times he read them. They still didn’t make sense. He really needed a combination of the video (he is an audio visual learner) instruction plus writing to make this work for him. He also started reading really well this past year, remembering details, paying attention, and with all these skills coming together, his math is showing huge improvement. This past year we were offered a different online math program for one student, and I chose to use it with him because he needed the extra help, and he hated it. The voice tutor was robotic like and he just couldn’t grasp the concepts, so after much struggle, we passed it onto his older brother. I have been praying for a program that would work with this son.

But something has changed in him now. He wants to do his school work. He is motivated! He also really enjoyes math. I can’t believe I am even saying this, because it is what I prayed for, but wasn’t sure when that prayer would be answered. But I am telling you the truth when I say CTC Math is the answer to my prayer for this son! (Either that or I think aliens must have abducted the real one…just kidding!) He asks to do CTC Math everyday and there are no built in video games as the incentive! Amazing!

He tells me “Mom, look what I did, I got a 90%.” or “Mom, I love how the teacher explains this one, look I got a 100% on this lesson!”. He is very proud of himself and I am too. Even though it takes him longer to work through a lesson, his average scores range from 80% to 90%! He has to stop often and write the math problem down on paper and work it out before he works it out on the computer screen. BUT HE GETS IT! He has improved so much and is working at 5th grade level. This mom is ecstactic! Thank you CTC MATH!

Now, I am going through a similar phase of refusing to sit and work through various subjects with my third grader. This is a new phase for him. It started just after the New Year and following being cooped up all winter due to arctic temperatures, snow, and ice for nearly three months. This was new to him, as he only remembers winters in NC for the past five years. Winters there are mild, and soon as his schoolwork was done, we would head outside or to the park to play. We were often wearing shorts outside in the winter because there were so few cold days! So moving to IN and having to spend so much time indoors this winter was a shock to him.

Over the past three to four years, he has always loved doing schoolwork and was very motivated in the past. But this year he has struggled with new concepts, new challenges, and he doesn’t “want” to do it. He wants to play, or build, or go outside if the weather permits. In the past, I could use playing or building as motivators, but not this year. The only motivator right now seems to be video games, and there are none in CTC Math. So I am in the midst of this tug of war with him right now.

He is working at grade level in CTC Math, watches the videos, completes the lesson, etc., but does not like going back and repeating the lesson questions if he didn’t pass. I think it has to do with the fact that he doesn’t want to repeat the lesson if he doesn’t score high enough. In CTC Math, you don’t pass the lesson unless you reach a score of 80% correct or more. His scores range from 60% to 95% correct. He does not want to go back and repeat the lessons he did not get a passing grade on. It is just not his personality and he is not motivated by this method. His two older brothers love this opportunity to improve, but this son sees it as a form of torture to make him try again, and he would rather not. He also would like to have the questions read to him and does not want to read them himself. I wish there was a button we could push, and the teacher / tutor could read the question. This would be a great help to struggling readers and for audio learners.

I will continue to require him to complete 1 or 2 lessons a day depending on his mood, but I have given up asking him to repeat the lesson if he misses too many questions. I hope he will mature in the near future and have a self motivation and desire to re-learn those concepts that he might not have a good grasp on right now. I really think that requiring a child to be at a specific level or master a specific skill when they are not ready is not beneficial, so I am allowing him to proceed on through the lessons despite the scores. Overall, he likes using CTC Math and is learning a lot of math concepts and skills. He is very proud if he completes two or more lessons in a setting, but he doesn’t care what the score is. There will come a day (I hope) that he is more ready to repeat and practice those skills and scores that he needs to improve.

I am looking forward to getting two more of my kids going in CTC Math…and…myself…started…too. With the 12 Month Family Plan, we can have up to 10 students using it at the same time. Wow! We have never had such a great resource so easily accessible for our whole family! I am so grateful for this opportunity to use this program. Our daughter has done a couple of review lessons to try it out, and she did well, so she is ready now to start using it daily. I have yet to try it out with my pre-K son, but I think he is showing maturity in math skills, and sitting still to learn lessons, and I plan to get him started with it soon. I am going to start the program too. I plan to start at the preAlgebra level starting May 1st. My hope is that I can progress through Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, and Triganometry. Why not? As well and quickly as my kids are learning with this program, it should be able to help me “get it” too and finally understand how to do complicated math.

My kids and I think this math curriculum is AWESOME! It is not fun and games, it is serious math instruction. But it is not boring either and the teacher / tutor, Pat Murray, is from Australia. He speaks slowly and is easy to understand and the kids can repeat what they have learned. I would encourage homeschool families to check it out and see if it meets their needs too. I think CTC Math would be a great resource for college students to review and improve their math skills too. It sure would have helped me get through college Math 101 and 102 if I had a resource such as this.

Be sure to follow CTC Math for news, updates, and information:

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Be sure to check out what other families on the Schoolhouse Review Crew had to say about CTC Math.