CTC Math (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

It's not a secret that the one subject we struggle with is mathematics.  We've tried many various math curriculum with mixed results - some worked out good, others just were not a proper fit for my kids. Last year, however, we were given the opportunity to review CTCMath.  This was one of the better fits for our family and I honestly feel that it was a huge factor in my oldest daughter passing her high school math course that she had been struggling with.  When we were given another opportunity to review the one year subscription of CTCMath Homeschool Membership, I was pretty thrilled.  We were given access to the program for up to 10 students. 

CTCMath is an online math curriculum that covers all math concepts, from Kindergarten all the way to higher level mathematics such as Trigonometry and Calculus through more than 1,367 animated and narrated video lessons. These math concepts are not aligned with common core as CTCMath believes in teaching math the traditional way.  Each student has access to all grades of math as part of the subscription and can easily switch between the various levels with little trouble. This proves to be very useful for older high school students who might be learning concepts that are both Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 during the same year. You can also easily jump students from grade to grade rather than having to buy a separate grade level for more advanced lessons. 

For grades Kindergarten to 8th grade, CTCMath can be used as a full mathematics curriculum. For high school math, CTCMath recommends that their website be used more as a supplement in addition to another math curriculum. 

The program is completely browser based and requires no computer instillation. I ran it  Chrome without any problems or glitches.  In the past, I was also able to log into the program with my Kindle Fire without any problems.  CTCMath's website says it should run on all HTML5 platforms such as Ipads, Iphones and Android devices, making it convenient for lessons on the go, such as in a doctors office or while riding in a car..

Since the last time I reviewed the program, there have been many changes made to the website. First, the overly colorful menu is gone and has been replaced with a very clean, more institutional looking white/grey screen. While the lessons still consist of the videos followed by answering questions, I did find the new formatting to be much easier to navigate (although, to be honest, the old format was easy to navigate as well). Also, a major addition was the ability for the parent to add Tasks for the student to work on.  These tasks, once scheduled, would show up on a tab at the top of the student's worksite.  While I personally did not use this feature during our review as I typically sit with the kids while they are on the computer, I can see how it would be very helpful for students who can work independently but still need some direction. 

  

In all grades, students are presented with a video lecture that shows the concept for that particular lesson. These videos are very short, on average less than 5 minutes. Examples are given along with very detailed breakdown of the answers. In lower grades, the lesson is followed by a series of questions (around 10 to 12 questions) that reinforces what they just learned.  Extra questions are provided as an option if the child did not do well on the initial questions and might need extra review. Feedback is immediate as the answer will be marked right or wrong and the correct answer is given. After all questions are complete, a printable copy of the questions along with the child's answers is provided which can be printed out for record keeping (something I think is great).  There is a bank of more than 57,000 interactive questions throughout all the grade levels. 

In higher grades, after the video lecture, the student is provided with a worksheet that they can print out and work offline. Once completed, they can record their answers in the website and have their answers graded. By default, the student must score a certain percentage in order to obtain a passing grade on these worksheets or they are told to try again. 

The last time we reviewed CTCMath, we used it strictly as our math curriculum using the 1st and 2nd grade levels.  This time around, as we were already established in another math curriculum that the children were both doing well with, we decided to use CTCMath as a suppliment to reinforce what they were learning with the other program.  This worked out really well for us, especially for Garrett.

For example, one of the hardships with Garrett's autism is that he struggles with math concepts that are not exact - most notably with rounding numbers.  Try as we might, no matter how many times we explained and reexplained and reviewed, Garrett just could not wrap his mind around the concept of rounding.  To him, it goes against the exactness of math. 

Luckily, there was plenty of material on rounding numbers on the CTCMath program.  I sat down with Garrett and together we watched the video lesson and then Garrett did the practice questions.  To my surprise, he got all but one correct.  The next day, we again watched the video and again he did the practice questions - this time he got them all right. The ability to switch between the various grade levels was helpful, as a few of the rounding lessons were considered 2nd grade and a few were considered 3rd.   Since then, he has not struggled with rounding at all.  The way it was presented in the video was perfect for him and allowed him to easily understand the concept where I had failed.  

As they proceed through the program, students are graded as either Platinum, Gold and Silver based on their average grade from all tasks in each set of lessons. Platinum is awarded when a student gets 100% for the entire set. 

One of the many pluses to CTCMath is that tracking your child's progress is very easy. CTCMath sends progress reports to the parents email on a weekly basis letting you know how many times the student logged in, for how long, what they did while they were logged in and how they did on what they worked on, This same information can also be accessed from the Parent account which gives quick access to all students currently enrolled in the program. From the parent login, you can download these reports as a PDF file for your records. 

CTCMath is a product I can honestly recommend.  In the time that we have used it, it has helped not one but two of my students understand math concepts that otherwise would have been lost. 

For more information about CTCMath, visit their website or any of the following social media sites:

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

The Weekly Wrap up (7/11-7/15)

The kids are officially back in school and while we're considering the next 3 months a "Transitional" semester to finish wrapping up 2nd Grade material that we didn't complete yet (for example, our MathUSee Beta), I am going to go ahead and call them 3rd graders.  When we start full 3rd grade curriculum in October, then I guess they will officially be 3rd grade lol 

A few family members have asked why would we start back with school so early and not let the kids have a full summer vacation.  I look at it like this - it is currently in the triple digit temperatures outside every day and will be until probably the end of September. The kids can't even go outside and play comfortably until well after 7-8pm.  There's nothing fun about that for them.  It makes more sense to have them do school work rather than just allow them to play on their electronics or watch TV and instead enjoy breaks when the weather is much nicer during the daytime.  

Temps Like These Don't Make for a Fun Summer

I will be posting soon the entire curriculum that we're planning on using for the 2016-2017 school year.  We are going to be following the AmblesideOnline curriculum with a mix of Y1-Y3 curriculum.   I'm seriously wishing I had discovered AmblesideOnline two years ago but as I am late to the game, I'm trying to play a bit of "catch up", so to speak. Year 1 and 2 offer so much wonderful material that I just couldn't bring myself to allow the kids to miss out. As most of the Year 1 reading is pretty simple and quick, we will be combining it with Year 2 and 3 material in the hopes to eventually finish both and start a solid year 3. 

For the remainder of the month, the kids will be working on the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" as their folk song.  The kids are having so much fun with this song and I have heard Ashleigh singing it to herself at night when she's suppose to be going to bed.  We're not working on a worship song this month because I want to devote a whole month to the songs we're learning so instead they have just been revisiting other songs we have already learned (Our God Is An Awesome God, Prayer, Drops in the Ocean). 

Garrett's Narration

Ashleigh's Narration

We have been reviewing the story of Adam and Eve by reading passages out of the book of Genesis.  The kids already know this story very well, both because of previous lessons as well as using Veritas Bible.  However, I learned something new when we did the notebooking page for the story of Adam and Eve. I do not remember the scriptures stating Adam and Eve had a two pet rats named Yuki and Nic (which just so happens to be the names of Ashleigh's pet rats).  I'll let it slide this time, as it is nice to see Ashleigh actually writing something imaginative instead of just copying what I have dictated to her.  Garrett stuck to a pretty basic Adam and Eve story for his notebooking in which he simply wrote "Adam and Eve ate the fruit that God said don't eat".  Garrett is a young man of very little words LOL

Both kids have been working on the cursive letter A this week.  Ashleigh had a bit of an advantage in this as she had previously done the New American Cursive workbook during a review last year.  However, I wanted Garrett to start learning to write in Cursive because I have read that it is easier for autistic kids over printing.  Garrett did really well with it and I hope that this is a good indicator as to how he will do with it long term. 

Garrett's Practice for Cursive Upper and Lowercase A

We distributed the various reading selections throughout the week.  For week 1 of AO Y1 we read the Aesop fables The Wolf and the Kid as well as the Tortoise and the Ducks.  We read the first chapter of An Island Story and learned about Albion and Brutus. We also read about The Sword of Damocles from the book Fifty Famous Stories Retold, How the Whale Got it's Throat from the book Just So Stories, and A Lesson of Faith from the book Parables from Nature.  Each day, we also read a poem from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. 

The kids also started back up with their poetry memorization from IEW.  The last poem the kids had was The Vulture by Hilaire Belloc. After a quick review to make sure that they still remembered the previous poems, the kids picked up and started memorizing After the Party by William Wise. 

For our math assignment, we are continuing to use MathUSee Beta. This week we completed unit 16 which covers Thousands and Place Value Notation.  We also used CTC Math for extra practice with our column addition.  

For Geography, we are doing three different books:  Paddle to the Sea by Holling C Holling, Elementary Geography by Charlotte Mason and Home Geography for Primary Grades by C.C. Long.   We covered simple directions such as Front, Back, Left and Right (which the kids already knew). Then we read the first two chapters of Paddle to the Sea.  In addition to the book, we are using a unit study and also the Google Lit Trip that goes along with the book.   We did a quick experiment that demonstrated how water travels from higher elevations to lower elevations (such as with the Great Lakes) using measuring cups at the kitchen sink, which the kids then also associated with waterfalls.  We also discussed how the sun melts snow and that the run off of the snow melt then runs to the river.   

Monkeys on Google Earth

As mentioned, we will be using a Google Lit Trip to map out the trip Paddle-to-the-Sea takes through the Great Lakes and to the Atlantic Ocean.  These Lit Trips use Google Earth and include route that is pre-mapped out for students that coincides with each chapter of the book.  This meant I had to install Google Earth on our computer.  Garrett has since discovered Google Earth and is absolutely addicted.  Every afternoon after school he spends hours finding things on the program.  He calls me to the computer almost constantly to show me railroad stations, Stonehenge, Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Empire State Building. I had to laugh when he freaked out to find a Statue of Liberty and an Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas.  Just a few minutes ago, while I was writing this, he called me to the computer as he had found a group of monkeys on a beach grooming each other. I can see many, many, many virtual field trips in our future. 

Where will he go next? Garrett's Google Earth Setup

We are currently working on a review for a foreign language program called Foreign Language for Kids by Kids and so each day, the kids have been watching a DVD that exposes them to immersion Spanish.  Currently we are watching the first video of the DVD which is called Basketballs Aren't For Breakfast.  Can I say now that we are absolutely LOVING this program??  I simply put the video on for them to watch while I made their lunch. Are they learning? Well, two days ago, Ashleigh told her dad she wanted him to go to the store and buy some pequenas manzanas (small apples) for her to have at desayuno (breakfast) because she said "Me gusta pequenas manzanas" (She likes small apples).. Yeah, I would say she's learning.  I do believe she's enjoying Spanish much more than she's liking Latin. 

Ashleigh identifies Peru on the map. 

In addition to learning Spanish, the video talks about a trip from Washington DC to Lima, Peru.  This gave us a great opportunity to find both locations on our map and discuss how the official language of most countries in South America is Spanish (with the exception of Brazil who's official language is Portuguese). We can now add Peru to counties we can identify in South America (they already knew Brazil, Chile and Argentina). 

We are still continuing with our Nature Study for 3rd Grade. In 2nd Grade, we completed the Burgess Animal book so we decided this year we would tackle the Burgess Bird book.  We worked through Chapter 1 this week which had us learning about the House Wren.  After reading the chapter, we did some research on the House Wren and the kids completed notebooking pages for the bird.  We are hoping as we start to learn and recognize each bird, we will be able to do some serious bird watching on our nature walk and identify these species in the wild. In addition to the Burgess Bird book, we are still notebooking the weather daily and we will be using the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock which we will start with next week.  We are going to Yosemite National Forest in 9 days and are hoping to do quite a bit of nature study, bird watching, nature photography and notebooking/journaling while we are there as it will be a great opportunity for the kids to see something outside of the creatures we find in a desert habitat. 

Schoolhouseteachers.com has a wonderful spelling curriculum that we have used in the past and so we started the Schoolhouse Spelling Lower Elementary Charlotte Mason LE  List 2.  This week they worked on the words Shepherd, Lord, Shall, Lie, Besides, Waters, Green, Soul and Paths.  Part of the activities they did with their spelling list this week was to being learning to proofread and find mistakes.  

Garrett is still working with his Forbrain headset and his reading. It's amazing how much his confidence in his reading has grown because of the Forbrain headset. Reading use to involve LOTS of tears and cries of "I Can't".. Now, he finishes a passage and he gets really happy and explains "Mom, I can do it. I can read".  While he's currently still reading Level 1 books, I have a feeling we will be switching to Level 2 or possibly Level 3 before October.  

Finally, the kids are starting to learn how to do more things around the house.  This includes cooking and various chores.  This week, Garrett has been learning how to load and start the dishwasher properly.  (Next week, Ashleigh will learn).  

Overall, we had a really great first week.  Mom's got her own homework to do over the weekend as we received a new review item today as well as the Answers in Genesis All-In-One curriculum for The Pilgrims Progress so I will be having to get myself familiar with both of those and see how best to incorporate both into our schedule :) 

But thankfully, I have m planners all set up, including my trusty "Ugly Schedule"..

CTC Math (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

Our family is always looking for a new way to teach the kids math.  Let's face it - for the most part math is not fun, at least not for my kids.  Getting them to do math is usually a fight so I am always looking for a math program that is both engaging and fun while still covering the necessary topics for their grade.  We were recently presented with the opportunity to review the 12 Month Family Plan (US Curriculum) for Homeschoolers offered by CTC Math after hearing many good things about their math curriculum, I felt it was worth the opportunity to try with two kids.  I also had a teenager in Algebra who had already failed the class last year and who was in danger of failing for a second year in a row so I had high hopes that this math program would not only engage my two youngest but also help my oldest pass Algebra 1 once and for all. 

CTC Math is an online maths curriculum that covers all math concepts, from Kindergarten all the way to higher level mathematics such as Trigonometry and Calculus. These math concepts are not aligned with common core as CTC believes in teaching math the traditional way.  Each student has access to all grades of math as part of the subscription and can easily switch between the various levels with little trouble. This proves to be very useful for older high school students who might be learning concepts that are both Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 during the same year. You can also easily jump students from grade to grade rather than having to buy a separate grade level for more advanced lessons. 

All Levels of Math Available to Each Student

The program is completely browser based and requires no computer instillation. I ran it both on Chrome and Firefox without any problems or glitches.  I was also able to log into the program with my Kindle Fire without any problems and CTC's website says it should run on all HTML5 platforms such as Ipads, Iphones and Android devices.

In all grades, students are presented with a video lecture that shows the concept for that particular lesson. These videos are very short, on average less than 5 minutes. Examples are given along with very detailed breakdown of the answers. In lower grades, the lesson is followed by a series of questions (around 10 to 12 questions) that reinforces what they just learned.  Extra questions are provided as an option if the child did not do well on the initial questions and might need extra review. Feedback is immediate as the answer will be marked right or wrong and the correct answer is given. After all questions are complete, a printable copy of the questions along with the child's answers is provided which can be printed out for record keeping (something I think is great).  

In higher grades, after the video lecture, the student is provided with a worksheet that they can print out and work offline. Once completed, they can record their answers in the website and have their answers graded. By default, the student must score a certain percentage in order to obtain a passing grade on these worksheets or they are told to try again. This percentage can be changed by the parent if you feel it is too low (I changed it to 90 percent on my oldest daughter's account). 

Students are rewarded with certificates after they complete each unit. There are levels for these certificates are Platinum, Gold and Silver based on their average grade from all tasks in each set of lessons. Platinum is awarded when a student gets 100% for the entire set. 

Another fun thing for kids is the speed drills. My oldest had alot of fun doing these drills and they made for a great breather as she was studying harder math concepts. Focusing on Addition and Subtraction skills, the student must answer as many questions as they can in one minute.  There were a few times I caught Alyssa doing these drills even after her study time was over as she kept trying to beat her previous score. 

One of the many pluses to CTC Math is that tracking your child's progress is very easy. CTC sends progress reports to the parents email on a weekly basis letting you know how many times the student logged in, for how long, what they did while they were logged in and how they did on what they worked on, This same information can also be accessed from the Parent account which gives quick access to all students currently enrolled in the program. 

Parent's Login Screen Provides Statistics on all Students

CTC Math can be used as both a full math program for grades K-6 as well as a supplemental program for upper grades.  Because of this, I approached this review from two different angles.  First, I would have my 10th grader use it as a tutoring program to hopefully help her pass her final exam in her public school. Second, I would use it to first review and then teach my two homeschool students the skills they need to move on to 2nd grade math.   Because of this, this is essentially two reviews in one.

My Experiences in Our Homeschooling

Ashleigh and Garrett are the complete opposites when it comes to school. Ashleigh loves reading and writing and being read to.  Garrett absolutely hates it and it's only been recently that he's started to write when asked.  However, Garrett is a math fiend, he absolutely loves it. Ashleigh, on the other hand, loathes math. We have had many issues with Ashleigh holding Garrett back when it comes to Math because she will cry, whine and be very uncooperative when it comes time for math lessons.  

However, the fact that each lesson with CTC Math is very short and to the point, broken down in such a way they can easily understand along with graphics for explanations, Ashleigh seemed to be able to sit and pay attention much easier.  Each afternoon, I would have them independently sit with me, cuddled up on the couch with my computer and we would work on the lessons together, while the other did an independent lesson.  Together we would watch the lesson, pausing it while they would work out the problem and then we would follow up with the questions.  This worked really well with both kids. It proved to be especially useful with Ashleigh who thought it more of bonding time with Mom rather than a math lesson.  There have been a few times that I have told them it was time for math that Ashleigh has specifically made sure we were going to do CTC Math rather than another math program.

Being as that both kids tend to be visual learnings, this program was excellent for them. The speaking instruction is very clear and understandable (lessons are taught by Australian math teacher Patrick Murray) and the accompanying graphics really demonstrated the point to them.

They both absolutely love earning certificates, although it has become a bit of a competition to see who gets platinum and who gets gold.

I really enjoyed the fact there were both comprehensive and standard tests that can be used to test how well they mastered each skill that they were learning.  I also found these tests to be very helpful when trying to determine how much the kids already knew in the sets and what we could skim over and what we really needed to concentrate on.

The kids liked that there was a counter/slider at the top of each test that allowed them to know how many more problems they had before they were done and they would count down to completion.

Alyssa's Experience with CTC Math

Alyssa has struggled with Algebra. As said above, she had already failed this class her 9th grade year and was in danger of failing again her 10th grade year. Alyssa routinely brought home test grades in the 30's in her class. Part of the problem was the lack of understanding of Algebraic formulas; the other part of the problem was a teacher who failed explain these formulas and did not make time for students who failed to understand them (she had the same teacher both years).  Basically, her class was a sink or swim situation.   Going into her final semester, she has D- for the 3rd quarter and at progress reports in the 4th quarter she had F. She had exactly three weeks to use CTC math as much as she could in the hopes to score high enough of her final exam and hopefully pull out a passing grade for the 4th quarter.  We were at dire straights with her, there were lots of tears and plenty of "I Just don't care anymore". This math class was really driving a wedge between us as the frustration built. 

Alyssa started using CTC Math 3 weeks before the end of the school year.  Each day I had her come home, do her normal homework, using the CTC lessons to help her understand that days classwork. then spend an hour on the program reviewing concepts that she did not understand through the year.  She would watch the lesson, I would print out the worksheets that accompanied the lesson and she would practice the concepts covered in the lesson.  Then she took her first test since starting CTC Math.  She scored a B after using the program for a week. This was a HUGE improvement over the EXTREMELY low F (32%) she had scored the test prior. She said even her teacher mentioned the improvement and she mentioned that she was using CTC to help study and review.  

Her second and third weeks with CTC, she used it to help prepare for her Final exam for the year.  There were many concepts she did not understand from her class and she worked hard to try to cram as much as she could.  She knew she needed to get at least a C- on the exam to pass for the year, which for her as a HUGE goal considering her past testing grades.   She took her exam and she came home saying she felt okay about it.

Today I received her report card.  We held our collective breath as we tore off the perforated edges off the mailer and opened that final piece of paper.  She scored a mid C on her exam.  She had passed with a high enough D for the semester that with her C from the first semester, she squeaked by with a 70% for the year.  ALGEBRA WAS HISTORY!!   

I have no doubt whatsoever that CTC Math was the only reason she passed this class.  It proved to be an extremely valuable tool to her, explaining the math concepts she was struggling with in such a way that they finally clicked with her.  Without this program, I believe that Alyssa would be repeating the 10th grade because of her Algebra class. Now, instead, she will be moving on to the 11th grade and to Geometry. I have no doubt that if she had had this program earlier on in the school year, we would not have been worried of her failing in the first place.  It is a relief to me as a mother to know that even if she has the same dreaded teacher next year, she will have CTC Math from the very start of the year to help her through it. 

Final Thoughts

I never did well in math which really hindered me when it came to sciences because I was scared to take chemistry and physics because of my lack of mathematical knowledge.  I really do not want the same down the road for my kids and so I am very grateful that there are programs out there that can teach the higher math concepts to them when I cannot. (Although, to be honest, with 10 student slots, there's absolutely no reason I cannot learn as well).  CTC Math does a wonderful job of explaining these concepts in a very clear, concise manner that is very quick and to the point, allowing the student to learn that concept and practice that concept until they are efficient in it.  

In the past 2 years we've tried other programs trying to help my daughter with her Algebra; Dummy Books, Idiot Books, and other online math programs. With each we tried we failed to see any marked improvements in her grades.  It wasn't until we tried CTC Math that things started to click for her and she managed to pass the class.

All three of my kids really seem to like this curriculum and I am very happy with it as well. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a math curriculum for K-6 and as a supplement tutoring program for higher levels in addition to a selected curriculum.  I would also HIGHLY recommend CTC Math if you have a student in public schools struggling with math and who needs extra support.




CTC Math offers a 60% discount of their normal pricing for homeschool families which allows for full access to all grades and lessons. Single Student pricing start at just $11.97/month and family plans for 2 or more students costs $15.97 a month.  The overall price is discounted even further when purchasing 6 months or a year. The family plan is $118.90 for a full year, coming out to less than 10 dollars a month and a savings of more than 178 dollars.  They also offer a free trial to "try it before you buy it".

CTC Math can be found on Facebook.