Disclaimer: Complimentary Product Received
We are only a month into this new school year and already, it has been a year of firsts for my family.
A few weeks ago, my oldest went to middle school for the first time! I may or may not have shed a few mommy tears. We are also attempting several new approaches to homeschooling this year. Not only that, I was invited to be a part of a squad of melanated homeschool reviewers for the first time! Even though I’ve never formally reviewed curricula before, I was up for the challenge. I thoroughly enjoy sharing what works for us. That’s why when Alfrea Riley Moore of Melanated Gold Homeschool Magazine invited me to join her squad of reviewers, I couldn’t say no!
I received access to the CTC Math for Homeschoolers as a reviewer for the Melanated Gold Review Squad! For the past six weeks, my eight and 10-year-old children have used this online math curriculum. I’m happy to share what our experience was like.
CTC Math is an online math curriculum for children in grades K-12. It is available for both homeschoolers and parents. It offers monthly and yearly memberships. Rates for one student are $29.97 monthly or $197 yearly. For more than one student, CTC Math is $39.97 monthly or $297 yearly. CTC Math boasts a video catalog of over 1,400 video tutorials! Its website states, “Each of the 1,400+ CTC Math tutorials last around 4-9 minutes and presents the concepts of the math lesson step-by-step.”
As a busy mommy of four, this was music to my ears!
I love using video instruction for homeschool! Videos allow me the flexibility to split my time between my children without them missing out on the individualized attention they need. When I received CTC Math, I was looking forward to a program that would comprehensively address my children’s math needs.
CTC Match’s video lessons afford students the opportunity to learn at their own pace. Learners can circle back as many times as necessary ensuring they soak in the concepts. After each video, learners then complete a series of questions related to the lesson. CTC Match also provides a downloadable PDF breakdown of each lesson.
The Main Dashboard lists sections labeled “Tasks”, “Question Bank Wizard”, and “Tools”. The “Tools” section is nice because it has a checklist you can download to track the date the lesson was completed and the grade your child received. Under “Tasks”, you can add tasks for your child to work on. The “Question Bank Wizard” allows parents to include various questions for their learners. The Student Dashboard encompasses “Lessons”, “Tasks”, “Results”, “Settings”, and “History”.
When getting started, there is a section for parents to login. They’ll then be directed to enroll their children as students. From there, the enrolled students will need to login in to their own student account and then begin. I loved how simple this was. Instead of placement tests, CTC Math utilizes a series of diagnostic tests to determine the child’s level. Math does not come easily for one of my children and this is where we had a slight hiccup. As a parent of a child who doesn’t necessarily enjoy math, we needed to approach the diagnostic test with a grain of salt.
The good news is after becoming better acquainted with the program, I found CTC Math is one I can refer back to often in order to assist with my child’s needs! I particularly like that “with a CTC Math membership you have access to all grades and lessons. There are no restrictions allowing freedom to move back and forward.” We definitely took advantage of this. After a couple of weeks, I noticed the confidence in my struggling child begin to build. She beamed with pride at her ability to successfully complete her lessons.
Generally speaking, CTC Math’s video lessons were engaging and extremely clear. My other child, an eight-year-old, was able to watch the videos on his own. I would verbally check for understanding when the lesson was over. He understood everything! He was able to navigate the website on his own and then completed each lesson’s follow up questions. He said he liked CTC Math. I noticed his enthusiasm for new lessons each day. He especially loved watching his percentage go up in real-time with each correct answer he gave.
One downer we found was that the navigational dashboard was a bit cumbersome to understand. This lack of clarity led to some frustration and confusion. It caused us to use a little more time than I would have liked on trying to navigate the site versus simply using the program. The good news is once we figured out how to utilize the site, it was smooth sailing. Be sure you don’t overlook the “Help” tab! This is where CTC Math provides a number of how-to videos to get better acquainted with the program. Unfortunately, it was not initially obvious that these important videos were housed here.
Other than this initial lack of user friendliness, CTC Math was spot on! For this reason, I would give CTC Math a B+ rating overall. Its effectiveness for clear and concise lessons was wonderful. Once we got started, not only did my kids enjoy this program, I did too! After overcoming our initial hurdles, I found CTC Math did not disappoint!
As a member of the Melanated Gold Review Squad, I’m happy to offer the homeschool discount, plus a bonus of 6-months for anyone who registers for 12-months (totaling 18-months). You can find this offer at this link:
https://www.ctcmath.com/purchase/homeschool50?tr_id=MGHHashtags: #melanatedgoldreviewsquad
You can find the main CTC Math website here at this link: https://www.ctcmath.com/
So, what do you say? I encourage you to give CTC Math a try. If you do, leave a comment and let me know what you think. If you’re not quite ready to take the plunge, CTC Math does offer a free trial, which is a win-win!
Check out what my fellow Melanated Gold Review Squad Members thought about CTC Math here!
Make sure you follow the hashtag: #melanatedgoldreviewsquad to find more product reviews you’ll love!
Thanks for reading.
Blessings,
Courtney
