As my oldest gears up for her senior year, she is checking a lot of college prep items off her to do list. One thing she wanted to do this summer was review some key algebra concepts to help her prep for the ACT this winter So, when I was given the opportunity to review a 12-month Family Membership from CTCMath, I signed her up.
Jayme has been working diligently through math all summer long. She’s been working independently through CTCMath. She’s going to provide a good portion of this review for me. Keep reading to see our review of CTCMath.
What Is CTCMath?
An online program, CTCMath has video tutorials, interactive questions, and worksheets for further practice for students in kindergarten through high school Calculus.
From within the parent dashboard, you can set up your student accounts. You can even create custom worksheets using their Wizard Bank, and adjust the duration and difficulty of the question set to meet your student’s needs.
It was simple to get Jayme set up and running. Once I did this, she was able to work through the program independently – which was nice for me as a busy homechooling mom!
The family subscription could be used for up to five kids, which is awesome! If we had the internet bandwidth to support more online programs, I’d totally have used this with my younger kids too…
How We Used This Program
Jayme took the initial skills test, to see which areas she should focus on. The test took a little longer than the daily lessons, but she felt like it revealed accurate results. We both appreciated that it showed the correct answer for problems that were missed.
After this test, lessons took my daughter about half an hour each day. She worked an average of three days a week over the summer. Each day, she watched the video, did the questions, and solved the problems on the worksheet.
What We Thought of This Program
Since I didn’t have a lot of time in the program, I asked my daughter to help me with this review. Here’s an interview style review of what she liked, didn’t like, and her overall opinion.
Q: What Was a Daily Lesson Like?
A: Each morning, I’d log into my account. Then, I watched the video. If our internet was acting up, I’d read the text version instead. Then I’d do the questions. Finally I’d do the worksheet. If I got above 80%, I was done. If not, I redid the questions or worksheet to practice more.
Note from Lisa: We have metered internet, and it doesn’t always work. That’s one of the downsides about living in the boonies. Video streaming can’t always happen. So, we both really appreciated the text version for days when things were running slowly.
Q: What Did You Like About CTCMath?
I like that the questions, worksheet, and video are setup separately. It was easy to see what needed done, and to do my daily tasks. I am getting better at math, which is a good thing.
It was nice to be able to do it on my own. I got to see at the end of each lesson how I did, and didn’t have to wait for Mom to grade it.
Q: What Did You Not Like About CTCMath?
I only have a few minor complaints. Overall, it was a good program. But, I don’t like the way the question and answer bank and answer submission are formatted. You have to go back and forth between two tabs, which is time consuming. It’d be much easier if it were all together.
I also didn’t like the overall layout of the lessons on the site. There are so many sections within each lessons, it takes a long time to scroll to where you need to go.
Note from Lisa: The screenshot above shows the questions and answer bank. She had to look in the answer bank, find the answer to Q1, and then go to a different tab to enter it. It was a bit clunky.
Q: Would You Recommend CTCMath to Other High School Students Looking to Review Key Skills?
Yes.
My Review of CTCMath
Overall, this was a solid program. There are a few things that could be improved to make accessing it easier. But, it did the job we wanted it to do, so that is awesome!
I appreciate that it was easy for my student to do on her own. I didn’t have to grade papers or try to explain math problems. That was nice!
Also, the program sends out report emails, so I was in the loop for Jayme’s progress. She received a certificate earlier this summer:
Some students would be really motivated by this. This particular child of mine is not. But, if yours is, it’s a fun way to track progress and celebrate milestones.
I was one of 60 reviewers for CTCMath. To see how other homeschooling families used this online math program, please click the banner below.