So far this summer, we have focused on bringing you what I would call fun learning reviews. Today, you may look at me strange if I place this one in the fun learning category but hang on and I'll explain why! My daughter has been trying out the math lessons from CTCMath and I love that she has access to all grade levels with the Homeschool Membership. You see, math has never been her strong suit so we knew she would need some additional practice during the summer months. We had several specifications that we were searching for in a curriculum to meet our needs and CTCMath has been the answer to them all.
Here is what we were looking for:
1) Something online that could be done from anywhere. This was definitely the case with CTCMath. She was able to carry the lessons with her when we traveled and had no problems logging in and completing them.
2) Lessons that could be completed in 15 minute increments. Because this is not a favorite subject, I wanted her to be able to complete her lessons first thing so she would not feel overwhelmed since we are technically on summer break. CTCMath again met this requirement. We focused on the Basic Math and Pre-Algebra lessons for my daughter. The video lessons and questions that followed could easily be completed within 15-20 minutes per day.
3) We wanted a program that would allow her to go down a grade level if needed to close any gaps. With your CTCMath Homeschool Membership, you could easily go down or up in grade level because you had access to them all. Also, since lessons are broken into individual topics, a student could easily retake a portion that they may have needed extra work on.
4) Finally, I wanted something that would grade itself allowing me to simply check to make sure the work was being complete. Not only is CTCMath self grading but I get a weekly PDF report sent straight to my email letting me know how Sarah did for the week. The report shows how much time she spent, her efficiency rating, and which lessons were completed.
Students have their own log in credentials and so do parents. When the student logs in, they have lessons available to them from Kindergarten through Trigonometry. There are also diagnostic tests available to help you place your student. Sarah stayed inside the Basic Math and Pre-Algebra lessons which were broken down into 4 parts.
Part 1 - lessons on basic and whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percentages
Part 2 - lessons on problem solving, pre-algebra I, pre-algebra II, and Pythagoras' Theorem
Part 4 - lessons on powers, exponents, roots, scientific notation, measurements, area, the circle, and graphs and charts
Part 4 - probability, statistics, variables, expressions, and equations, equations extension, ratios, rates, number applications, and volume
As a student completes a lesson, a check mark is automatically placed beside it making it easy to pick up where they left off. Students can also see their grades and go back over any lessons that are not satisfactory. I required any scores lower than 80% to be retaken. You can set the percentage level to suit your homeschool.
When you click on a lesson, you will be taken to a video explaining the topic and showing you how to do it. We loved the Australian accent! Concepts were broken down into simple and easy tasks making them seem easier to grasp. The video lessons Sarah completed usually lasted no more than 5 minutes but could range from 4-9 minutes.
The next step was to complete the questions on the concepts just taught in the video. These were always 10 questions and graded as soon as the student completed each question.
Next was an optional worksheet. Worksheets contained additional questions on the concept taught giving students extra practice if necessary. The answers to these could be submitted and graded online as well or you had the option of printing out the worksheets and grading them yourself.
In the parent view, there was the option of assigning tasks to your students. We didn't use that feature since I just had Sarah go in the order she had finished. I did play around with it to see how it worked though. You could assign your students tasks for the week or day. You had the option to change the dates, lessons, and completely customize what you would like your student to complete. I could see this being a great tool to help students gain independence by assigning them their weekly lessons and requiring them to be due by the end of the week. Then the student could decide how they wanted to tackle them as long as they were complete by the due date.
With all the topics covered, I felt that this was a full math curriculum. Some of the higher levels are suggested by the author to best be used as a supplement. They have several options for memberships including monthly, 6 months, and 12 months for single students and for families of 2 or more. You can also try a free trial to see if this program fits your family.
Since lessons were able to be completed so quickly, it almost felt as if we were cheating the system some how. I mean, aren't math lessons suppose to be an hour long? Not with CTCMath and that's why it has gained a spot in our fun summer learning category!
