Review of CTCMath

The Homeschool Membership from CTCMath is one of my all-time favorite review products (actually, it's one of my all-time favorite homeschool products - I just happened to be introduced to it through the Crew), which is probably why I reviewed it here and here. Because both of those posts are very screenshot-heavy, I am going to focus this review more on talking about why CTCMath is different from all of the other math programs out there. 
What is CTCMath?
CTCMath is one of Cathy Duffy's 102 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. It is an Australian program, the brainchild of a homeschool father (which probably explains the fact that one yearly fee covers up to *10* children!). It is comprised of K-Calculus, and for K-8 it can work as a standalone curriculum. It is recommended that it be used as a supplement at the secondary level. It is not aligned to the common core, meaning that if you want your kids to learn math more like you learned math, this is likely a great choice for you. 
Each grade is broken down into subject areas, and each subject area is further broken down into topics (my verbiage may be way off, but you can see what I mean in this 6th grade illustration).

That makes it unbelievably easy to target a specific area where your child may be having trouble if you don't plan on using it as a full curriculum. 

The lessons are taught as 4-7 minute video tutorials with very simple animations (not cartoon-y animations, but power point type animations) and explanations. No frills. No distractions. Here is a lesson from Geometry captured in action:

Each lesson also has a one page summary of its content, exactly what you would probably end up with if you had taken notes. Here is the summary page from this lesson on triangles:

In terms of parent options, CTCMath is second to none, which is one of the main reasons it is such a superior program (the fact that my kids love it so much is the number one reason I love it so much, though!).

Parents can make assignments on their own dashboards:

Kids then see these tasks on their own dashboards.

A feature that I don't think I have ever noticed/used before is located under the Tools tab of the parent dashboard. It allows you a direct link/sneak peak at any lesson in CTCMath.

Once you highlight a lesson, you can see the lesson summary (the notes page) or you can go directly to that lesson's animation. That helps you quickly and easily see if it is something you want your child to do. It's a huge time saver to have it all right there on your dashboard!

My Kids and CTCMath

This year, I have two 6th graders and an 8th grader using CTCMath. Right now, my twins are using 6th grade math as their sole math program, and Nicky is using Geometry to supplement his current Geometry program. You can see their next week's assignments in one of the screenshots above (we are not doing school this week because of camps). 

CTC makes it so easy for both parents and kids. Because the lessons are so short, math is not painful. You can do several lessons without it dragging on, and you can build a reference binder with pre-done notes (great for the non-writing types). Parents can send assignments directly to their kids' dashboards and get updates sent directly to their own emails. It's a wonderful way to do math!

I'm pretty sure my CTCMath subscription runs through at least 2019 (I bought my own 18 month subscription after our first review. I never want to be without this program!). That's actually my only quibble with this program - I can't see my end date anywhere. That's a little frustrating. It's minor, though.

To see how other Crew members used this program, especially if you want to see how it works with youngers, be sure to click the banner below!