CTCMath Review with 1st & 3rd Grade Homeschoolers

1st and 3rd grade homeschoolers review CTCMath

A Homeschool CTCMath Review!

So what does a math loving, curriculum junkie (aka homeschool mom) do when she has the opportunity to use an online homeschool math curriculum? 

  • She drools a bit in anticipation! 
  • She imagines her children falling in love with math.
  • She daydreams about relaxing while her children do their math independently.
    • Even though we know she’d be multi-tasking! Trying to check off everything on her to-do list.
  • She can’t wait to get started!

And then she remembers that her children don’t love math. They tolerate it–kind of like broccoli. It’s good for you, so you eat it!

Girl using CTCMath on the computer.

Mom:  “Girls! It’s time for math!” 

Girls:  “Do we have to do math today?”

Mom:  “We are going to try something new today!”

Table of Contents

Disclosure: I received access to CTCMath in exchange for this review. While I was compensated for my time, I was not required to write a positive review. This review contains the actual opinions and experience of my family.

Our CTCMath Experience

Getting Started

As I logged in to CTCMath for the first time, I was both impressed and overwhelmed. There’s a lot here! Where do we even start?

First, I followed the step by step guide to create login names and passwords for my children.

Then I learned how to assign tasks to my children.                                                        

CTCMath’s youtube channel was super helpful. You can watch some sample lessons and try a free 7 day trial. With the videos and trial, you should have a pretty good idea if this will be a good fit for your children.

Next, I explored each child’s dashboard and tried some of their lessons, to see if they fit with what we were currently learning. It was pretty neat that I could try it out without changing their progress.

The girls were not nearly excited as mom. More math? 

**If you have children like mine, it’s ok that they aren’t excited!

Adding CTCMath to our Daily Routine

We made CTCMath a part of our daily routine. Logging in each school day to complete an assigned lesson.

Since we were already mid-year in a math curriculum, I assigned lessons to support what the girls were currently learning.

CTCMath & Busy Days

As a homeschool mom, I’m definitely developing my multitasking skills (a homeschool benefit).  To stay focused, I keep a list running through my head of the tasks I need to accomplish each day. 

On extra busy days, I write it down to help me stay focused. Here’s the beginning of a busy day list:

  • Keep the laundry going
    • Wash
    • Dry
    • Fold
    • Hang (iron????)
    • Put away
  • Prep supper
  • Plan lessons for kids Bible study class
  • Practice for flute & piano offertory
  • Exercise
  • Wash the dog
Third grade girl using CTCMath on a busy day

What about our homeschool tasks for the day?

  • Read aloud
  • Social Studies
    • States puzzle
    • America’s Story
  • Piano practice
  • Art Project
  • Devotions
    • Scripture Reading
    • Prayer
    • Character Study & Development
  • Spanish
    • Review
    • New words & phrases
    • Songs
  • Science
    • Intro new topic
    • Explore & experiment
  • Math lesson
    • Explain
    • Practice
    • Evaluate
  • Language
    • Spelling
    • Grammar
    • Writing
    • Reading
    • Handwriting
CTCMath is a tool that comes to the rescue on these busy days! 
Picture of Cindy
Cindy Wetzel
Homeschool Mom

I can assign lessons for my third grader, who is new to multiplication. 

She gets to watch and listen to a short video about multiplication (rewind, fast forward, pause and replay as needed). Then she tries to answer the questions and gets immediate feedback. 

No waiting for mom to switch the laundry!

CTCMath is a great fit for:

  • Busy Days
  • Review
  • Additional Practice
  • Building Confidence (immediate feedback that you’ve got this!)
  • Day’s when Mom is sick!

Kid's CTCMath Review Video

After using CTCMath regularly for three months, these girls are pros!

Watch and listen as my first grade daughter walks you through a first grade lesson.

Turn on the captions—unless you want to guess what the first grader is saying! 

My third grade daughter will use her codename and desire to be a youtube star to show you her CTCMath lesson.

**Mom did a bit of editing, but not much. I want you to see how they are able to independently use CTCMath.

What is CTCMath?

CTCMath is an online math curriculum.

A homeschool family membership with CTCMath includes the curriculum for all levels (Kindergarten through trigonometry & calculus) and can be used by every member of your family.

The homeschool family membership is also half of CTCMath’s regular price.

CTCMath Review Infographic

How does CTCMath work?

Upon purchasing a membership, parents login and are taken to the parent dashboard to create accounts for each child. Each child is given a login name and password.

From the dashboard, parents can assign tasks for each child and view progress reports.

Students log in, watch a teaching video, and answer questions. My first grader loves typing the numbers!

Favorite Features of CTCMath

During our CTCMath review we loved these features!

  • Weekly progress reports emailed to the parent.
    • This progress report is a great time-saver.
  • Ability to schedule tasks.
    • Choose student, stream (grade), topic, lesson, and due date.
First grade girl at computer doing CTCMath
  • Teaching videos, ability to rewind, pause, fast forward and rewatch, full screen
  • Teacher’s accent–easy to understand, enjoyable for us, and may I say “adorable”
  • Optional weekly reviews
  • Timed Facts
  • Manipulatives–on screen moveable or interactive pieces
  • Certificates
  • Confetti and streamers when achieving 100%
  • Requiring 80% to complete task (otherwise must redo–parent report shows the number of times a task was attempted). 
    • This has been really helpful with my guesser. She’s a good guesser, but it is getting harder for her to guess.
    • CTCMath is enabling me to see the math concepts she is struggling with. I can see how many attempts she made at a lesson before actually passing. Then I know this concept needs some extra attention. 

Things to Consider

Third grade girl at computer using CTCMath

Appearance:

CTCMath is not a game based learning app. It is a math curriculum. 

My girls wish it had more colors, pictures, music and games. I actually like that they stay focused on the assigned task. We have lots of other options for games! 

Pricing:

If you have a large family, you will definitely find that CTCMath is more affordable for you than purchasing a curriculum for each child.

Online:

CTCMath is an online math curriculum. 

Our rural internet is not always reliable. If this were our only math option, there would be times we couldn’t access it from home. Thankfully our library has great internet service!

A Homeschool Mom's Opinion

Results of our CTCMath Review:

For Now:

We will use CTCMath as a great supplement for 1st grade and 3rd grade math. We are not quite ready for a fully online math curriculum.  Mainly because our internet service can be interrupted.

As a busy homeschool mom, I love the convenience of CTCMath! It will be very helpful on busy days and days when I’m too sick to be the math teacher.

I am really impressed with the scope of CTCMath! I love the option to use any grade level and not be stuck with the wrong one.

This is definitely a great option for large homeschool families!

In the Future:

I’m relieved to know that CTCMath teaches upper level math with videos! I will need all the help I can get with calculus!

If you are struggling with upper level math, this may be the perfect fit for you. 

More CTCMath Reviews

Our CTCMath review is focused on first and third grade. You may have a teen that hates math, or is in algebra.

I’d love to hear what you think of CTCMath!

Especially with older grades. I’m hoping this will continue to be a great option when math gets more challenging for us.

Have you used CTCMath? Homeschool Family Membership or the free trial

Reply below and share with a friend!

Thank you for making it to the bottom of this CTCMath Review. You’re my kind of reader (I always read to the end–well almost always–recipes are the exception!).

CTCMath Review featuring first grade girl using computer