Homeschool Curriculum Review: CTCMath

I was paid a wee bit to write this review, but just like with all things from The WOLFe Pack, what you will find here is an honest opinion from a seasoned homeschool mom with a Master’s Degree in Education and a decade of experience in the classroom…who also happens to be a mom with way too little sleep, too much unfolded laundry and just one year left to homeschool her one and only “baby”.

Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.

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As part of my job as the Customer Connection Manager for Nicole the Math Lady, I attend loads of homeschool conventions across the country every year. It’s a ton of work, but I LOVE it for several reasons. Not the least of which is the fact that I get to meet thousands of homeschool moms like you. And by “you,” I mean I get to chat with ALL sorts of different types of homeschool moms.

Special Note: There are sooooooooooooo many kinds of homeschool moms out there today. It is so exciting to see! I absolutely LOVE that we don’t all fit into one category anymore!

But, the one thing that every mama who comes to hear us speak or visit us at our booth has in common is their desire to find the best math curriculum. Unfortunately, there is no single best math curriculum.

But, there is a RIGHT MATH CURRICULUM for your student.

But, choosing the right curriculum is hard. I should know. By the time my one and only child was in Eighth Grade, we had tried EIGHT DIFFERENT MATH CURRICULA. Yeah, 8 by 8th grade. Don’t do that. Someday, I’ll make a post about that crazy journey and how we finally landed where we are.

But, today, I want to tell you about one math curricula that we did not try but recently received the opportunity to review: CTCMath.

Read on for a full review!

CTCMath Homeschool Membership

Who created CTCMath?

CTCMath was created by Patrick Murray, an internationally recognized pioneer in the field of online math education.

Using techniques developed over 28 years of teaching and across all levels, Pat specializes in creating unique video math tutorials which are concise, easy to understand, and effective.

He has appeared numerous times on national TV and his programs have been featured on television, radio, in newspapers, and in magazines.

Since 2009, his programs have been integrated into the curriculums of more than 1380 schools across the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Pat lives in Syndey with his wife Maree and their ten children – five of which are still at home!

What is CTCMath?

CTCMath is a full math curriculum offered in a self-paced online format. When I signed up for a Free Trial, my welcome email included the following blurb…

“The CTCMath step-by-step videos are short, easy to understand and a sure path to success in math.”

At the very end of this post, you’ll find a ten-minute video from CTCMath that walks you through their program. But, before you check out what they have to say about themselves, let’s continue with my review.

How is CTCMath formatted?

CTCMath is fully online and is formatted with three components for the students: Video Tutorials, Interactive Questions and Worksheets & Solutions.

Video Tutorials:

• teach the new concept.
• include a voice and images.
• are clear and concise.
• can be paused and rewound for clarification.
• can also be repeated in full.
• appear as a Lesson Summary that can be printed.

Interactive Questions:

• are fully on-line.
• assess understanding of video tutorial.
• provide immediate feedback.
• increase difficulty levels to match progress.
• offers optional onscreen keyboard.
• are automatically marked and recorded.
• can be viewed in a report with correct/incorrect answers.

Worksheets & Solutions:

• can be viewed online or printed out.
• assess understanding of video tutorial.
• encourages the use traditional pen-and-paper.
• allows practice in working solution out step-by-step.
• are automatically marked and recorded.
• can be saved and completed later.

CTCMath also includes several capabilities for the parents including:

• Assigning tasks to each student.
• Knowing in an instant which lessons have been completed.
• Observing how much time was spent on every step of the lesson.
• Seeing which problems were completed correctly/incorrectly.
• Viewing correct/incorrect answers as completed by the student.
• Assessing math gaps and assigning lessons to fill them.
• Watching any video tutorial at any time.
• Creating student accounts throughout the year.
• Changing student courses whenever needed.

What does a typical day of work with CTCMath look like?

A student logs in and either selects the next lesson in the line-up or selects a task that was assigned by his/her parent. Then, he/she watches the Video Tutorial and completes the Interactive Questions and/or the Worksheet. Lessons are fairly short and quick.

How does a parent KEEP TRACK OF STUDENT SUCCESS?

This is an important question, and one that unfortunately comes up time and time again as an issue with other online math curricula. It seems that sometimes when homeschool parents outsource their math to an online platform, they unwittingly check out of the process and lose track of progress (or lack thereof). With CTCMath that is pretty hard to do considering the number of ways a parent is able to stay informed of student progress. From the parent page, it is immediately clear which students have completed what, how long it took and how they did. It also shows you their overall score and more! You can also easily access detailed reports, summary reports and individual results! Check out this video guide on the many report options they offer.

Is it MASTERY or SPIRAL?

CTCMath is mastery. The program is designed for you to move on once you have mastered a concept and you will only work on a specific type of problem at one time. However, a student can always revisit previous concepts and a parent can always assign tasks from previous lessons. But the spiral nature is not built in to CTCMath.

Is it RELIGIOUS?

Nope. There is no religious content in this math curriculum.

Does it ALIGN with COMMON CORE?

That depends what you mean by “aligning with Common Core.” If you mean, was CTCMath created as a response to the Common Core movement in hopes of being adopted in American schools? No. Not in the slightest. It was created in Australia and their website very clearly says, “The lessons are taught the traditional way, not to a ‘test’. CTCMath is NOT aligned to Common Core!”

However, if you are wondering if you can match up the topics taught through CTCMath with the Common Core or your specific state’s standards, yes, you probably can. But before you get all offended at the mere mention of CCS, please let me briefly explain what that means. Being “aligned” with Common Core has nothing to do with how things are taught. It just means that the curriculum clearly covers specific topics identified as important on a list of standards {whether that be the federal Common Core Standards, aka: CCS, or a specific state’s standards.} So, if you were to print off a copy of said standards in hopes of feeling confident that CTCMath covered the recommended topics, you would be able to go thru the CTCMath and find that those topics are indeed taught.

Is it “NEW MATH” or “OLD SCHOOL MATH”?

This question is probably the one you are really hoping to have answered above. But since being “aligned” with Common Core has nothing to do with how things are taught, we need to ask a different question such as “Is CTCMath New Math or Old School Math?” You could also ask if CTCMath is weird math. Or you could phrase it like so many people who stop by our convention booth and wonder if “this math is taught the way I learned it ‘back in the day’ or does it use those wacky new messed up math methods?”

But, no matter how you ask it, the answer is this…

“The lessons are taught the traditional way,” according to the CTCMath site.

But, just like with all curriculum options, the best way to get an understanding of how the lessons are taught is to check them out for yourself. CTCMath happens to have a Free Trial which you can sign up for here. No credit card is needed to sign up so there is no risk involved at all. Sign up for the Free Trial, check out several video tutorials and then decide for yourself whether it’s new/wacky/weird or old school, traditional/back in the day math.

Which GRADE LEVELS does it COVER?

CTCMath covers Kindergarten through Calculus with topics ranging from number sense to applications of integration.

SPECIAL NOTE: A membership to CTCMath (even just a single student membership) gives you access to ALL COURSES. This means your student can access video tutorials both before and after his “assigned” course. It also means that if he/she completes one course in less than a year, he/she can move on to the next course with no additional cost.

Which LEARNING STYLES would work well with this?

In my opinion, CTCMath will work best for visual and auditory learners. Every video tutorial that I watched included some sort of visual representation of what was being taught, along with, of course, the verbal instruction.

However, since Pat Murray firmly believes that instruction needs to be concise, even if your learner is not an auditory learner, he/she may be able to work well with CTCMath’s format. These are not 30-45 minute instructional lessons during which learners who lean towards a more kinesthetic style will struggle or even suffer. These are 4-6 minute videos with visuals and a very pleasant sounding voice.

Does it use MANIPULATIVES?

Nope. Everything is taught through short video tutorials and practiced online with some lessons having a printable worksheet option as well.

Does it only work on a COMPUTER?

No. CTCMath can be accessed on any modern HTML5 platform, including iOS devices such as iPads and iPhones, and Android devices.

Is there a PLACEMENT TEST?

Yes! CTCMath offers a series of short diagnostic tests to identify a student’s strengths and weaknesses as well as insuring there are no gaps in their learning.

There is a video that thoroughly explains the value of these diagnostic tests and also walks through how to administer them to your student. And, I must say…I was highly impressed with not only the process but also the results provided. From the perspective of somebody who frequently hears from parents, “I know my child has gaps; I just don’t know where the gaps are so I don’t know how to help,” the data provided through these diagnostics tests is valuable, understandable and actionable.

Once a student gets through the diagnostic tests then works to fill the gaps from earlier courses, your student can get to work on their leveled course and work through it from beginning to end.

Is there a FREE TRIAL?

Absolutely! CTCMath has a no risk Free Trial so you can check it out before purchasing. During your Free Trial, your student can access the first lesson of every single course they offer.

How much does it COST?

What else is IMPORTANT TO KNOW?

There are several other “random” things I think are important for you to note.

• The lesson tutorials are taught with a definite accent. Now, for me, an Australian accent ranks at the way tippy top of my all-time favorite accents so I consider this a perk. But, you or your student may think otherwise. Just check out some lessons and decide for yourself.
• Along with the accent, there are also some terms, spelling and lingo that are a wee bit different than what you and your student might be used to. In my opinion, it’s nothing major and certainly nothing to be concerned about. Just something of which you might want to be aware.
• I mentioned this above, but it is well worth repeating. When doing the Interactive Questions, there is this amazing little option to have the keyboard appear right on the screen. That way your student can use it instead of an actual computer keyboard. I LOVED this feature!
• I also mentioned this above, but want to reiterate that when you buy a CTCMath Homeschool Membership, you will have access to every single course at the same time. To me, this is an invaluable perk that will be hard to find with other programs.
• There seems to be no obvious scope and sequence to plan out your year. Many people may not find this to be a negative but planners like me might struggle to know how to plan the year, how to assess whether a student is on track, how to judge if you’ll get it all done, etc.
• Sorry to repeat myself again, but this feature is too good to miss. After every lesson, you can print out the Lesson Summary which shows you everything that was taught. Not only is this a perfect learning tool for those who learn more through reading or are tactile, it also provides the perfect solution to any portfolio needs.
• Lastly, CTCMath offers an amazing money-back guarantee. Simply amazing. So amazing that there is truly no risk involved in giving it a whirl.

What is CTCMath {according to CTCMath}?

As mentioned above, here is a video directly from CTCMath that explains what the program is and how it works. It even shows you a sample lesson!