CTCMath - A 2016 Schoolhouse Crew Review

When I learned that CTCMath was coming up as a vendor for a review, I asked begged to be on the review. I love CTCMath!

I was selected for the review and received a one-year subscription to CTCMath Homeschool Membership.

As we entered the summer months, I wanted my struggling math student to spend more time on Algebra 2 concepts before I gave him credit for the course on his high school transcript. The Algebra 2 material in CTCMath helped my son grasp and practice some concepts he had not conquered yet. Before I tell you any more about our experiences with this product, though, let me tell you the basics about the CTCMath Homeschool Membership. 

When you subscribe to the Homeschool Membership you receive a separate Parent Log-In and one Student Log-In for each of your students. Crew members were given the option of up to ten Student Log-In's. I am not sure if that is the maximum number available to families or if that is just the maximum they were offering Crew members.

The first place you log in is the Parent Log-In page, and then you set up your individual student accounts. I set up two student accounts -- one for my son and one for myself.  Once you input your student's name, User Name for the Log In and a password for the student to use, you set the level your student will work at. I was pleased at the levels offered for high school students: Algebra I, Algebra 2, Geometry, pre-Calculus, Calculus and Trigonometry! I was focusing on Algebra 2. The material offered is not sufficient, in my opinion, to be considered a complete course for a high school credit. It is a wonderful help as a supplement to help the student grasp concepts they are struggling with!

Using the Parent Log In, I learned to assign work in advance to my student. Then the student and the parent both receive an email with the assignment. The parent later receives another email saying assignment completed and score, or notice that the assignment is overdue. I stopped using this feature because my son was not keeping up with the assignments.

Using the student account as my primary account was helpful to me to understand the student experience for purposes of this review. In general, though, the parent does not need a student account. The parent page allows the parent to work on all the student areas just like the student page does.

My son and I worked on the same assignments within Algebra 2. I worked to stay ahead of him so that if he didn't understand the assignment I could explain it to him. I am a math person, and I really like CTCMath. My biggest weakness is word problems. CTCMath does not have many word problems that I can see. That's great for my scores, but I don't grow in figuring out word problems. So that is a weakness of the program.

Each student can take a diagnostic test before beginning so the parent can decide where to start the student. I did not assign this because my son would have found it tedious. We both knew where he was in his Algebra 2. I began the diagnostic test myself but did not finish it. Tedious. Frustrating when I reached a point where I really didn't know how to get to the answer. The choice was to get it wrong or quit. I quit.

When a student logs on to the student page, the program takes the student to the section where he/she left off. It can be encouraging to see how much work has been done and the scores that have been achieved.

The student scrolls down to where he/she left off and clicks the section to work on next. A lesson cannot be partially done and come back to. Lessons can, however, be printed out. The student can write the answers on the printout and, when all answers are ready, log in and enter the answers on the program. The method I used was working from the desktop to a spiral notebook. This works well when you have learned to document well what lesson, what question, what answer, and the correct letter to enter the correct answer later. On lower levels of math the student can have the questions open in a window on the left and the answers open on a window on the right simultaneously.

Some of the lessons have "Video" with "Questions". Some lessons have "Video" and "Worksheet". Some lessons have "Video", "Questions" AND "Worksheet". I liked "Questions" better than "Worksheet"s because they are generally shorter assignments, and who doesn't like to finish more quickly?

CTCMath goes out of their way to make this program affordable to home schoolers. If you have a curriculum with 140-160 lessons in it to be used over 180 school days, it may seem overwhelming to think of supplementing with another 70+ lessons. I don't do it that way. If my student has a lesson on factoring polynomials, I use CTCMath instead of their other lesson, particularly on a topic. 

Take a look at 

CTCMath. I think you'll like it.

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