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Homeschool Math Curriculum: Teaching Textbooks vs. CTC Math

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Teaching homeschool math can be a stress inducing thought. Many of us were not strong in math ourselves, or have not done much of it since graduation, and worry about how we can successfully teach our children. Using a homeschool math curriculum is something I would strongly suggest! A good homeschool math curriculum can ease your stress and help you to be successful in teaching your own children to be solid mathematicians.

Homeschool Math Curriculum: CTC Math vs. Teaching Textbooks from Starts At Eight

In our many years of homeschooling I have used a multitude of math programs. Depending and the level we were at, and the individual needs of our children, I have found a use for each and every one of these throughout the years.

Homeschool Math Curriculum We Have Used:

Most recently we have been using CTC Math as our homeschool math curriculum for 2 out of 3 of our children: my 4th grader and my senior both used it this year.

CTC Grade 4 Math Lesson

About CTC Math

CTC Math Student Progress Screen Pre-Calc

Teaching Textbooks along with Singapore Math have been two of our most used homeschool math curriculum choices. I have used Singapore Math in the younger years through about 5th grade and then switched to Teaching Textbooks.  This school year I opted to use CTC Math for my oldest who was going to tackle Pre-Calculus.

CTC Math Logo

A CTC Math membership allows you to enroll up to 10 children in their online math program, for ONE LOW COST!

Other Features of CTC Math

CTC Math Weekly Progress Report Collage

  • has math for all levels from Kindergarten through Calculus (high school)
  • video based lessons with audio instructions for the comprehension questions
  • self-paced
  • Short manageable lessons (even in the upper levels)
  • Parental Notification – you can set up to get weekly update e-mails of your child’s progress. This makes it so easy to check in each week and see how they are doing (especially when they are older, more independent learners.)
  • The parent portal gives you the ability to add assignments (which they call tasks). These then show up on your student’s homepage for them to complete.
  • For each skill set there are testing options. The tests can be taken at any time, or not at all. This means they can be used as a placement to see if the student is ready for the topic or as an end of topic assessment. The comprehensive test, which is longer and would make a good unit review because it contains problems from every topic in the stream.
  • In the lower levels, the answers are entered into the program directly. In the upper levels, there is often a worksheet for the student to print out and work on.

CTC Math Student Progress Page Grade 4

CTC Math vs. Teaching Textbooks

Online vs. Computer Based

The CTC Math membership is accessed online and Teaching Textbooks is disc based.

What this means is that you can access your CTC Math from any computer that has Internet access while Teaching Textbooks is loaded and used on only one computer. (We used a lap top for our daughter when she used this so she could take it with her places.)

Cost

While I will not do a cost analysis for you, I will lay out the cost and you can decide for yourself and your family circumstances which is more beneficial.

The CTC Math membership for 1 homeschooled child per year is $78.80 and for 2+ children is $118.80

Teaching Textbooks ranges from around $100 for Math to $185 for the advanced math. It is cheaper if you only buy the cds and not the paper books (which by the way are the same exact material as the cds and not really necessary.)

Spiral Approach vs. Mastery

CTC Math uses a mastery approach to math meaning that the previous topics aren’t reviewed over and over. This type of approach assumes you have mastered the content and can therefore move on.

Teaching Textbooks takes a spiral approach – so concepts are reviewed and repeated regularly along the way.

Flexibility of Levels

With a CTC Math membership you have access to all the math levels and can move ahead or behind as needed.

With Teaching Textbooks you purchase one whole level at a time.

Assignments

With CTC Math you can schedule assignments (tasks) from your parent portal and they show up in the student dashboard.

Teaching Textbooks does not have an assignment feature, you simple work for one lesson number to the next in chronological order.

Video Content

Both math programs utilize audio (voice) based lessons with images, and problems worked out on the screen as the instructions are being vocalized.

Get CTC Math for Your Homeschool

CTC Math Student FeedBack Pg Gr 4

CTC Math membership is an affordable homeschool math curriculum option for homeschool families.

Do you want to know more? Want to try it out before you buy it? You can check out CTC Math for yourself with their FREE TRIAL!

There is also a 60% OFF Membership Discount for homeschool families!

CTC Math Membership GIVEAWAY

CTC Math is giving away a free one year membership to five winners. Be sure to enter before August 15 at 11:00 PM EST.

Connect with CTC Math


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