Home school math is often one of the reasons people worry about home schooling. They worry, especially at the higher levels, that their abilities to teach will be surpassed by what their children can and need to learn. Finding a home school math curriculum that works for your children can be an instrumental step in making homeschooling not only possible, but easier and more enjoyable!

Home School Math Curriculum: CTCMath vs. Singapore Math from Starts At Eight is a comparison of the the two math programs including both similarities and differences and reasons why one or the other might be a good fit as your home school math curriculum.

Since I began home schooling in 2006 I have used a host of different home school math curricula. The changes started when my oldest began struggling in 6th grade. This prompted me to go looking for something more suited for both she and I. You can read about our math journey here. Also, let me say she went on to score higher than her friends (both public and home schooled) on her college math placement exam.

Home School Math Curriculum

It can be tough to choose a home school math curriculum because there are loads of options out there! One of the things that has helped me is to make a list of what features I want or that I feel would work for my child and use that as checklist to narrow the field. I have multiple children in my house and each one has had different needs at different times so we have been happy to ebb and flow to different curriculum options as needed.

Home School Math Curriculum We Have Used:

Be sure to click on each one to check out my thoughts on each program!

CTCMath {I received a CTC Math membership as part of this review and I was compensated for my time in writing it. All views are my own and I was not required to write a positive review. Please see my full Disclosure Policy for more details.}
Teaching Textbooks
Math Mammoth
Singapore Math
A+ Interactive Math
Khan Academy
Mr. D Math
iPractice Math
ShillerMath

What’s to Love About CTCMath?

CTCMath is a

1. Consistent Math Program from K-12

With CTCMath you never have to switch curriculum because they offer math from Kindergarten through Grade 12! That means if your kids love it, they will always be able to learn with their tried and true math program.

2. Reasonable Cost

Homeschoolers get a huge 60% discount off the regular price!

A Single Membership:

$11.97 per month or $78.80 for 12 months

Family Membership (2+ children):

$15.97 per month or $118.80 for 12 months

3. Ability to Schedule Tasks Within The Program

With CTCMath you can schedule tasks with due dates for each of your children from your Parent Portal.

We typically use a student planner for each of our children that I plan out and create at the beginning of each school year. But if you are not a paper lover, or you don’t want to have a separate planner for everything, or you plan in smaller chunks as you go, then having the built in task creation option is key!

4. Parental Controls

YES! You have your own Parent Portal where you can see each child’s progress, schedules tasks, see activities, awards and weekly reports and even print everything out if you want or need to keep paper records!

Beyond what you can change and see in your Parent Portal, you can also choose to have both e-mail notifications in the form of weekly progress reports right to your inbox, as well as awards certificates every time one of your children earns one!

5. Clear Progress and Tracking

Not only can you see and track progress in your Parent Portal, but each of your students can easily see and track their own progress.

6. Flexible Timeframe

Since they offer a 12 month subscription it lends itself to a flexible schedule!

Stretch out the year if you need to.
Or home school year round.
It’s also great for summer review!
You can go back and redo sticky parts, or even move ahead if you want to!

Connect with CTCMath: Facebook : Twitter : Pinterest : YouTube : Instagram : Periscope

CTCMath vs. Singapore Math

Singapore Math offers a variety of programs, including multiple paper options, as well as a digital option for Primary Math they are currently rolling out. Since the whole of my experience has been with Singapore Math’s Primary Mathematics US Edition books, I will be using that as my comparison. I will try to note where other Singapore Math products might fulfill one of the characteristics listed.

Online vs. Physical Books

CTCMath is a

Singapore Math is mostly physical books (at all levels). However they are in the process of rolling out a digital version of Primary Mathematics.

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

Singapore Primary Mathematics books vary in cost from $13 – $25 depending on the book. For the Primary Digital Subscription which includes teaching notes, lessons, student practice, and tests. A full-year individual subscription of one level is $99 per year.

Common Core Aligned?

“CTCMath is easy to use, great for all ages and not common core aligned.”

The Primary Mathematics that we used was not common core aligned but they offer it in a common core aligned version.

Spiral vs. Mastery

CTCMath 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.

Singapore Math introduces skills in small increments, which sounds like a “spiral” program. However, “mastery” is expected and even needed for advancement to the next skill. Singapore’s unique approach doesn’t’ fall neatly into either category, it’s sort of a mix of both. Instead of having review be via random computation problems or by re-teaching the skill over and over again, they simply use the skills. For example, word problems in level 3 may require the student to first add two groups of items, and then divide them by the number of people using them. By doing this they have just reviewed addition and division!

Placement Tests?

CTCMath offers placement tests for grades K-6.

For Singapore Math you will need to look at the table of contents (on each product page), samples, and scope and sequence charts to assess which level is most suitable for your student.

Flexibility of Levels

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

With Singapore Math you purchase one book/level at a time. You can certainly purchase more books/levels but each one is sold individually. If you are like us, I purchased one level at a time for my oldest and held on to them all so my other kids could use them.