Homeschooling with CTCMath - TOS Review

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Math is the subject that I worry about the most in regard to homeschooling. I worry that they're going to fall behind, struggle with concepts, or miss out on learning something they're going to need later on. Math is a subject that builds on itself year after year, and mastery of math concepts is critical to moving on to more difficult topics.

Silas and Titus have been using CTCMath over the summer to work on their math skills. We were given a 12-month family membership to this online math curriculum. CTCMath offers prerecorded video tutorials and interactive math questions, games, and tests for kindergarten through 12th grade. I selected the 5th grade level for Titus who will be going into 5th grade this year and the Basic Math and Pre-Algebra for Silas who will be entering 7th grade this year.

CTCMath is very easy to use! Silas and Titus log-in around three times a week to complete a lesson. There is a video tutorial for every single lesson, and they would watch these videos first. Each video is 4-9 minutes long and explain the math concepts really well. The narrator's voice is very calming and easy to listen to. He has a gift for teaching math! He provides plenty of example problems that increase in difficulty for each concept so your child can really see how to work a variety of the problems. 

After watching the video tutorial, there are interactive practice questions your child can work. There are around ten questions for each concept, and your child receives immediate feedback on their answer. They receive a percentage grade for each set of questions, and this grade is averaged with all of the other percentages in the category for a cumulative percentage. They also have a level that shows how well they are doing - platinum for 100%, gold, silver, and bronze levels for less than that.  Each time your child gets a question right, they get a star on the "mastery" bar - when they answer a certain number of questions correctly, they have mastered the topic with a blue star. Sometimes the boys had to repeat the questions (with different problems) to attain mastery, even with they got a 100%. Titus wasn't as worried about having all blue stars beside the topics he completed, but Silas wanted all of his to show mastery.

There is also an option to print a worksheet with the questions. This is great if your child doesn't like working on the computer, if the concepts require space to work out, or if you want a paper record of what your child is doing.

There are weekly reports for the parents that show your child's progress. These reports have everything from the dates and times your child was logged in, the tutorials they watched and questions they answered, their percentage grade, and how many lessons they completed for the week. These are great for at-a-glance summaries. They are emailed to the parent email each week and are available to view from your online account.

Titus has also really enjoyed playing one of the extra games, Times Tables Shoot 'Em Up. It's a space-themed game focusing on multiplication facts. This is one area that I've really wanted him to practice this summer, so he's gotten a good bit of practice playing this game. You can choose which times table to work on, and although he usually chooses an easier one so he'll win the game, I do ask him to try the harder ones sometimes.

We have been very pleased with CTCMath! Silas and Titus both don't mind logging in to do a math lesson a few times a week, even though it is summer! They have both learned quite a bit from the video tutorials. There was only one lesson that Silas did where the interactive questions were a bit difficult to complete for him - the long multiplication lesson. He would have been better off to work them on paper, but he wanted to do it online. Every other lesson has been really easy to navigate and complete. The entire lesson, video and questions, takes them each less than 15 minutes a day to complete. I really think it's been great for them and helped to prevent the "summer slide" of math concepts.

CTCMath is a full online math curriculum but can also be used as a supplement. I believe I'll have Titus keep using this as a supplement to his regular math program this school year. It doesn't take long each day and you can choose which topics to work on each day. I fully believe that you can use this as a full curriculum.  The best part is - homeschoolers get 50% off the cost of the membership! If you'd like to see what other Crew members thought of CTCMath, click the banner below!

Mastering Essential Math Skills - TOS Review

 Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

I decided to have my boys do a bit of 'summer school' over our summer break. It's too easy to forget the important math concepts learned during the schoolyear over the summer break. When I was given the chance to review Math Essentials Mastering Essential Math Skills Book 2, I knew it would be the perfect book for Silas to use between his 6th and 7th grade year. I've used the Math Refresher for Adults from Math Essentials, so I knew this would be a thorough workbook.

Math Essentials teaches the math that you need to know in short lessons with built-in review. There are video tutorials available online by "America's Math Teacher" Richard W. Fisher. Each unit and chapter in the workbook have a short video lesson you can watch before completing the workbook page. Since Silas was working on review concepts, he didn't find it necessary to watch any tutorials.

Mastering Essential Math Skills Book 2 is for middle grades and high school. The cover of the book claims "20 Minutes a Day to Success"! There are eight chapters in this workbook that cover the following topics:

1. Whole Numbers
2. Fractions
3. Decimals
4. Percent
5. Geometry
6. Integers
7. Charts and Graphs
8. Word Problems

There is also a Final Review section in the back along with the Answer Key, Glossary, and helpful charts.

Each lesson is designed in the same way. There is a "Speed Drills" portion at the top that cover addition and multiplication facts. Next to this, there is a "Review Exercises" part with four review problems. Below that there is a section called "Helpful Hints" with, well, helpful hints for the concepts being taught! 

The actual lesson has two sample problems and around ten problems. There is a table to record your answers in that really makes checking the answer key a breeze! There is also a word problem at the bottom of each lesson called "Problem Solving."

Within each unit there are several "Review" lessons with twenty problems. I really appreciate the built-in review lessons because it does ensure that your child is working toward mastery. The review lessons can show you at-a-glance if your child is understanding the topic or if he/she needs more practice. 

Silas worked in this workbook several times a week over the review period. He finished the first unit, which is "Whole Numbers." The lessons really did take him twenty minutes or less to complete each day. I am very glad for the math review he is getting by using this workbook. He doesn't mind using it when I ask him to do the next lesson. I did start circling every other problem for him to work since it was mostly review, and if he got them all correct, he didn't have to do the rest on the page.

There isn't a lot of room to work out some of the longer problems if your child writes larger than normal. Silas used smaller handwriting so he could fit the work on the page. Having the table on the side to record answers in really does help with grading each page!

Math Essentials is offering a free, three-month trial to their website mathandalgebra.com to my followers and readers. This is an online math and algebra program that is based on their workbooks and provides printable worksheets as well as online lessons. Just use the code CREW2022 to receive three months of access. I reviewed this program back in 2020 and you can read that by clicking here.

I am pleased with Mastering Essential Math Skills Book 2 for my rising 7th grader. I think it would be a great way to work on those math skills during the summer or to use this as your main math curriculum for the year. Click the banner below to see what other Crew Members thought of Mastering Essential Math Skill Book 2 and Mastering Essential Math Skills, Pre-Algebra Concepts.

Memoria Press Math Challenge - TOS Review

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Being able to quickly recall math facts is extremely important when your child begins learning higher-level math concepts. That's why I was very interested in reviewing the Memoria Math Challenge from Memoria Press with Titus, my 4th grader. The Memoria Math Challenge is suggested for kindergarten through 2nd grade, but I knew that Titus would benefit from using it even though is above the suggested age range. 

I received the Memoria Math Challenge levels A, B, and C Student Workbooks and Teacher Keys. We began with Level C, but I'll show you what each of the levels is like. 

Level A is for early learners. It begins with number dictation (where you call out a number and your child writes it down), what comes before and after a number, and counting dots. It begins teaching the basic math facts, slowly increasing the amount of problems on each page. The last few lessons in this workbook contain 40 simple addition and subtraction problems (up to seven) on each page. There are lined boxes for your child to write each answer in.

Level B picks up where Level A left off. There are no more lined boxes for the answers; these worksheets are just addition and subtraction drills. This level begins with 25 problems on each page and by the last lesson, there are 100 problems on the front and back of each drill worksheet. Level B teaches addition and subtraction facts to ten.

Level C begins with 50 problems on each worksheet and ends with 100 problems on the front and back of each drill worksheet. This level teaches the math facts up to eighteen. 

The Teacher's Key simply contains smaller images of the Student Workbook drill sheets with the answers. There is also a Teaching Guidelines page which instructs you on how to conduct the timed drills. At the top of each student worksheet, there is a place for your child to record their name, score, and time. 

Titus used the Level C Student Workbook as a supplement to his math curriculum a few times a week. We didn't time the drills because I found that it frustrated him to think he was taking too much time, which in turn made him take too much time! I also found that 200 problems was too much for him as he gets overwhelmed easily, so I would tell him to do, say, four lines and then we would check them. We began towards the back of Level C with some of the addition and subtraction facts that he can't recall instantly. 

I really like the Level A Student Workbook, and am saving it for Zeke (who is three now) to use with his kindergarten curriculum. I think it would be a wonderful addition (no pun intended) to a preschool or kindergarten math program.

The Student Workbooks are $16.50 each and the Teacher Keys are $5.50. This is a great bargain, because these workbooks are huge! The pages are nice and thick with perforated edges to make them easy to tear out. 

See what the other Crew Members thought of the Memoria Math Challenge and these other programs by Memoria Press!

Prima Latina

Latina Christiana

First Form Latin

Famous Men of Rome

Famous Men of Greece

The Book of the Ancient Greeks

The Book of the Ancient Romans

His Vessel Textbooks Algebra 1 - TOS Review

 Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Homeschooling high school math seems so scary to me! I sent my older two children to public school for high school, so I avoided the high school math struggle with them. I am not planning to send my now 8th grade daughter to public school at all, so I've already been trying to hash out a math plan for her high school years. This year she was using a pre-algebra program and not enjoying it at all. When I was given the chance to review His Vessel Textbooks Algebra 1 curriculum, I jumped at it! 

Switching math curriculum mid-year (or more like end-of-year) is not ideal to me, so I gave Mercie an option. I told her she could quit using her current pre-algebra program and use this Algebra 1 program for a few weeks. Then she could choose which one to continue with. After just a few days of using His Vessel Textbooks, she informed me that she wanted to continue with it!

His Vessel Algebra 1 was created by Mary Carroll, a homeschool mom herself with several degrees and a teaching certificate for 7th-12th grade integrated math. She wrote this Algebra 1 book because she wanted students to see what God has to say about math. Biblical themes are woven throughout this curriculum in a relevant and factual way. 

There are eleven units with 64 lessons in this textbook, which allows your student to take several days on each lesson if needed. The back of the book contains an answer key for the odd problems with answers but not the full solutions. Mary is writing a solution manual for this program which should be coming out this summer. That will be very helpful for us as we continue this program next year.

There are several features in each unit that I want to talk about because I think they bring effectiveness and godly instruction to this program.

First is the "A God Moment" sections. These sections have a scripture and short devotional explaining the math concepts in a biblical view. These are interesting to read and very helpful! Here is an example of "A God Moment" from Unit 3 on Arithmetic Sequences:

"The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"" Luke 17:5

We can plot our growth to see where God is leading us. I am always amazed that God uses even the little and insignificant things in our lives to help us grow. Our past is what makes us unique, and our faith in the faithful God is where we will find our future. He puts our lives together perfectly, like a puzzle. He fits all the pieces of our lives to make us whole.

Next there are "Objectives for This Lesson", which lets you and your student know what they will be learning in this lesson. These are written as "I Can..." statements, such as these from the very first lesson:

• Classify real numbers as rational or irrational
• Compare and contrast rational and irrational numbers
• Understand and justify the sum and product of rational and irrational numbers with examples
• Graph rational and irrational numbers on a number line
• Identify and solve absolute values

Each lesson also includes "Vocabulary Terms", defining the math terms that will be learned and used in the lesson. This is a great feature, especially for students who learn best through reading. It's a great resource to look back to as you work through the lesson if you need more clarification.

There are "Helpful Hints" scattered throughout the book to help your student understand what they are doing. These quick little reminders will stick in your student's memory. One of the "Helpful Hints" in the unit on graphing is, "Direct = a straight course; Variation = change."

Similar to the "Helpful Hints" are "Make It Clear" boxes. These boxes clarify some of the math concepts, making them, well, clearer to your students! An example, found in Unit 4, is "The word linear means to be able to be represented as a straight line on a graph. The word line is in the word linear."

"Family Activity" is another feature throughout the textbook. Working puzzles, eating a pie for Pi Day, and making shapes with play-dough are just a few of the activities listed. Sometimes fun activities like this can help make the difficult math concepts more enjoyable. There are also discussion points and object lessons in the "Family Activity" boxes that relate back to Christ.

There are also "Expressions Projects" at the end of each unit, which are a little more difficult (and optional). It may be something like calculating descendants of a Biblical character or figuring how much Nebuchadnezzar's statue weighed. This would be fun for your child to work through with you, their dad, or an older (or younger!) sibling.

Each lesson has "You Try" problems and example problems that your child can work through as they're learning the new concepts. The example problems are already worked out, so your student can walk themselves through the steps to see exactly what they need to do. The "You Try" problems are not worked out on the page, but there are solutions to each of those problems at the end of the unit. The "You Try" problems are written right under the fully-worked out examples, so your child can look back at the examples while they're working the "You Try" problems if they need a little direction.

Okay, now that I've explained each of the features in the textbook, I'll share what we thought about this program. Mercie feels like this is a very user-friendly math textbook, especially because she doesn't like math. She doesn't dread math as much as she used to since she began with His Vessel Algebra 1. She is now on Unit 2 - Equations, lesson 2.7. She will take a few days for each lesson, since the lessons can be a bit long.

There is a workbook companion that includes all of the problems in the textbook for $14.99. This would be very helpful, especially if your child is copying the problems from the textbook into a notebook. Mercie writes directly in the textbook, which is fine with me. She marks the textbook up, underlining and circling things and working out the problems. She mostly just completes the odd numbers since those are the only ones in the answer key. However I am thinking I will purchase the workbook for next year as she finishes this curriculum. 

The textbook itself is great quality. The pages have plenty of white space so they don't appear too busy. There is color in the graphics, but it's not loud or distracting. It's a hard cover book with over 550 thick pages! 

Mary is also coming out with a Geometry and Algebra 2 program soon. This is great news because I really feel like this is a great fit for Mercie and would love to continue this throughout her high school. This program meets all of the requirements for a high school Algebra 1 credit. 

Mercie and I are super pleased with this Algebra 1 program. I am so thankful we were introduced to His Vessel Textbooks and excited to continue with it for her high school years. Click the banner below to see what other reviewers thought of His Vessel Textbooks Algebra 1!

Educo Learning Center - TOS Review

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

 

If you ask any homeschool mom which subject she worries over the most, she will more than likely tell you, "Math!" When offered the chance to review Educo Learning Center from Educo International Inc, I eagerly took it! I chose to use this online math curriculum with my 9 year old son, Titus, who is in the 4th grade. We received a one-year online subscription and a physical workbook.

WHAT IS EDUCO LEARNING CENTER?

Educo Learning Center is a complete online math program for Kindergarten through 8th grade. This program has tutorials, practice problems, quizzes, and tests for each lesson. The lessons are online, but you have the option of printing worksheets for your child. You can also purchase the physcial workbook which contains the tutorials and practice pages.

HOW DOES EDUCO LEARNING CENTER WORK?

When you log in to your child's account, you will be taken to the main page. For Math 4, there are eight different sections listed for the course. The sections are:

• Number Sense
• Addition and Subtraction of Whole Numbers
• Multiplication, Division, Multiples, and Factors
• Fractions
• Decimal Fractions
• Sequences and Patterns
• Measurement
• Geometry 

Each section has subsections and individual lessons. There are tutorials to watch for each section. These tutorials are not videos, but animated screens that your child will watch and read. You can speed up or slow down the animation, which would be very helpful if your child needs more time to read the writing or if they want to speed it up if they're a fast reader.

After the tutorials, your child can do the practice pages. There are 10 problems in each set, and your child will receive instant feedback on the problems. You can try again or see the solution if you're stuck. 

Then your child can take a quiz. These quizzes are similar to the practice pages, but your child will not receive instant feedback. After they submit their answers, they will receive the feedback and the percentage they got right. You can view the problems to see which, if any, were incorrect.

After the practice pages and quizzes, there are Section Review and Section Tests. These usually have more than 10 problems because it covers the entire subsection and not just an individual lesson. There are also Chapter Pre-Tests and Post-Tests covering the entire section.

There is also a progress report for your child, showing how much time has been spent on each activity - tutorials, quizzes, practice pages, and tests. Your child can also earn badges based on how much time is spent on the program and for completing chapter tests with a 100%. Titus has not earned any badges yet, but he is hoping he will soon.

There are also extra activities your child can do for each section. These are puzzles and games, but Titus found them very confusing and difficult so we skipped them. If your child likes or needs a challenge, these would be perfect.

HOW DID WE USE EDUCO LEARNING CENTER?

Titus used this program two or three days a week as a supplement to his math curriculum. He would watch the tutorial if he felt like he needed it and move on to the practice pages and quizzes. I sat with him while he worked through the program for a few reasons.

First of all, I wanted to see how it worked. The best way to see how a program works is to use it! Secondly, some of the problems are worded in a difficult to understand way. I would usually read the problem to Titus, and often I would have to reword it so he knew what it was asking. 

Titus also worked in the physical workbook a few times, but we both found the pages to be too busy with too many problems and too much information. I found a few worksheets that reviewed just some multiplication problems, and he worked through those pages.

Titus probably spent around 10 minutes on the program each time he used it. The lessons are pretty quick and short, which is a good thing for elementary math. He would usually complete a practice page and/or a quiz each time he logged in to the program. We finished the first section, skipped part of the second, and have started on the third section.

WHAT DO WE THINK OF EDUCO LEARNING CENTER?

I think Educo Learning Center is a pretty solid online math curriculum for homeschoolers. I am not sure if I would use it as a complete program, though. There doesn't seem to be much review built in, and I think elementary kids especially need a spiral review throughout their math program.

Some of the questions are worded in a way that many 9-year olds would have a difficult time understanding. Here are a few examples:

Like I mentioned earlier, I had to sit with Titus and help decode some of the wording. This leads me to believe it would not work as an independent math program. I do like to sit with my kids for their math lessons, so this may not be a problem for you either. I did find some of the questions to be quite difficult for fourth-grade, and I ended up giving Titus some of the answers on problems that I found were not grade-appropriate for him. 

We did enjoy many parts of this math curriculum, and I plan to continue to use this as a supplement for Titus a few days a week. Check out Educo Learning Center for your child, and click the banner below to see what other Crew members thought!

CTC Math

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

My 15 year old son, Eli, was enrolled in public school this year. He hasn't been to school since mid-March, when our Spring Break got extended two weeks...and then a month...and then our school year was cancelled. Our school district didn't send any work home or use virtual learning of any kind. When I was offered the chance to review CTCMath, I knew I wanted Eli to use it! We received a 12-month family subscription to CTCMath.

CTCMath is an online math program for grades K-12. It's unlike any online math program we have tried! There are several features that make CTCMath unique, and I'll explain each one below.

VIDEO TUTORIALS

Most online math programs have video tutorials, but CTCMath's videos are short and to the point. They explain the math concepts really well and make it easy to understand. The videos aren't lengthy or boring, and the narrator's voice is pleasant. The screen displays diagrams and text so you can see and hear the math problems being explained. This is great for visual or auditory learners. You can stop or rewind the video if you missed something or if it went too fast.

INTERACTIVE QUESTIONS

There are 10 interactive questions that follow each video. These questions test your knowledge and comprehension of the new math concepts. It tells you immediately if your answer is right or wrong and the correct answer (if it was wrong). The difficulty increases as you answer correctly. Your progress is displayed at the top of the screen with your percentage of correct answers. The questions are not timed, which I really like as some students work slower than others. You can use scratch paper or a marker board to work out problems.

WORKSHEETS

You can also print off worksheets for your child to complete. This is nice for students who don't like to do their math on the computer, but do need the benefit of the video tutorials. It's also great to use as a pop quiz or test where you can see how your child is doing. And you don't have to work the problems out yourself to check the answers - you or your child can input their answers and it grades it for you. That saves the homeschool parent so much time!

The PDF of the worksheet

Where you input the answers

REPORTS

The reports give you a daily or weekly update of how your child is doing. You can see the lessons they've completed as well their scores and number of attempts to pass. This is great to glance at and see where your child may need more practice or if they're sailing through without any trouble!

On the Parent's page, you can also see the weekly reports and assign tasks. Assigning tasks is just assigning your students lessons, diagnostic tests, or question banks. I didn't assign any tasks because Eli would just log in and do the next several lessons. You can also edit information, like changing the passing percentage. We kept our passing percentage as 80% but Eli usually score 100%.

We really like CTCMath. Eli used it a few times a week to work on his math skills over the summer. I wanted him to do four lessons a week, but sometimes he would do them all in one day! He would rather only have to get on there once and be done for the week. I also used CTCMath to work on my math skills. It's really easy to use and navigate, and I like the immediate feedback. This would be a great program to use for your child's homeschool math curriculum or even as a supplement to public school math.

I'm going to have Eli continue using CTCMath until school starts up - if it starts up and if he goes. We've been talking about homeschooling him again this year. If we do, I will have him use CTCMath for Geometry. I've also been using it to work on my math skills when I have a few minutes here and there. Click the banner below to see what other reviewers thought about CTCMath!