In a perfect world, math lessons would always be taught one-on-one. That’s my takeaway, after nearly two decades of leading children through the world of numbers, functions, formulas, and calculating. It’s tricky to teach concepts in a group (I literally have no idea how those faced with classes of 25 same-age-but-multiple-skillset students manage) and the key to being sure something has been fully understood and indeed mastered is, in my experience, the ability to teach something back. That gets time consuming with two or three kiddos on the same lesson, and unless you’re willing to adopt the industrialized education method of test and move forward unless an astonishingly high percentage of students fails, well… one-on-one is your best bet.
One-On-One… Who Can Do That?
But one-on-one is hard, let’s face it. In my home right now, I have a high schooler whose next level of mathematical instruction will be conducted in a specialized military technical school, a student with special needs repeating kindergarten math as his preschool-aged brother makes his first go at it, two elementary students finishing up 4th grade level math, and a first grader halfway through a second grade math program. It’s a lot to wrap my brain around, and it definitely doesn’t fit neatly into that best case scenario, on-on-one box.
This season has been one where I’ve had to reevaluate my “tried and true” often as I’ve gone from being a mom teaching multiple grades with lots of little ones in tow to being a mom teaching multiple, multiple grades. Some things have had to shift… and math has been one of them. I no longer have the time to sit for 30 to 45 minutes each day working a new concept with each individual child before heading into a project, hands-on learning exercise, or living book for an additional 20 to 30 minutes. It’s just not possible.
Switching Gears
So the challenge this year was this: find a complete, comprehensive curriculum that streamlined the instruction process while still allowing me to lead my children in the kind of learning that takes math from the abstract to the concrete and beyond. It had to be affordable for a large family, allow for flexibility in terms of skill level (not being married to the draconian “grade” label), not require a tedious number of problems when proficiency has already been established, and still allow for a spiral review on a weekly basis.
Believe it or not… I found what I was looking for.
I was sponsored by CTC math to review their comprehensive online math curriculum program and am excited to share my experience as well as an awesome giveaway! All opinions are mine alone.
CTCMath has been a great fit for our family in this season, allowing me to walk alongside each child without stressing over providing detailed instruction on a daily basis. It’s computer based, something I admit I wasn’t looking for, but which fits our needs perfectly right now. And at just $148 for an annual family membership, it’s an extremely frugal option for a large family.
The site is clean, easy to navigate, and without a lot of the distracting bells and whistles that make many sites overwhelming. Our younger kids are still screen-free, so I expected a steep learning curve in accessing the short video lessons and toggling over to the questions, but was pleasantly surprised to find that because the site is so streamlined, even my 7 year-old quickly learned how to navigate CTCMath. I was able to quickly set up accounts for each learner, customize their “pass level,” and get them up and running. To my delight, the number of exercises per lesson is not excessive— kids can show that they get it, and parents know that they’ll review again, so there’s no need to beat a dead horse here.
The math lessons have been thorough and clear, and has freed me up to spend more time on things that can’t be outsourced. Thanks to the way the courses are broken down, I’ve still been able to keep everyone on roughly the same topic, at their own level, and coordinate a host of math-based living books and hands-on activities that have enriched their studies and kept math exciting and relevant. This has meant that my kids have barely noticed the change in our math routine. They do their computer lessons before lunch, and in the afternoon, we all gather for continued exploration.
We’ve manipulated tangrams and read Spaghetti and Meatballs for All! while studying geometry, created images from squares while learning about area, graphed the number of coins in a jar of change while learning about money and graphs.
The only difference is… I actually have more time for those explorations! That’s a living math win for my whole family, brought to us via a computer screen!
If you’re curious as to whether or not CTCMath might be a good fit for your unique family, there’s a free trial. A detailed information page for homeschoolers can tell you more; even though I’m using the elementary levels, the lessons go through high school! They are also offering a 50% off discount right now for homeschoolers.
CTCmath Family Membership Giveaway ($148 value)!
Enter to win a 12-month subscription for the whole family!