CTC Math vs Teaching Textbooks

Thoughts /pros or cons??

Anyone have input???

I have used TT with my oldest and she liked it. It was easy for me to check and see how well (or not) she was doing. She is by no means a math person but was able to follow along and understand what was being taught. I really liked that I was able to see if she retried when she missed a problem and if she went back to be retaught. We used this program over a summer while she was still in public school. I pulled her out this year and we have tried SOS and All in One School. We have just started CTC in addition to the AIO. But I have to say I have really considered going back to TT. She is not as accountable as I’d like her to be and TT like I stated is quite parent friendly.

I purchased CTC for both kids as my son enjoys math and I thought this would give him some colorful computer fun as I use Saxon with him. For my daughter we just started it this week, so my input is really geared toward my mathy son. He says “it’s ok”. He says that about almost all subjects except science :wink: at least he didn’t give it a thumbs down. It does make him think and using the computer is sometimes “backwards” compared to pencil and paper. Often when he misses a problem its because he enters the numbers in reverse.

I did receive a weekly parent notification for him this week, so that was nice as I did not have to log in to the account to see because they send a pdf. When you set up the account you can choose at what percentage you want as passing. I think its automatically set at 90%. The report lets you know what your child did…Add to twenty with carry, paying for things, etc. and what percentage they received. ** I did not see which problems he missed, I will look around as this is important to me and hopefully its there somewhere.

The cons I would say (remember I have only used this for a week or so, so I may not be fully utilizing the program) are that you or your child can choose from multiple categories to practice. I say this is a con because although it seems to go in order, you can start anywhere you like. So for my not so accountable daughter this might be a problem as I can see that she would choose something that she is more comfortable with. For my son, I give him a few choices to use for extra practice. I would also say if I can’t see which problems are missed that is a con as well.

I hope there is someone else out there that has more experience with CTC than I who can give you a clearer picture. For us, we’ll keep using it even if I do return to TT.

1 Like

My son and I are liking TT more than CTC math. I like that TT is more structured and user friendly. Lots more options to skip around and advance, though, with CTC, whereas you get one level with TT. TT has lots of review and feels more like a curriculum whereas CTC felt more like a supplement or tutor. I know lots of people who like both though!

1 Like

Thank you for taking the time to give me your input :slight_smile:

We started using CTC about 4 weeks ago, and they seem to like it.

The positives:
~They see their progress and can ask for help when they are struggling.
~They are ‘rewarded’ with certificates when they complete a topic.
~They can rewind and fast forward the videos so that they can go over or skip portions of the video.
~CTC also has speed skills, where they are given a minute to answer as many questions as they can. We started using this instead of X-tramath.org for mastery.
~You can set the score for passing, it’s automatically set for 90% but you can change it. I left it at 90%.
~I love the reports they have. They give you two reports: a summary report which gives you the topics, # of lessons, # passed, and average effectiveness rating. The detailed report tells the topic, the effectiveness rating, the score for the first attempt, the score for the best attempt, # of attempts, how many attempts to pass and the date passed. These make great items to include in the portfolio if needed in your state.
~They can see their progress reports and certificates that they earned.
~They can personalize the look by changing the background color.

The negatives:
~They can access the questions without first watching the video for instructions. This often results in a low score, I then ask if they watched the video and 9 out of 10 the answer is no.
~CTC sometimes has them answer things ‘backwards’ than paper and pen method. Like when carrying, they have you enter the ones first then the tens, example 5+9 they have you enter the 4 below the line then the curser moves automatically up to the carrying blank and you enter the 1 there. So you are typing 41 but the answer is 14.
~The questions often do not have instructions and sometimes it is puzzling as to what they are asking for, but we do figure it out. Example, long multiplication has you entering numbers step by step rather than just the answer, but does not tell you that this is what they want.

All in all, I like it. The kids find it ‘OK’, they don’t love it, but they don’t hate it either.

I will say that we have not used any other curriculum. We left Connections Academy 3/4 through the 4th grade, and have simply worked on filling in the weak spots. We are still finding what works, and who knows, I may come back here in a year and say it didn’t work and that we switched to something else! :wink: