I have children with both Autism and ADHD, which can make homeschooling an interesting experience. Both disorders come with a variety of co-morbid complications that make everything from treatment to parenting difficult. My child with ADHD as a primary diagnosis also has ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), dyspraxia, and a "Mixed Learning Disorder", which means processing and incorporating new information can be hard.
My child with Autism as a primary diagnosis also has ADHD and Dyslexia. This comes with a slow processing speed, and a general struggle to understand and comprehend written instructions. Many homeschooling families balance teaching their children by working one-on-one with a child while having the other children focus on self-directed work that needs minimal help and oversight.
You may be able to guess where this is a problem in a family that has a condition that can be accurately described as brain wiggles...
Self directed work is almost non-existent in our house. Not because I don't want it to happen, or because I don't give them time, options, and resources for it. No. It doesn't really happen because nobody can self-direct for very long, and they need lots of help understanding instructions for their individual work.
In years past I've just tried to keep things going by rushing back and forth between each child helping them with their work as fast as I can, while still trying to have individual time to work on things with each of them. Then I would have to work with resistant children through subjects that they genuinely struggled with while trying to keep everyone from blowing up and freaking out.
Math was a huge trigger for a good portion of that time. Trying to sit and work with a child, getting partway through the lesson, and then having them blow up and flip books and throw pencils wasn't actually how I expected or hoped that our homeschooling journey would go.
When this school year started I knew that something needed to change. The curriculum we had been using was wonderful (I'll do a review at some point), but it just wasn't working for my kiddos. I couldn't go through another year on the brink of burning out because my kids struggled with the external aspects of math.
What do I mean by external aspects? I mean things like writing the numbers, reading the word problems, drawing matching shapes, etc. Skills that are all useful for life, but aren't actually necessary to understand mathematical principles.
When we decided that we would get each child their own tablet for school this year, I also decided to try a sample of CTC Math. I had my child that was struggling the most try it out, because I knew if he could do it, then the others would like it as well. After watching the video lessons and going through the practice problems, my son got his first 100% correct screen.
Big letters saying congratulations.
Colorful confetti falling down the screen.
A big and satisfying visual reward for hard work well done. He has ridiculously pleased, and immediately asked to do more. He was hooked, and so was I! I ended up buying 18 months access to the curriculum, and set up three student profiles, and set them each at their own grade level to work.
They have loved the curriculum. The video lessons explain principles and concepts clearly, and then the children can work on the problems at the pace that they need until they have a high enough score.
CTC Math is a mastery based curriculum that emphasizes thoroughly understanding a concept before moving on to the next. The lessons are separated into different categories - Whole Numbers, Algebraic Thinking, Measurement, etc - and then split up further from there so each topic will have lessons that teach the principles needed to master that topic.
Because of it's mastery based approach my children are motivated to continue learning and don't move on until they have built up the skills they need to be able to do it with ease. There are times when they struggle with a concept, and my general rule is that if they get two questions wrong in a lesson then they can come interrupt me and ask me for help. Often times they understand the concept perfectly, but they are struggling to put in the right answer because they haven't read or listened to the instructions well.
I help them to slow down so they can pay better attention, and then once they've slowed down they start getting answers right again. Using this method they are plowing through their math curriculum, and LOVING it. We once went one year having done about 20 math lessons over the course of the school year because this particular child was struggling so much with math anxiety. Now, he's done over 50 lessons in less than 4 months, and we have had TWO out of state trips in that time frame!
Our experience with CTC Math has been absolutely amazing, and barring any unforeseen events, I believe we will continue using this curriculum from grade school all the way up through high school. Using CTC Math has decreased the conflict in our home, and has allowed me to step back from being the "Bad Guy Teacher" who makes them do boring things to the support system who helps them work on new skills and gives them hugs when they are struggling.
Please note, as of right now I am not an affiliate of CTC Math. I don't make any money off of this review at the time of publishing, I just really really love the curriculum. If you would like to learn more about homeschooling products, reviews of curriculum, and more then subscribe to our mailing list today!
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