DISCLOSURE: I RECEIVED THIS COMPLIMENTARY PRODUCT THROUGH THE HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW.

With the online educational world exploding with all kinds of programs, it can be so hard to know what is going to be a good fit for your child. The value of reviews like this is that you get a feel for what things look like from a real student and parent’s point of view to help better educate your decision. For today’s review we are looking at Counting Kingdom from the Reading Kingdom family of programs.

What We Received:

We received one year of access to the online program Counting Kingdom, a part of the Reading Kingdom family..

How It Works:

This online program is intended for ages 3+ and designed to introduce students to mathematical and reasoning concepts. The program is divided into 3 levels. Level 1 introduces numbers 1-10 gradually and practices counting. Level 2 graduates to higher-level concepts like all and same number. Level 3 introduces memory and addition concepts. The program recommends students to use it at least 4 days a week and 5 being better. On the Dashboard page, records of each student’s progress is kept for all Reading Kingdom programs. Counting Kingdom keeps a running evaluation of each lesson and level. Also on the dashboard is a settings option to speed up or slow down the program’s expected response time. The program asks the student to place a number of pictures in the box or click on the appropriate number. After so much time of either no response or incorrect response, it will answer for the student. This customizes the program to each student’s pace.

What We Thought:

I used this program with my 4 year old son who has already had some experience with counting and number recognition. He’s also used other online educational programs so this isn’t his first time. We ended up using it about twice a week rather than the recommended 4 times. The skills of counting and recognizing numbers were not a problem, but the mouse skills were very frustrating to him. He struggled to both hold down a button and drag items. A touch screen or tablet would probably have been better for him, but we didn’t have one available during the review time. Eventually, he could get the hang of it, but the tasks didn’t change all that much so he became really discouraged and didn’t want to do it for very long. He is definitely a task oriented person and the amount of struggle combined with the monotony of the same 3 activities, it seemed to leave him very unfulfilled.

This program seems to be designed for someone who need and/or responds well to repetitive and simplified tasks. I can see it being useful in certain special needs educational settings or remedial work. More than anything, it serves very specific needs rather than a broad spectrum so it is beneficial to test drive their free trial to see if it fits your family’s needs.

Follow Reading Kingdom on Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readingkingdom
Twitter: https://twitter.com/readingkingdom
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readingkingdom/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/readingkingdom/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ReadingKingdom

The Crew tried out other products from Reading Kingdom including Story Smarts and Spelling Ninja! To find out how those programs work, check out the reviews through the link below.

DISCLOSURE: I RECEIVED THIS COMPLIMENTARY PRODUCT THROUGH THE HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW.

One of the biggest issues parents face when deciding if they should homeschool is FEAR. Fear of missing something, fear of not knowing enough, or just fear of being able to handle it all. And I absolutely get it. Every age and stage of parenting brings new things to face and handle. Doing a new thing can be really scary. One of the things I’m learning, about homeschooling and life too, is to use the tools you need and not feel bad about that. Sometimes that is admitting when you don’t know and asking for help. When it comes to curriculum, there are times when we have to be honest about what we can handle and what we can’t. I really value unplugged curriculum as much as possible, but I’m learning I’m only one person and can’t always focus on each child and each subject the way I would like to. Finding resources and curriculum that can cover bases that you might miss is really important. For today’s review, we’re talking about an all-star curriculum, CTCMath, that has proved to offer just about whatever we need in the math department.

What We Received:

We were given a 12 month subscription to CTCMath, an online math curriculum with accounts for as many students as we need for our immediate family.

How It Works:

For each student, the parent/teacher sets up an account that will then log all of their activity, scores and assignments. From the parent dashboard, I can assign any tasks to all students, individually or all together. Since my 10 and (almost) 8 year old already had accounts from previous use, this time around all I did was set up a new account for my 4 year old. He’s still young, but we decided to try him out from the very beginning to see how it worked. Once each child has an account, they can then start watching videos and answering questions on any topic they choose, or simply start at the beginning of their grade level. The really great part of CTCMath is that each student has access to all levels of work, regardless of their input age and grade level. That means if your child needs to revisit a concept from the past or is ready to speed forward, that’s no problem! Another nice perk is that it saves the students activity and reports indefinitely. We have used CTCMath off and on through our years through the Homeschool Review Crew. Even though our account has lapsed at times, their information (going back several years) is always available. While this is an online program, there are printable worksheets available for every lesson, as well as weekly revision tasks and diagnostic tests that makes it a complete curriculum.

What We Thought:

The voice giving instructions in the videos has always been an Australian man. One time I heard a family say they couldn’t use this program because the accent threw them off so much. Our experience is the exact opposite. An otherwise unexciting math concept is made interesting simply by the speakers voice. We love the accent!

The two older kids are used to the program and have continued as they have in the past. My 4 year old had never used it before but things went well, all things considered. He is 4 and not reading yet, though his letter recognition is coming right along. The videos contain bright pictures and the questions all have an audio button to play the question. He needed some assistance in maneuvering the mouse and submit button at first, but started to get the hang of it. Even though he is young and not quite at full kindergarten level, I felt like all the math concepts and questions were things he could grasp with a parent close by when he needed help. He enjoyed it and I felt confident in the educational value. Win/win!

Our experience with CTCMath has consistently been a positive one! We’ve used grades K-4 now at one point or another and have no complaints. With so much flexibility, it really can work for most situations and large families! If you are in the market for a complete math curriculum, CTCMath is certainly one to consider.

Follow CTCMath on Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ctcmath
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctcmathofficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ctcmath
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/ctcmath/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWn5e6974bpIEAe46VnovZw

Do you have middle or high school students? If you’re interested in how CTCMath does with higher level math, check out the reviews through the link below.