Khan Academy vs CTCMath
The main differences
Both teach math on screen from kindergarten through calculus with short videos and practice that is marked as the child answers. Khan Academy is a free nonprofit site with courses in other subjects too, a free Parent Dashboard for assignments, and skills that move toward Mastered as a child gets questions right. CTCMath is math only, with narrated video tutorials, worksheets and weekly progress emails, for $257 a year for one student, and it offers a refund if asked within 365 days.
| Khan Academy | CTCMath | |
|---|---|---|
| Subjects | Math, language arts, science and history and geography | Math |
| Grades | Kindergarten to 12th grade, plus early college courses | Kindergarten to 12th grade, through Pre-Calculus and Calculus |
| Method | Mastery | Traditional |
| Format | On screen | On screen |
| Faith label | Secular | Secular |
| Cost a year | Free. Free: every course, video, exercise and the Parent Dashboard cost nothing. | $257. Single membership, one student: $257 for 12 months, or $39.90 a month, which is $478.80 for 12 months. A family membership for more than one student is $397 a year or $59.90 a month. |
| Placement | None on the publisher's site | None on the publisher's site |
| Parent time | Not stated by the publisher | Not stated by the publisher |
| It fits | A family that wants free, self-paced practice in math and other core subjects, with a parent who is happy to choose the courses and check progress on a dashboard. | A family that wants short video lessons with automatic marking, including several children of different ages on one family plan. |
| It doesn't fit | A family that wants printed books and a scripted daily plan, wants to keep screen time low, or needs an accredited program toward a diploma. | A family that wants to keep screen time low, or wants hands-on, parent-led lessons from printed books. |
Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a nonprofit website of free courses in math, science, English language arts, social studies and more, from kindergarten through 12th grade and early college. Each course is a path of short videos, articles and practice exercises, with quizzes and unit tests that mark answers right away. A parent links to the child's account through a free Parent Dashboard to set assignments and see progress; the Khanmigo AI tutor is a separate paid subscription.
Does well: Every course, video and practice set is free, so a family can try any grade or subject without buying anything.
Watch for: Khan Academy says it is not an accredited school, and work done there does not count toward a diploma.
CTCMath
CTCMath is an online math program for kindergarten to 12th grade, from early number work through calculus. Each lesson is a narrated video tutorial of about 4 to 9 minutes, followed by interactive questions or a printable worksheet that is marked automatically, with worked solutions and progress reports for the parent. One membership opens every grade level and is billed monthly or yearly.
Does well: One membership opens every lesson from kindergarten to calculus, so a child can go back to fill gaps or move ahead without buying again.
Watch for: Almost all the work happens on a screen; the printable worksheets are optional.
Lists with both
- Homeschool math curricula 14
- Secular homeschool curricula 30
- Homeschool curricula for pre-K and kindergarten 48
- Homeschool curricula for middle school 51
- Homeschool curricula for high school 38
- Online homeschool curricula 8
- Secular homeschool math curricula 10
- Secular homeschool curricula for pre-K and kindergarten 25
How we label
Every fact on a card was read on the publisher's own website on the date shown, and the page it came from is linked. A fact we could not confirm there is left out. Costs are for one child and one year of the main package, as the publisher's page showed them that day; prices and sales change. Method and format are the publisher's own description where it gives one. The only thing we say about religion is one label, secular or faith-based, given by the rule above; where the publisher's pages don't settle it, the card has no label.
Something wrong or out of date? Send a correction; publishers can send corrections, never money. Every program compared