Here is our family's experience with the Life of Fred series of math books so far. I have tried them with my oldest child - who is now 11 and entering 6th grade. This is ONE child - who may or may not be as proficient in math as your particular child, so please keep that in mind. Also, keep in mind that I'm not an education expert or a mathematics expert (nor do I play one on TV!). I'm a homeschooling parent. Period.
When she was in fourth grade, we were using a popular math curriculum that is known to be rigorous and traditional in it's approach. However, she was not "getting" fractions and she would miss most of these problems. It got to where she would cry when she saw the book come out. She would work for an hour - all to no avail. So, I just thought she needed a break from this particular book.
I had read about the Life of Fred books online some time before, so I ordered the first book - which happens to be Fractions. She began to love math. I won't say she became a genius overnight, but it seemed to click with her. She was less frustrated and actually wanted to do math. I think a lot of it was she thought she was just not good at math. (It didn't help that a couple of family members told her that it's okay - she's probably just not a "math person" - whatever that is.)
Fred helped her get her "mojo" back...so to speak! ;)
The Life of Fred books use the ongoing story of a tiny genius named Fred Gauss (after the great mathematician with the same name). The problems are woven into the story and are quite interesting - not your average "do these 50 problems". These are actually made for children to use alone, with parents checking the answers. However, I must admit, I used to have my student read the lesson and problems aloud...they were just too entertaining, and she wanted to read them aloud. We laughed for many hours about math.
We are currently finishing up the Decimals and Percents book. I will admit that this isn't the only curriculum we use. Some people use it as a supplement. Others use it as their only curriculum - which is what the author recommends.
The Life of Fred books use the ongoing story of a tiny genius named Fred Gauss (after the great mathematician with the same name). The problems are woven into the story and are quite interesting - not your average "do these 50 problems". These are actually made for children to use alone, with parents checking the answers. However, I must admit, I used to have my student read the lesson and problems aloud...they were just too entertaining, and she wanted to read them aloud. We laughed for many hours about math.
We are currently finishing up the Decimals and Percents book. I will admit that this isn't the only curriculum we use. Some people use it as a supplement. Others use it as their only curriculum - which is what the author recommends.
Which is the correct way to use them?
Personally, I see the benefit of doing it both ways, so you do what's best for your students. I do think the Life of Fred books help the student understand the why's of math and not just the how's. In my opinion, they are well worth the incredibly reasonable price - especially when you compare them to other math curricula.
Hey, now for the good part of this extremely long post!
Hey, now for the good part of this extremely long post!
On the author's web site, there is the mention of some new books in the works, the first of which will be ready approxomately in October. There are going to be three Pre-Algebra books to be completed after the Decimals book and before the book on Beginning Algebra.
I recently spoke with the author, Dr. Stanley Schmidt, via email, and he gave me the following information about the coming books:
"The tentative title is Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 1: Biology."
"I estimate that it will be ready about October. The math will be 80% review of LOF: Fractions and LOF: Decimals and Percents with a little looking ahead to algebra with the problems often coming from a biological context. Then, tentatively, Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 2: Economics, in which Fred will take arithmetic into the business world. And Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 3: Physics. "
It will be interesting to see what Fred is up too this time!
You can see the books for yourself at the web site Polkadot Publishing.
