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Life of Fred Math
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Hello everyone,
I was wondering if any of you have used this? If so for what ages? What are the pros and cons? I look forward to your feedback!
I just received our first LOF math book and have yet to give it a thorough going over. I’m interested in what others have to say.
~Oney
We got one just a few weeks ago to try out and look over. No conclusions yet — sorry. I’m also waiting for the next opportunity for Doug and Karen to come spend some time at our house so Karen can look it over in detail. We’re both intrigued by the concept.
My kids really liked the first two books. I have the Algebra too, but didn’t think they were ready for it yet. LOF is really great at getting you to think…hard!
My husband used the Statistics book to brush up for an Army test and he loved it. I think the higher level books are wonderful and hope to use them.
I borrowed a copy from the library and I would not recommend it. It def is not a stand alone math curriculum.
As far as standing alone goes, it depends on what the child has had up until the point of pre-AL (which is what the first two books are). The first two books transition a child to Algebra and are meant to be used fairly quickly. Once you get into the algebra, geometry, and calculus books they are definitely stand-alone, and then some. The calculus books qualify for AP. He covers more than most typical textbooks in those areas.
Sonya, if you and Karen have a chance to check it out at some point I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Caroline, thanks for your input!
I love Life of Fred! It is designed to be a stand alone curriculum, though I think whether it would be enough would depend on how you use it.
My son loved the fraction and decimal books. He is not so thrilled with pre-algebra which he says is more biology than math. He can read them and get the concepts. My daughter needs to do them after she has learned the concepts. She can’t seem to pick them up from the narrative.
I’d love input. We used Fractions last year are using Decimals/Percents this year as a supplement to Math-U-See. These books are definately meant to be supplements, not stand alones. My understanding is the older programs are stand alone. I haven’t seen the new elementary sets yet. I was wondering if anyone has used the upper level LOF’s and how they compare to MUS. I like how LOF is fun and makes them think outside the box in real-life terms. Hope to hear more on this! Gina
We used Life of Fred Fractions, Decimals/Percents as supplements to RightStart in preparation for VideoText algebra. It definitely helped nail down all of those concepts and VT algebra has been smooth sailing. RightStart had given her a strong foundation in all the math concepts presented, but I felt that operations with fractions could use some more reinforcement. Especially division of fractions.
Julie
I tried LOF fractions with my son last year and he simply wasn’t ready. He LOVED the stories and we both loved the idea of it, but it was just too difficult. Well, now we see the younger books and are definitely getting them. We use Singapore as our main math program, and we are loving it, and also he is doing SCM’s Pet Store math, and he’ll do the younger LOF books for fun and for all the great things they teach besides math.
We posted our thoughts on Life of Fred in a different forum thread. Here is the link to it:
http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/life-of-fred-or-mus#post-13436
Sonya’s daughter had not finished the Life of Fred book she was using when I looked at it. When she finished the book, I asked her if she thought it was a good fit for her and she answered with a definite yes. She really found the style of Life of Fred helped her to understand the material.
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