I have to admit, for several years I tried to ignore Fred. And then my physics-teacher-turned-homeschool-mom friend said these were the math books SHE used! I was stunned, and decided Fred was worth a look and worth my recommending them to other homeschool moms who found themselves lost in the sea of math options.
Life of Fred is quirky, to say the least, but inside the stories are REAL math problems. This fits well with a Charlotte Mason education style or a living books education or for any child who has struggled to grasp concepts in the traditional way (often because they cannot connect them to tangible things).
While I have not yet started using LOF, I’ve been researching, and I wanted to let you know I have found the BEST prices for the series at Educents!
I would totally have overlooked them as a possible source for these books had they not alerted me to the fact (thank you, Educents!) Plus, they are having a GREAT sale on all Life of Fred curriculum right now!
Free Shipping code is: SHIP2ME (this code ends soon, so don’t delay using it!)
And did you know Life of Fred has Beginning Readers for your little ones, and Language Arts for teens? I am definitely looking into this as an option for our family! They are on sale too! These books are the best price I’ve found online, plus you are getting free shipping!
This sale ends really soon, so if you’ve been looking, NOW is the time to buy! Time for me to finish up my list and get my order in!
Lea says
Is there fantasy in these books? Very interested, but don’t care for foolish characters or magic/vain imaginations. I looked at the website but you can’t preview enough to be able to tell.
Amy says
I don’t know the answer to this question, but I am hoping someone else here can help you with this. I agree with you…I don’t want those sorts of things in my children’s books either.
Karyn says
The story line does not include fantasy/magic. The main character is a five year old math professor (yes, professor). The story line can get goofy but the author is a Christian. He also introduces a lot of other interesting information (like Archimedes, nutrition, astronomy, grammar, etc.
We like LoF in our house but I still assign it only once a week as a supplement. I just don’t feel comfortable enough with it as the main curriculum.
Amy says
Thank you so much for chiming in! I have the best readers!
Karyn says
Aw, thanks. I do think you’ll enjoy Fred 🙂
OkiemummA says
I don’t think you will have ANY problem enjoying Fred books. Your kids will LOVE them, I promise. I VERY MUCH enjoy reading them, and even read ahead because I don’t like waiting for the kids to finish. Its a nice little story about Fred and his life. Really- they are great.
Michelle says
We have most of the series and I have tried them with my kids. There are three things I have an issue with. First is the fact that concepts are not broken down incrementally enough in a way that builds upon each concept.
He tells a story, and after the very first time of introducing a concept that might not have been clearly understood, he expects you to be a pro at it. Sometimes the concept is very easy to understand and the flow is nice, but many times it wasn’t understood. There is also no extra practice to gain mastery on a concept before moving on. Just some questions.
Related to that is the extra questions he asks that were either not introduced at all, or only vaguely mentioned. This got frustrating after a while, because it only sets up an already math-phobic child for failure.
And now for the stories themselves. I appreciated the story flow as well as the characters. Fred, the five year old genius, is amazing. Also, you don’t just learn math! He includes all kinds of other subjects and interesting facts which are done almost seamlessly. But the story lines themselves were not always very edifying. A parent should read them first before deciding whether or not it is line with their convictions.
To wrap it up, I would say that these books can be a lot of fun to read and your kids will want to pick them up in their free time. (Mine did!) You might also find them laughing about Fred at inconsequential times throughout the day! But you may be frustrated if you are depending on this to gain a sequential understanding of math concepts that will stick with them as well as the five year old genius!
Just one more note: one child was upper elementary and has good math intelligence when beginning with the first series and another one was middle school, but struggles with math. Both of them had a hard time with the concept jumping and the other issues I mentioned by the third book.
Sorry for the blog post length comment, but I hope this helps others make an informed decision. I had really wanted the Life of Fred series to be “IT” for our kids, but it just didn’t deliver what was promised.
Amy says
I appreciate your insight! I know there are supplemental books with extra problems in them (at least for the older “grades” there are). I’m super interested in the Language Arts because I could see those concepts as perfect for being taught in that way.
Michelle says
I forgot he had a language arts program! I will have to look into that.
Lacey S says
We are taking the leap and using LOF as our sole math curriculum. As long as its working, we will continue with it. I think what a lot of people miss is how the author recommends using it. Before starting it I’d recommend reading his recommendations on where to start and how to proceed.
With that, we have finished Apples and are half way through Butterflies…. and we love it! It is VERY silly at some points, but I’m okay with that. Things like Fred talking to his doll, a duck that lies, and Fred being a 5 year old math professor, etc. make us giggle as we learn really solid math concepts. Its not a “kill and drill” so there do need to be other ways your children learn math facts, but with board games, fun puzzles, and a computer game my son is progressing well learning those. So we are going to go through the first 4 books with me reading them to him and going through the questions together. After that my son will go through them again on his own, I will just check his work. Then we will do the next 4 books with me reading to him, then on his own, etc. After we get through the first whole set of books he will go through them one last time start to finish. Then, as long as there are not concepts we need to review again, we’ll move on to the higher level books. This plan, at about 2 chapters each school day, should take us through the next few years!