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In my opinion, LOF without supplementation is a complete math course. My boys have used Fred exclusively since Fractions. The 8th grader is finishing up Algebra this year with Advanced Algebra scheduled for next. My 10th grader is finishing up Trig this year with Calculus scheduled for next. They both score very well on standardized testing including the PSAT which my elder son took last October.

 

I post this positive review to even out the negative, because people who haven't used it, or only use it to supplement once a week, often post that it is not rigorous or complete or is lacking in some way that a spiral method course or program with 50 problems a day are not. This is not my experience.

 

That said, several of my friends have tried LOF for their own kids. Some loved it and stuck with it, others didn't like it for various reasons and switched to something else. Sometimes the conversational style of the book belies its true difficulty - maybe the student doesn't take it seriously. I know one friend quit because her (very bright) child did not like having to figure out a problem that he wasn't taught how to solve (all the answers & processes are still clearly explained in the answer areas).

 

The Zillions book was not available for my eldest, but I did buy it for my second son for Algebra. I only assign problems from it if he seems to need more practice. Otherwise, I will let him work through the home companion and text. He does do every problem in every city, "Your Turn to Play" and in the Home Companion.

 

As far as I remember (from last year, lol!) is that the Geometry course is pretty much all proofs. Once in a while it was a bear for me to grade, as my son was sometimes a bit creative with the steps he took going from the given to the final answer, and, of course, with proofs, there is often more than one path to solution. I have compared LOF Geometry to several of my friends' courses, and I think that Fred is on par or better for the knowledge that I wanted son to gain for geometry and problem solving.

 

After all these years, Fred is still quoted at the dinner table. They will copy problems to discuss at dinner that they think will stump my dh (I don't believe he can be stumped), and they chuckle or groan at the story as they do their work. My 10 yo is finishing up the Elementary series (as a supplement to Singapore) and will go to only LOF (no supplementation) next year in the fifth grade.

 

HTH,

Lisa

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I must agree. I also did not have the Zillions book for my 2 boys but have now bought it for my 7th grade who is doing Algebra. I did not supplement with anything else. The first time we stopped using LOF was Calculus. My oldest son just couldn't understand it with Fred, so switched to Thinkwell - but after getting to college he felt that wasn't rigorous enough so my next son has done Art of Problem Solving Calculus instead.

Mine scored well enough on their standardized tests and SAT Math 2 subject test.

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My husband tutors/teaches math and science to both homeschooled and public schooled students. I remembered that he had had a couple of students who used Life of Fred, so I asked him for his thoughts on this question.

 

One student he taught used Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra; she did need supplementing. (This was prior to the Zillions book.)

 

A second student used LoF: BA and came to him every other week with any questions. She did not need any supplementing.

 

The second student went on to use Life of Fred: Geometry and did fine without any supplementing. My husband's recollection is that it does contain proofs (more than Jacobs' Geometry 3rd edition but less than Jacobs' Geometry 2nd edition -- which may not help you at all if you're not familiar with those two books!)

 

I've no feedback at all for you on Life of Fred: Advanced Algebra.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Yes, it truly is stand alone. My older two used it before the "zillions" books were available. I was also skeptical so I had them take a more traditional final exam and complete a state standardized test. They did well, which really put me at ease.

 

I do know some kids who haven't had success with it. Some don't take it seriously b/c of the format or look ahead to the answers pre-maturely. There is little to no review. I always recommend trying a few lessons (many libraries have these) and making sure it's going to work before diving in.

 

Like a PP poster, we did great with it all the way up through Calc.

 

 

ETA: Yes, Geometry does include proofs. It does not have a home companion though, only an answer key.

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Thank you so much! You all will make a very happy teenager ehen I tell her and put my mind at ease. I know she likes Fred because we have used it (and are using Beginning Algebra this year) for a few years. I just wasn't sure about dropping our other math to do this alone (I am not strong enough in math to evalutate that myself either, unfortuntely)

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We're another family who does LoF as a stand alone. My dd12 is working through Beginning Alg this year in Grade 7. She's always been a mathy kid, though, and any curriculum that would have her do 50 practice problems for any particular topic would send her around the bend. I'd like to get my hands on one of the AoPS books and take a look through it at some point to see if it would interest her. She's mathy but sees math more as a tool to be used in science and engineering than as something to do just for the love of it. :)

 

Just to make the OP aware - the LoF Advanced Algebra doesn't have a Zillions of Practice Problems book that I know of so you'd just have two books for your Advanced Alg year (text and the Home Companion).

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Just to make the OP aware - the LoF Advanced Algebra doesn't have a Zillions of Practice Problems book that I know of so you'd just have two books for your Advanced Alg year (text and the Home Companion).

 

I'd thought the same thing; however, I learned today that it does exist. It must be fairly new. See here.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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I'd thought the same thing; however, I learned today that it does exist. It must be fairly new. See here.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

Well... Bust my buttons. I stand corrected. :D Now I'm going to have to decide if we need this for next year. :)

 

ETA: I just realized that you gave me a link to a Canadian company that sells LoF books - I had no idea one existed. :)

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