How Does Life of Fred work?

[Jamee]

I'm intregued by Life of Fred and think it might be a good fit for DS. He is currently doing Saxon, but I think something with a twist, and sense of humour, might be useful. From the threads I've seen here, it seems to be a mix of "yes, it's stand alone" "no, use as a supplement." I was thinking more of using it as a supplement. Perhaps a lesson a week. Is that moving too slowly through the program? Is that too much for one day? Looking for some suggestions, advice, experiences.

 

Thanks!

[Guest TheBugsMom]

Bumping because I am interested in the answers.

[radiobrain]

When I use LoF, I find that my kids want to do more than one chapter.

 

I intended to have it be a supplement, but it has now become an equal to our Singapore. I am noticing that they both play off each other very well. Fred always does some sort of review question, a really easy question and then the rest are pretty good to work through. The thing is, that there is something about the way that concepts are presented that insists on them being processed differently. I am not sure how to explain it, but we used to have a LOT of trouble getting through our one Singapore lesson a day (they are not long) and now we are able to do both a Life of Fred chapter AND a singapore lesson in less than an hour, and with full understanding of whatever we are doing. It is as if they are cross pollinating each other. My non mathy kid is now answering all the questions, even the ones that I would not expect him to remember or understand. It's pretty cool.

 

When I started with Life of Fred, I did not plan on doing it this way, it just evolved. I would think that that would happen with you too. So, my advice is that you not worry about if it is too much or not enough...just start it and see what happens. You can take as long or as short to go through any program. You might find that once a week is not enough, or that your kid doesn't respond to it. You won't know until you do it. ;)

 

Good luck!

[chai]

I meant to use Life of Fred as a supplement too. :laugh: I tried to schedule the same topics together, but in the end LOF just took over. At first, it worked great with Singapore, but dd preferred LOF so much more, that it has now become our primary program.

 

I think that one chapter a week would be too slow. The LOF chapters can take very differing amounts of time, so instead of assigning a chapter, I would suggest assigning something like 45 minutes of math.

[Jamee]

Thanks for the responses! I'm still interested in hearing more, but this is helpful. DS doesn't like math, but doesn't despise it either. I'm hoping to find a way for him to get more out of it, more enjoyment. (I am not a math person and I'm hoping he has a better experience than I did.)

 

Are the chapters, lessons that you go over together, or are these self-taught texts?

[chai]

Are the chapters, lessons that you go over together, or are these self-taught texts?

 

My dd is doing LOF completely independently. If she has a question, I will walk through it with her, but that happens rarely. Once, I had to read a chapter with her.

[saja1029]

What grade level(s) are these for?

[radiobrain]

 

Are the chapters, lessons that you go over together, or are these self-taught texts?

 

They could be independent, but I teach them. I read out loud, we laugh about it, we do the problems on a whiteboard.

 

I don't think my kids could be trusted to do it independently. But, honestly, they don't do anything independently except play with legos, fight with each other, go to the bathroom, sneak food out of the fridge and fall asleep. ;)

[Momling]

What grade level(s) are these for?

 

LOF starts with Fractions -- then Decimals -- then Pre-Algebra, Algebra, etc..

 

The pre-requisite for the Fractions book is fluency with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division... So usually around 5th or 6th grade, most kids have mastered long division and are ready for Fred.

[Jilly]

They could be independent, but I teach them. I read out loud, we laugh about it, we do the problems on a whiteboard.

 

:iagree:

I teach it to the kids, and we all enjoy it. We are using it as our main program.

[Kates]

:iagree:

I teach it to the kids, and we all enjoy it. We are using it as our main program.

 

I teach it as well. We read, we laugh, we do the problems on the whiteboard - and ds LOVES to do math. He chooses to do an hour or more a day, where it used to be slugging through 20 minutes just to get it done.

 

And the best part? He gets it - like really gets it. He enjoys it, he chooses to do it, and he gets it. For us, it works.

 

I started out intending to use it as a supplement, but it quickly became our main program. I just ordered the next one in the series, ds enjoys it so much.

 

For some families, it's a supplement; for some, it's a main program. Everyone uses it differently. Some kids don't even like it (though many do). Honestly, I'd suggest letting your child read (or read to them) the sample off the site - it's how I knew it'd work for my son. Hope that helps!

[Mallory]

My oldest started about 13 or 14. Decimals and Fractions were review. Then she has done B. Alg, and Adv. Alg. They are her only math. She does them independantly. Occasionally I have had to do some lessons from another text, but mostly she is doing fine. I also occasionally use a review from the Larson combined algebra book as a test to make sure she is getting it. It's been a while, I probably need to do another one ;)

 

My 11 would like to start Fred, but I think I will wait until he is done with Singapore, then he can use the early levels for review. He'll also be able to use the pre-algebra levels. I am glad to have an reason to buy more Fred!

[Jane Elliot]

I use it as more of a supplement between books. For example, my current 5th grader will finish Saxon 65 next week. She's begging to do Life of Fred, so I'll have her do the Fractions and Decimals books before starting Saxon 76 as a sort of break and a reward for staying ahead. Fractions and Decimals will likely take her less than two months (based on my experience with my other dc).

 

My current 7th grader is using LOF PreAlgebra. The first PreAlgebra book has taken her less than 2 months, and I'll go ahead and move her to the second since 14yo is still using the Chalkdust book that I want to move her into next (and besides that 15yo still has the Chalkdust book I want 14yo using.) I know these sound like pathetic reasons, but LOF works nicely as an in between books supplement so I'm not going to worry about it.

 

We've also used LOF as a summer course because the dc really do see it as fun. I'm not sure how I would use LOF concurrently with another text. It could probably be done, but I can't seem to wrap my brain around it. I schedule LOF on their assignment sheets as 60 minutes of math, and I have them write down the page numbers they completed each day.

[Rosy]

We do two lessons a week in LoF Fractions. DD is also using Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra. Fred has so far been review for her as she made it through Saxon 65 and part of 76 before we switched, but she enjoys Fred and understands fractions more fully as a result of using it. Each lesson takes her about half an hour. I would encourage doing more than one a week--Fred is fun! But I wouldn't use it as a stand-alone curriculum either, I don't feel that it has enough drill to gauge mastery of a concept.