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Would be interested to know who has used this as a main text and how it went? I am looking for something to use with my non mathy daughter. I have never considered using it as a main text, however the author swears it is up to that standard.

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I just posted about my experience with this series here:

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221818

 

I have copied & pasted the relevant information below. Some of the information in my post below is specific to the other topic originally replied to. I do recommend starting at the beginning of the series for any student, but for a younger student it will obviously take a little longer to get through. My daughter is also non-mathy and she loves it. I feel strongly that this entire series is complete and can be used as a stand alone program. But I would make sure (as the author himself recommends) that math facts and basic math have been mastered before beginning the series.

 

From the other thread:

 

"Make sure to start with the first two books, Fractions and Decimals & Percents. He should be able to work through both of those in just a couple of weeks. Even if you think he has had enough of those math topics, IMO they prepare the student for Pre-Algebra & Algebra much better than any other curriculum. After that, move him into the Life of Fred Pre-Algebra books. There are 2 Pre-Algebra books (he should be able to quickly move through these as well, though not quite as quick). The best thing about the Life of Fred series is instead of just throwing a bunch of numbers at a student, it makes math come alive. It is all about real world mathematical applications. The first Pre-Algebra book ties math directly to science, the second to economics. The series as a whole makes many other real life connections.

 

The series is intensive and complete. It can be moved through quickly (in some of the early levels) but I have found retention to be much higher than any other math program we have used. My youngest son went from counting on his fingers to successfully doing Pre-Algebra fractions, percents & decimals with ease after just the first two books.

 

I should mention that one of the criticisms of these books that people make is how the answers are provided in the first four books of the series. The problems in the lessons have the answers provided in the lesson themselves. The answers to the "Bridges" (tests) are in the back. What I did was cut out the answers from the back. Both my youngest son and my daughter quickly learned that if they just read the story and copied answers in the lesson questions, they would not be able to cross the bridges. This taught them the downside to cheating. They started making sure they knew and understood the lessons and math problems taught before moving on. It took my son a little longer than my daughter but eventually they both learned self-accountability"

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Thank you for your reply!! Very useful information. I just got out the fractions book and have had her doing it for the past few days. She has accomplished quite a bit of it thus far, it is good to know that the fractions and decimals are meant to be gone through quickly.

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We just started using LoF Beginning Algebra a few weeks ago, and within a few days switched to using it for DS's main text. (Sole text, actually.) It is very complete, ds has had better retention with LoF than anything else, and I plan to use it for the remainder of the series.

 

One thing I will say - this is not the text to use for kids who need the rote learning or repetitive structure of something like Saxon or a similar book. It's terrific for the kids who need a storyline to latch facts onto, application (however goofy) for concepts in order to apply them, and/or just something to make it fun. (DS needs the first two, appreciates the third :) )

 

Hope that helps!

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:lurk5: I just came on here to search before I posted the same question. I had Fractions and Decimals/Percents and dd is working in Fractions right now as a supplement. She is really enjoying it, so I was wondering about LoF for Algebra 1 next year. She is doing CLE's 8th grade Pre-Algebra right now, too.

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
:lurk5: I just came on here to search before I posted the same question. I had Fractions and Decimals/Percents and dd is working in Fractions right now as a supplement. She is really enjoying it, so I was wondering about LoF for Algebra 1 next year. She is doing CLE's 8th grade Pre-Algebra right now, too.

I would still do Pre-Algebra 1 and Pre-Algebra 2 before Beginning Algebra. They are EXCELLENT!!

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I would still do Pre-Algebra 1 and Pre-Algebra 2 before Beginning Algebra. They are EXCELLENT!!

 

 

I really don't want to put off her starting Algebra 1 next year because she will be in 9th. She is studying life science right now. Should I consider switching her to the Pre-Algebra with Biology instead of the books I have, Fractions & Dec/Percs? Should I just have her finish those as quickly as possible then move into Pre-Algebra?

 

She can do math and scored well on her ITBS. She is not a mathy person and doesn't retain it quite as well as I would like (being the mathy mom I am since I have a degree in it!). She's doing the CLE because I thought a year of a spiral program, covering lots of mathematical processes, would be good before high school. It's a very good program as far as getting all the basics in and introducing algebra. I added LoF in the hopes of helping her enjoy math a little more because she is so language oriented.

 

What do you think?

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I really don't want to put off her starting Algebra 1 next year because she will be in 9th. She is studying life science right now. Should I consider switching her to the Pre-Algebra with Biology instead of the books I have, Fractions & Dec/Percs? Should I just have her finish those as quickly as possible then move into Pre-Algebra?

 

She can do math and scored well on her ITBS. She is not a mathy person and doesn't retain it quite as well as I would like (being the mathy mom I am since I have a degree in it!). She's doing the CLE because I thought a year of a spiral program, covering lots of mathematical processes, would be good before high school. It's a very good program as far as getting all the basics in and introducing algebra. I added LoF in the hopes of helping her enjoy math a little more because she is so language oriented.

 

What do you think?

 

My daughter is in 7th grade, we started with the pre-algebra books and discovered we needed to back up a bit because Saxon did not prepare her for the LoF Pre-Algebra. She was able to finish the Fractions and the Percents & Decimals in two weeks. She was thrilled because she said she had never learned so much math in such a short time (she is very non-mathy). She now is having no trouble with the Pre-Algebra. And the Pre-Algebra books are really, really great books. The addition of Biology (in the first) and Economics (in the second) really demonstrates to the student the helpfulness & importance of math.

 

So my recommendation is to have her go through the first 2 books very quickly (since she is in eighth grade, she will probably be able to breeze through them), then move her into the Pre-Algebra, she should have plenty of time to finish both Pre-Algebra books before next year.

 

Somewhere the author posted the recommended length of time to complete the later books (Beginning Algebra and after). A couple of them are 1/2 year courses, and a couple are full year, meaning it would be hard to fall too far behind. I think the first two Algebra books may be 1/2 year and Geometry a full year. I am going to go hunt down the list though. I will post it here when I find it.

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The beginning Algebra book has 108 lessons. We'll be adding a few chapter from a Dolciani book as well. We're not far into the LOF book and so far doing one lesson a day has been a good pace. I'm not sure if we'll need to slow down in later lessons or not.

 

We've been through fractions, decimals & Percents, and the pre-algebra biology. I'm glad we did the biology book, it helped review and cement some concepts.

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
I really don't want to put off her starting Algebra 1 next year because she will be in 9th. She is studying life science right now. Should I consider switching her to the Pre-Algebra with Biology instead of the books I have, Fractions & Dec/Percs? Should I just have her finish those as quickly as possible then move into Pre-Algebra?

 

She can do math and scored well on her ITBS. She is not a mathy person and doesn't retain it quite as well as I would like (being the mathy mom I am since I have a degree in it!). She's doing the CLE because I thought a year of a spiral program, covering lots of mathematical processes, would be good before high school. It's a very good program as far as getting all the basics in and introducing algebra. I added LoF in the hopes of helping her enjoy math a little more because she is so language oriented.

 

What do you think?

I agree with NineChoirs, I would squeeze them in (not skipping any of the books), and think you have time to do so. If you really feel you need to skip something I'd skip CLE. The Pre-Algebra books are wonderful!!! The author wrote them because parents were saying their students weren't ready for Beginning Algebra, especially when it comes to word problems. Pre-Algebra 2 has a special focus on word problems that is just awesome!

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I had asked on the Accelerated board, but this seems to be the Life of Fred place--

 

My son is doing EPGY math, currently at their 5th grade level--which they claim is accelerated. We also started LoF fractions, and are really enjoying it. He's happy now to do both, but we are moving really fast.

 

I know that folks say LoF stands alone, but having worked with it now I still think--this is going to prepare my kid for SATs, APs, etc? Anyone have experience with LoF with a mathy kid who did really well in college math?

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
I had asked on the Accelerated board, but this seems to be the Life of Fred place--

 

My son is doing EPGY math, currently at their 5th grade level--which they claim is accelerated. We also started LoF fractions, and are really enjoying it. He's happy now to do both, but we are moving really fast.

 

I know that folks say LoF stands alone, but having worked with it now I still think--this is going to prepare my kid for SATs, APs, etc? Anyone have experience with LoF with a mathy kid who did really well in college math?

Have you only used LOF Fractions? The first 2 books (Fractions and Decimals & Percents) aren't meant to be stand alone courses.

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I personally think the first two can be used as stand alone (with perhaps facts practice drills thrown in for review with younger students) but only if basic math has already been mastered. Also it should be moved through quickly, even a 5th grader should be able to finish the first 2 books in 1/2 of a year.

 

I have discovered that there is a Pre-Algebra 3 with physics coming out next year, I am pretty excited about that.

 

I also found alot of additional info in the Rainbow resource review which can be found here: http://rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=10&category=6813

 

Including This (the rate of progression!):

 

""Algebra and Advanced Algebra should each take a little more than half a year. While Geometry takes place during one day in the Life of Fred (a Thursday after his sixth birthday), it is definitely a full year course. Trigonometry can be completed in half of a year and Calculus (although covering two full years of calculus) will take one year.""

 

So I plan on having my daughter start Beginning Algebra next year, then hopefully Pre-Algebra 3 will be out and we can do that before starting Advanced Algebra. Then she will be able to start Geometry in 9th. This means after Trig and Calc, she will be able to do at least one of the elective College level Life of Fred maths (either Statistics or Linear Algebra). Maybe even both if she works on them through the Summer.

 

This leads me to the beauty of the Life of Fred books. Last year my daughter would tell anyone in earshot that she hated math. She didn't want anything to do with it. When it was time to do math she would get frustrated and/or depressed. It could take several hours to do one lesson. Now she is looking forward to doing the entire Life of Fred series. She wants to work though the books all of the time. She even said to me the other day that she loved math now. Any homeschooling parent can understand how amazing it was to hear her say that.

 

It is not an easy math text, there are struggles, but the difference is now it is a challenge instead of torture.

 

Everyone who has a strong background in math that has reviewed these texts not only say how complete it is as a stand alone text, but also that the content is even more advanced & comprehensive then most other math programs.

 

The most uncertainty seems to come from parents who are a bit suspicious about a new math book that kids actually think is fun. There is some sort of rule that a student, especially in the higher grades, should think math is fun. I am going go rogue, take a leap of faith and break that rule. My daughter is now loving math (as opposed to just tolerating it) for the first time in her life, I am going to roll with it. :auto::D

 

For moms who are still unsure, the review in the link above suggests just printing out some free supplemental math sheets if you feel it is absolutely necessary.

 

I do plan on doing standardized testing this year. I'll let you know how it turns out. :001_smile:

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
I personally think the first two can be used as stand alone (with perhaps facts practice drills thrown in for review with younger students) but only if basic math has already been mastered. Also it should be moved through quickly, even a 5th grader should be able to finish the first 2 books in 1/2 of a year.

 

I have discovered that there is a Pre-Algebra 3 with physics coming out next year, I am pretty excited about that.

 

I also found alot of additional info in the Rainbow resource review which can be found here: http://rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=10&category=6813

 

Including This (the rate of progression!):

 

""Algebra and Advanced Algebra should each take a little more than half a year. While Geometry takes place during one day in the Life of Fred (a Thursday after his sixth birthday), it is definitely a full year course. Trigonometry can be completed in half of a year and Calculus (although covering two full years of calculus) will take one year.""

 

So I plan on having my daughter start Beginning Algebra next year, then hopefully Pre-Algebra 3 will be out and we can do that before starting Advanced Algebra. Then she will be able to start Geometry in 9th. This means after Trig and Calc, she will be able to do at least one of the elective College level Life of Fred maths (either Statistics or Linear Algebra). Maybe even both if she works on them through the Summer.

 

This leads me to the beauty of the Life of Fred books. Last year my daughter would tell anyone in earshot that she hated math. She didn't want anything to do with it. When it was time to do math she would get frustrated and/or depressed. It could take several hours to do one lesson. Now she is looking forward to doing the entire Life of Fred series. She wants to work though the books all of the time. She even said to me the other day that she loved math now. Any homeschooling parent can understand how amazing it was to hear her say that.

 

It is not an easy math text, there are struggles, but the difference is now it is a challenge instead of torture.

 

Everyone who has a strong background in math that has reviewed these texts not only say how complete it is as a stand alone text, but also that the content is even more advanced & comprehensive then most other math programs.

 

The most uncertainty seems to come from parents who are a bit suspicious about a new math book that kids actually think is fun. There is some sort of rule that a student, especially in the higher grades, should think math is fun. I am going go rogue, take a leap of faith and break that rule. My daughter is now loving math (as opposed to just tolerating it) for the first time in her life, I am going to roll with it. :auto::D

 

For moms who are still unsure, the review in the link above suggests just printing out some free supplemental math sheets if you feel it is absolutely necessary.

 

I do plan on doing standardized testing this year. I'll let you know how it turns out. :001_smile:

Did you hear this from the author? The reason I ask is that the last time I emailed him (about 4 months ago) he said he was putting Pre-Algebra 3 on the back burner in order to write an elementary series. He said there was more need for an elementary series than a 3rd Pre-Algebra book.

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I had asked on the Accelerated board, but this seems to be the Life of Fred place--

 

My son is doing EPGY math, currently at their 5th grade level--which they claim is accelerated. We also started LoF fractions, and are really enjoying it. He's happy now to do both, but we are moving really fast.

 

I know that folks say LoF stands alone, but having worked with it now I still think--this is going to prepare my kid for SATs, APs, etc? Anyone have experience with LoF with a mathy kid who did really well in college math?

 

We did end up using the Fractions, Decimals & percents books as stand alones. We were finishing up Singapore 5A and I had planned on using them as supplements and continuing on with the Singapore series. We like LOF so well and then the pre-algebra book came out, so we moved on. I do have the Singapore 6b book, which has a fair amount of geometry, we may use that to round out the year.

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It has worked well for my eldest who is mathy. She used the Geometry as her main text. Becuase it's still new & she is thinking of majoring in math, I haven't let her use only that because it's so new. She uses the rest on her own as reference, and often prefers the way it's taught & presented.

 

It doesn't have a lot of review and practice, however. You can get more if you add the Home Companion, but it won't be enough for everyone.

 

We like LOF in many ways, but it depends on how your dd learns and how much practice she'll need. Even if you don't use it as your main text, I highly recommend reading it & using it as a help if you choose something else. My dd is transferring to ps starting Monday. She is going in the middle of algebra 2 into their honours course & had to learn matrices, since they aren't covered in the first part of the text she was using. She tried it in her sister's future Algebra 2 text (Foerster's) but ended up preferring the method used in LOF.

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Did you hear this from the author? The reason I ask is that the last time I emailed him (about 4 months ago) he said he was putting Pre-Algebra 3 on the back burner in order to write an elementary series. He said there was more need for an elementary series than a 3rd Pre-Algebra book.

 

I found it on a few review sites, but can't find anything recent (most recent was August of this year). I sent him an additional email asking about it. It would be great if it did come out next year, but we will just fit it in whenever it finally does. I really like the idea of an easy introduction to physics. The elementary series sounds really interesting as well.

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
I found it on a few review sites, but can't find anything recent (most recent was August of this year). I sent him an additional email asking about it. It would be great if it did come out next year, but we will just fit it in whenever it finally does. I really like the idea of an easy introduction to physics. The elementary series sounds really interesting as well.

I'd love to know what he says! I'm looking forward to both but since I have younger children I'm hoping for the elementary ASAP.

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For those of you who have used LOF and are supplimenting it what are you using? I was pondering New Math Counts which is suppose to be the easiest 7th Singapore text of the ones out there. My daughter is nearly finished with the fractions and will start decimals next week. I am nervous about using it stand alone....

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Here is the reply to my first question:

 

The Life of Fred series is designed for home schoolers, so there is no need to cram, squeeze, or expand the material in order to fit into some government 9-month program. Your daughter may complete these books in more or less than the time that I indicate here.

The first two books (LOF: F and LOF: D& P) together take about 65-70 lessons if you do one each day including the time for the Bridges exams.

LOF: Pre-Algebra 1 with Biology 46 daily lessons.

LOF: Pre-Algebra 2 with Economics (which does a lot of work with word problems) 34 daily lessons.

LOF: Beginning Algebra (with its study guide, Fred's Home Companion: Beginning Algebra) are laid out in 108 lessons.

Then advanced algebra, 101 lessons.

Then LOF: Geometry 2 semesters

Then LOF: Trig 94 daily lessons

 

Then they will begin LOF: Calculus which covers all of the two years of college calculus. It is not broken into lessons.

LOF: Statistics covers a year of college statistics.

LOF: Linear Algebra is a full semester upper division college course.

 

With my best wishes,

Stan

 

The reply to my second question:

 

After writing the two pre-algebra books, I discovered that I had done all of the pre-algebra necessary to make the transition from arithmetic into beginning algebra as smooth and as pleasant as possible.

Instead I've elected to write a bunch of books for readers in the first through fourth grade to proceed the Life of Fred: Fraction book. It will probably be a multiyear project.

I have gathered around 30 physics books in the event I someday head in that direction. But for now it is on the back burner. Thank you for asking.

 

All the best to you,

Stan

 

I appreciate the breakdown into daily lessons in the first reply. And while I am disappointed there won't be a physics book anytime soon, perhaps it will end up being a higher level text that my daughter will be ready for when it comes out! It sounds like he feels the Pre-Algebra is complete and may have other plans for Physics.

 

And the elementary school books are exciting! We do plan on having more kids in the near future (We discovered a medical issue preventing conception but I am having surgery in Feb. to correct it), so the timing couldn't be more perfect!

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
Here is the reply to my first question:

 

The Life of Fred series is designed for home schoolers, so there is no need to cram, squeeze, or expand the material in order to fit into some government 9-month program. Your daughter may complete these books in more or less than the time that I indicate here.

The first two books (LOF: F and LOF: D& P) together take about 65-70 lessons if you do one each day including the time for the Bridges exams.

LOF: Pre-Algebra 1 with Biology 46 daily lessons.

LOF: Pre-Algebra 2 with Economics (which does a lot of work with word problems) 34 daily lessons.

LOF: Beginning Algebra (with its study guide, Fred's Home Companion: Beginning Algebra) are laid out in 108 lessons.

Then advanced algebra, 101 lessons.

Then LOF: Geometry 2 semesters

Then LOF: Trig 94 daily lessons

 

Then they will begin LOF: Calculus which covers all of the two years of college calculus. It is not broken into lessons.

LOF: Statistics covers a year of college statistics.

LOF: Linear Algebra is a full semester upper division college course.

 

With my best wishes,

Stan

 

The reply to my second question:

 

After writing the two pre-algebra books, I discovered that I had done all of the pre-algebra necessary to make the transition from arithmetic into beginning algebra as smooth and as pleasant as possible.

Instead I've elected to write a bunch of books for readers in the first through fourth grade to proceed the Life of Fred: Fraction book. It will probably be a multiyear project.

I have gathered around 30 physics books in the event I someday head in that direction. But for now it is on the back burner. Thank you for asking.

 

All the best to you,

Stan

 

I appreciate the breakdown into daily lessons in the first reply. And while I am disappointed there won't be a physics book anytime soon, perhaps it will end up being a higher level text that my daughter will be ready for when it comes out! It sounds like he feels the Pre-Algebra is complete and may have other plans for Physics.

 

And the elementary school books are exciting! We do plan on having more kids in the near future (We discovered a medical issue preventing conception but I am having surgery in Feb. to correct it), so the timing couldn't be more perfect!

Thanks! I wonder when the first elementary book will be released, and if he will release the first 1st or work backwards from Fractions.

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For those of you who have used LOF and are supplimenting it what are you using? I was pondering New Math Counts which is suppose to be the easiest 7th Singapore text of the ones out there. My daughter is nearly finished with the fractions and will start decimals next week. I am nervous about using it stand alone....

 

Well, my dd supplemented LOF Geometry with Dressler's Geometry. My middle one did LOF Beginning Algebra on its own, but whipped through it so quickly that I'm having her now do Algebra 1 with Foerster's since I think she needs more than a few months (c. 3-4) in Algebra 1. My ds was using Fractions along with the SM he was already doing, but we're taking a break from it now because it was supposed to be independent, but he really needs me to teach it.

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Karin, thanks for your input, the nice thing about LOF is that at least in the case of my DD it really does teach itself unlike SM.

 

The Life of Fred series is designed for home schoolers, so there is no need to cram, squeeze, or expand the material in order to fit into some government 9-month program.

 

:iagree:

 

NineChoirs I think I will take the plunge with you!

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DD is switching from Saxon Algebra II to LOF Advanced Algebra. I had her do LOF Beginning Algebra in about 4 weeks as a review will be starting the Advanced Algebra tomorrow. I do have to make sure she is doing math until June, so when she finishes LOF, I will either have her do LOF Geometry, or some "Real Math" kind of stuff from something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Hands-Math-Projects-Real-Life-Applications/dp/0787981796/ref=pd_sim_b_41

 

My focus from math has shifted in that I've decided that I'd rather have my non mathy daughter have a good conceptual understanding and no fear of math than anything else.

Edited by LunaLee
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Karin, thanks for your input, the nice thing about LOF is that at least in the case of my DD it really does teach itself unlike SM.

 

The Life of Fred series is designed for home schoolers, so there is no need to cram, squeeze, or expand the material in order to fit into some government 9-month program.

 

:iagree:

 

NineChoirs I think I will take the plunge with you!

:iagree: My dd's use LOF as a self teaching book, and it works much better for them due to their learning styles. We're big LOF fans here.

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Thanks ladies, it is great to hear so many success stories with LOF, DD is much happier the past couple of weeks doing LOF. She is a day dream believer and catering to that with math espcially is very out side the box.

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