Life of Fred Pre-algebra 1 & 2?

[yellowperch]

Would someone who has used these kindly tell me what you think, and what your child thinks? DSs are soon to finish decimals and I'm about to order the next two books but I thought I'd ask for a reivew before I hit "purchase".

 

My boys are great at math, but I'm concerned the biology and economics might be beyond them. They worked diligently and happily through the first two books.

 

Also, how much time would you allocate for each book? How did you use them?

 

Thank you.

[HappyCamper]

My son goes through LoF independently (except for the bridges) and loved all the way through decimals. I think he would have liked the pre-algebra with economics book. Unfortunately, I got the biology one without thinking about how squeamish he is. He is really easily grossed out. He did not finish the book. He is much more of an economist than a biologist. I should have thought about my audience/reader. :glare:

[yellowperch]

Wow! Hope he recovered...What's in it? How advanced is the science?How is the science incorporated? How graphic is it? Are the two books sequential or are they the same math with different applications? Thank you again for the help.

[Mrs.MacGyver]

Would someone who has used these kindly tell me what you think, and what your child thinks? DSs are soon to finish decimals and I'm about to order the next two books but I thought I'd ask for a reivew before I hit "purchase".

 

My boys are great at math, but I'm concerned the biology and economics might be beyond them. They worked diligently and happily through the first two books.

 

Also, how much time would you allocate for each book? How did you use them?

 

Thank you.

 

 

My daughter is 12 - she non-mathy and finished the first book in the first semester (before Christmas break). Honestly, I skimmed the book, but I cannot remember anything that would have made her squeamish (but we are a generally non-squeamish family with vast medical backgrounds in gross stuff :D So - maybe I don't know :confused:)

 

She loved the Biology part. It goes through quite a bit of general knowledge stuff. What she had trouble with was the balancing chemical equations bit, but I think we all had trouble with that and we didn't hit it until high-school...

I think that she caught most of the Biology having had the subject before. I figure that even if some of it goes over her head, at least she has heard it before and when it comes up again, she will be familiar with the topic.

 

We are quickly going back over decimals, percents, and fractions again right now with Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra just to cement everything again (again - non-mathy), and then we will finish up the year + some of summer with the Economics book.

 

I am excited about this one because I think it is such an important thing for the kids to learn. Some of topic seem quite high level, but the descriptions and the story help to bring it down to her level. Again, I think it is nice that the younger kids are at least hearing these terms and getting a bit of a grasp on a subject that is usually not taught until the end of high-school - so I am not super concerned that she grasp everything completely. The math is quite solid, and that is my main focus.

 

(FYI - from what I can gather, it is more of a conservative economic view than the rather pro-Keynesian book I had in high-school. Maybe I am wrong on that, but I think that it is a fairly pro-free market, self-sufficiency kind of view point, if that makes any sense. Maybe some people might not be comfortable with this. I don't know.)