sweetsouthern Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 ok.. switching from teaching textbooks and dd likes the samples of life fred!!! but one question... she is going into 7th, so im going to start with fractions, but its only 32 lessons?? how do you guys teach these year from year (like the break down?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2GAboys Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 Start with the fraction (one semester course), next book is the percents and decimals, both books can be done in one school year. If you go google Cathy Duffy reviews she is spotlighting life with Fred and has an excellent description of this program. I think there is a link to the web site for the author and that has great info and samples. I have a boy who finished the Right Start curriculum at end of 4th so we are going to do Life with Fred next year in addition to Hands on Geometry thru Right Start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 I think many people use LOF as a supplement -- especially at the lower levels. If I were you, for middle school math, I'd do something like this to make it more complete: Life of Fred Fractions with Key to Fractions Life of Fred Decimals with Key to Decimals and Key to Percents Life of Fred Pre-Algebra 1 & 2 with Key to Algebra (or at least some topics from the series) As soon as she finished Fractions and Key to Fractions, I'd move into Decimals, regardless of whether it took a month or a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetsouthern Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 as a supplement?? crap! what would i do with it?? it would have to be something light for her, she wont be loving all this math lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 I think the PP was trying to point out that for many, LOF is not a complete curriculum. The "chapters" are at times only 1 page long followed by 5-10 problems. DS10 read decimals for fun under the covers one night last week. We wondered why he slept in, until he admitted what he had done the night before! If LOF works for you as a complete curriculum, then I don't know how you could spend more than 15 minutes a day on it and make it last a semester. If it works for you, chances are your kid is bright in math. If not, that child will likely need more reinforcement than it provides or he/she will get frustrated. Brownie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 ok.. switching from teaching textbooks and dd likes the samples of life fred!!! but one question... she is going into 7th, so im going to start with fractions, but its only 32 lessons?? how do you guys teach these year from year (like the break down?) If you school year round, you could do them all in a year. The Fractions and Decimals & Percents books can easily be done in 4 to 6 weeks each; neither was intended to last a semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 as a supplement?? crap! what would i do with it?? it would have to be something light for her, she wont be loving all this math lol! It is a standalone program if done correctly and if your child has the pre-requisites (has mastered addition/subtraction/multiplication/division through long division). If your child reads it through in one night, they probably won't get a deep mastery of the topic. If they read it carefully and work through the problems independently and only then read through the solutions, and take the bridge tests, and really only proceed after scoring at least 90% on each, they should have an outstanding grasp of the material. My 10YO did Fractions in about 10-12 weeks with some time outs to shore up his long division. He now has an outstanding understanding of fractions. The plan for this year is Decimals and Percents and both Pre-Algebra books; possibly starting Algebra toasted the end of 5th grade. We'll see-- we may take a break and play with a probability unit in there for fun :). There is no monster rush to start algebra super early. Jen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NineChoirs Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 We use it as a stand alone program and it is working great for us. We started with fractions and went through decimals and the pre-algebra books and are now into algebra. The kids are doing great and it is more than enough on it's own. When I first started them using the Fractions book I took the advice some gave on this board and supplemented with the "key to" series. It wasn't long before I realized that the "key to" books were nothing more than superfluous busywork designed to make students miserable. The LoF book moved much faster than the "key to " series and they were learning much more advanced problems while "key to" still had them stuck doing the problems they had learned in the first lesson of LoF. So we dropped "key to" and never looked back. And now my kids seriously love math. They do "math drill contests" for fun. They write out problems on the white board and compete with each other to solve them. Whenever anyone asks my kids about Homeschooling the first thing they start talking about is LoF, and they LOVE to talk about LoF. My two youngest non-mathy (they used to disolve into tears when they saw a math book come out) kids are looking forward (with pure, unadulterated glee) to CALCULUS. I say go for it, and don't let others scare you out of it, if it works for your dc, who are they to tell you how to use it? There have been many professional math reviews that have stated it is a complete stand alone program, so again, go for it! I should add that Fractions & Decimal & Percents are primers. They are a bit on the short side, for younger students I would stretch them out for a year (one book per semester). For older students I would have the pre-algebra books (at least the first one) on hand for them to go right into if they finish the first two quickly. I just have the kids do an hour of math a day (or until they get to the bridges which the bridges are given a day or more of their own) in the first four books and move to the next book when they finish one. Then when they move to Beginning Algebra and on the Home Companions break it down to helpful lesson plans. I have found they can do 2 lessons or two cities (there are 6 each chapter) a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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