wixsond Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 New here. For those who have used LOF, do you think there is a particular learning style for which this works best? Or, alternatively, for which LOF does NOT work well? My dd is ready for pre-algebra (8th gr next year). Thinking of starting w/ LOF Fractions first for review, then moving into Decimals & Percents. (I consider dd a "visual" learner.) Thanks! Dana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michelle l Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 (edited) My 6th grader is fairly mathy. He does most of his subjects very independently, and is pretty independent in general. He's slightly quirky. He has a funny sense of humor, and has always been "into" everything - whether that means grabbing dad's hammer and nails and some old boards and starting to make a "fort" on his own, or spray painting his sister's princess bike gold and his red crocks bright blue.:001_huh: It works for him. He gets it. He thinks it's funny, and he's able to think throug the concepts on his own. There have only been maybe three times he hasn't quite understood something. My 10 yr old is totally different. He slogs through his MUS and is overwhelmed because there are "too many questions.":blink: He wants to know about who the ruler of Libya is, and are we at war in the middle east and how did that all start anyway, and who's that ruler in Cuba again, and how did a military man come into power??? :D Math? He thinks it's pure torture. I'll try LOF with him, and am even willing to do it together, but I don't have high hopes. I think he needs more direct instruction. But maybe I will be surprised!:) Edited June 10, 2011 by michelle l Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 By the time we pulled out of PS, my 10YO was frustrated and bored in math. He could not understand why the teacher would waste the class' time by standing up front and explaining math when it was already explained for them right there in the book-- couldn't his fellow classmates read? His response to LoF Fractions was, "Finally, a math book that treats me as if I have a brain!". He loves to read independently and hates having everything spelled out-- he likes having to fit some puzzle pieces together (but Fred does cover all of the vital pieces, and in better depth than other programs that I have seen). He is also the kind of kid whom I can leave in the room with a test and an answer key, and he would not even consider looking at the key. He would work every problem himself. What does he struggle with in Fred? He complains that it has been a blow to his ego to not always get every practice problem correct on the first try. He's not used to having to work for his progress. On the other hand, now in Decimals and Percents, he remembers stuff he learned from Fred... How many feet in a mile, the value of Pi, how to figure out a savings plan for a large purchase and what kinds of questions to ask when making a private purchase, minutes and seconds and what they have to do with angles, and other good stuff :). And he can use Pi to do computations on a circle, and decide for a given computation or answer whether a fraction or decimal makes more sense in context of the problem. Good stuff :). I have a DS7 whom I am not sure will be a good fit with Fred; time will tell. He's good at surprising us, so we'll see! If he isn't a good fit for Fred, we'll be very happy continuing on with Singapore as a fallback or Safety program, with Math Mammoth for reinforcement (DS7 is a kid who does better with mastery, yet he does need to see material twice to really get it, so we do Singapore as a primary program and trail behind with Math Mammoth just 1 page per day). The best way to find out is to try it. Have confidence in the program-- make sure your DC actually does the problems completely and doesn't go past the bridges without passing them, and let him or her work independently (unless there is a reading problem) without you running interference. It's a math text, not just a storybook. You'll find out in time if it's a good fit or not. Good luck, and have fun! Math can be such a joy! It is still a few years before our kids are doing any real math, but good foundations in arithmetic with a great attitude from the instructor make the real math of the future possible! Jen http://hillandalefarmschool.blogspot.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellalarella Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 DS12 went through the first four books this past school year. The books are written for an audience that enjoys reading to learn. We loved the books (my son, my daughter AND me.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wixsond Posted June 12, 2011 Author Share Posted June 12, 2011 Thanks for the replies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alenee Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 DS12 went through the first four books this past school year. The books are written for an audience that enjoys reading to learn. We loved the books (my son, my daughter AND me.) I don't mean to be nit-picky but I don't believe the reason behind the largely written work is to cater to students who enjoy reading to learn. I've actually spoken with the author a few times and his main points seem to be that kids need to learn to *think* through math, rather than memorize endless amounts of algorithms without purpose. His desire is for students to do math w/o hating it... and they won't hate it because (hopefully) they will understand it. Math problems, irl, are by and large, word problems. If you have no idea what algorithm to use, then you've wasted your time. What I have seen through the program is that it teaches logical thinking skills which produce a confidence when faced with living math situations. My now 12yo dd has gone through the first two books and is about 1/4 through the first pre-alg. book. She had zero confidence in math until we began using these books. Does she love to read? Yes! However, she is challenged to think and she isn't faced with 30 of the same problems over and over again. I want to throw in here that in the "bridges", each bridge for the section will have the same type of problems, yet they're written in different ways. Back to that *thinking* again! It's a wonderful program and we saw great results on dd's standardized tests this year. :) I look forward to giving the same books to my 9yo when she's ready and she doesn't enjoy reading one bit, however, I think this program is THAT good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wixsond Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 Do you use anything else w/ LOF or just LOF? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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