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LOF Elemetary has Arrived :-)


Guest Cheryl in SoCal
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Guest Cheryl in SoCal

We received our LOF Elementary books today. I haven't had a chance to look through them yet because my 16 year old LOF lover laid hold of them as soon as the package arrived :lol: I'll try to get a turn sometime today but was wondering if anybody else had received theirs.

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We received our LOF Elementary books today. I haven't had a chance to look through them yet because my 16 year old LOF lover laid hold of them as soon as the package arrived :lol: I'll try to get a turn sometime today but was wondering if anybody else had received theirs.

 

Not yet. I was just checking my email to see when I received the notice that they had shipped. That was only two days ago, so I suppose I have to wait a few more days before I start getting impatient. Lucky you though!

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Oh!! I drool on my keyboard every time I hear about this series. I bet my 1st and 2nd grader would love them.

 

But my homeschool budget is shot for the year.

 

 

Must...not...buy...more...books.....

 

 

 

 

How do they look? :bigear:

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No !

 

I am finally done with all my homeschool shopping and I broke the bank to get what all 4 of my kids needed this year.

 

Please don't say he put out more LOF books !

 

Are you saying these are for the younger set ? What age/grade range ?

 

I will be checking the sofa to find nickles, dimes, pennies and quarters to make the purchase.

 

We just LOVE LOF here !!

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OK Tell your 16 year old that there is going to be a homeschool mom of 4 children who is going to die of impatience if you are not able to review the books for us soon!!! Your 16 year old does not want to be responsible for that does he? (she??) :D

 

 

Please!!

 

 

 

 

Pretty Please!!!

 

 

 

With sugar on top!!!

 

 

 

 

:001_huh: I am begging. Are you happy? See what you reduced me to?? :lol:

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I'm considering buying these for my 6 yro (who loves math). Let us know what you think of them.

 

Also, if anyone can answer this...how many books a year is his elementary series going to have?? I'm so confused. Are the first four books addition and subtraction?

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal

I'm sorry, I haven't had time to look through them yet (we are still doing school). I had no idea that I'd be the only one who received them yesterday or I wouldn't have posted. I figured others would have received theirs today too and was interested in what they thought. I didn't mean to tease:sad:

 

My ds liked them but he didn't really give me a critique on the math content; I'll have to find that out myself.

 

Also, if anyone can answer this...how many books a year is his elementary series going to have?? I'm so confused. Are the first four books addition and subtraction?

 

I think I saw somewhere (either his website or an email) that there will be 12 and that they will be released in 3 groups of 4. I do know that on his website it details what's in these 4 and think it gives a general idea what will be in the next.

 

We are using Funtastic Frogs and Family Math so far this year. Are the elem books meant to be stand alone?

That I don't know and haven't looked into because I was already planning to use them with MUS as I do my older children. I would email the author about that.

Edited by Cheryl in SoCal
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We're on day 3 with LOF apples.

Happy to report that the dc and teacher are happy with them.

DS13 seized them upon arrival and read most of the way through Apples.

DS6 Begged to start, so we did 1 lesson the first day.

The second day he had been sick (to stomach) but woke up long enough the find the book, bring it to me and beg to do 2 lessons.

DS8 is also enjoying the lessons.

DS4 listens in on the lesson and is also enjoying the Fred parts, even when he can't quite keep up with all the math.

 

Definitely a great supplement for the MUS we're using for the little kids.

Anything that I can do to encourage the LOVE of math is worth every penny.

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
Can somebody tell me what the grade levels are for these books? Like, is apples 1st grade, butterflies 2nd, cats 3rd and dogs 4th...?

 

I don't know (I'm not sure he has assigned grade levels) but since there will be 12 I'm pretty sure it's not 1 book per grade.

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Can somebody tell me what the grade levels are for these books? Like, is apples 1st grade, butterflies 2nd, cats 3rd and dogs 4th...?

 

Nance, they are ungraded, but it's probably not divvied up that way ( mine are en route).

 

This is the first of four planned elementary sets. My impression from the email sent by the author to others posted here in other threads is that these are all appropriate for the early elem age range?

 

Hopefully somebody with book in hand can post?

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
Can somebody tell me what the grade levels are for these books? Like, is apples 1st grade, butterflies 2nd, cats 3rd and dogs 4th...?

I just read on his website that he imagines the entire elementary series being read by (or to) children in grades K-4. I thought I read that there were going to be 3 sets of 4 books but somebody else mentioned 16. Now I can't find a definite number anywhere, LOL.

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
Does Apples start with number recognition?:)

No, they definitely have to be able to recognize numbers. I'm not sure what else they need to know and can't find it on the website so I think an email to the author is in order.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I started LoF Apples with DS nearly 8/ working through Singapore 2B with ease.

 

Yes, the initial concepts were in part easy for him (2+5=7) but we had a ball with it anyway.

 

It is definitely intended to be lap-read and not independent. I actually gathered 7 pencils before we started, and when Fred and his doll were playing with the pencils, so did we.

 

I loved that he moved from

5 butterflies plus 2 butterflies is 7 butterflies

to

5 trees + 2 trees = 7 trees

to

5x + 2x = 7x

 

Can you imagine getting to an algebraic expression that easily in your first math book? He makes 7 lots of different ways by rearranging his pencils, not just 5+2, and I notice that in the first book, he artfully uses the 7 fact families to illustrate concepts throughout the book.

 

From what I have read through in Apples and Butterflies, this is going to be an interesting, fun, well-thought-out set if the rest are this well-planned and organized, and a fun supplement for us to Singapore.

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I'm going to be ordering these for my dd.

 

I had e-mailed Mr. Schmidt with a few questions last month. Here was his reply (I had posted this on another LOF Elementary discussion...but I'll post again in case it's helpful to anyone):

 

In the wonderful world of homeschooling, we are free from having our kids go lockstep through the grades like is done in the government schools.

They can proceed at whatever rate is meet, right and salutary. The Life of Fred: Fractions book is for those who have their addition and multiplication tables down cold. That's about the fifth grade.

As I write the elementary series, I'm imagining my readers somewhere in the K-4th grade group. Each child is different. Some are ready at kindergarten and some at 4th grade. (And some adults can add, even with years of government schooling!)

These early books may be read together. Smaller one gets to sit on the lap of the bigger one.

Starting with the Life of Fred: Fractions book, we are looking for the student to read the material on his/her own.

When they get to Life of Fred: Linear Algebra (which follows calculus) whose lap is bigger may have changed.

I'm writing each morning (7x/week) starting at 4 a.m. and will try to keep ahead of your child. (. . . and you. There will be material in these "elementary" books that I would bet that you don't know also.)

The books may be read with benefit and delight more than once. The first reading will take about a month apiece. I hope to have the full elementary series available by Easter.

 

With my best wishes,

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I just started LOF Apples today with my 8 yo dd (I had read the first three books last week, and knew she would love them). I think we went through Chapter 10 (!) including doing the Your Time to Play before I had to hide the book so we could go to piano lessons. At times she was roaring with laughter. The material in Apples is so far very easy for her, but there are lots of interesting tidbits and it is definitely a big hit. I'm not sure I'll be able to stick to the chapter/day or book per month at this rate.

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How exciting! My 9-year-old has been begging for her own LOF book since we discovered them back in January and started using them for the older kids, but now I'm flumuxed because she just started on MM last March as did my 6-year-old. I don't really want to have 2 math books going at once.

 

For those of you who have already gotten your mitts on these, would you consider using them as stand-alone math books?

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I thought LOF was only for the middle school age group and up. Are these new? Wha age is the fractions books geared for? I have an almost 9 year old who hates math, but seems to enjoy living math books

 

 

Fractions is for any time after the student is comfortable with long division. Decimals and Percents follows fractions, then the two pre-algebra books.

 

My son started fractions at age 10 and was fine, but everyone will be different.

 

The new series people are chatting about here is brand-new; all the books aren't out yet. The plan is for four sets of four books, for the K-4 range. Unlike Fractions and up, the elementary series is not independent. I have only previewed two books, and the final 12 have not yet been written, so it is too early to say if they could stand alone or not, but so far, again, unlike Fractions and up, I say the elementary series is a supplement-- not just to math, but to your entire curriculum.

 

Hope that helps!

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I thought LOF was only for the middle school age group and up. Are these new? Wha age is the fractions books geared for? I have an almost 9 year old who hates math, but seems to enjoy living math books

 

Hi Candace

Fractions would be good for a 5th grader who has mastered addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

 

Andrea

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