Life of Fred and Singapore Math.....

[chepyl]

I have noticed that many people do LoF with another math program. I just looked at the LoF website and I am intrigued by the program. Does anyone use it with SM? How do you make it work? I think DS would like the story aspect, but I am not sure.

 

I don't plan to drop SM, but has anyone used LoF alone? What about as a fun summer program? And finally, how many lessons are in each book?

[NittanyJen]

My older DS uses it as his primary program; he used the parts of MM that he needed to fill gaps from his PS education, but not to duplicate anything he has been learning from Fred (so far, Fractions, and Decimals and Percents, both complete). He has also used Khan Academy just to "look ahead" and play with new topics that he hasn't encountered yet. But for the topics he has covered in Fred, LoF has stood on its own and been solid for both mastery and understanding. It will NOT be that for all kids; but for the right kind of kid, it's awesome :).

 

He is rock solid on the areas covered in both books now, and looking ahead (I have all of the books now, except for Geometry, Calculus, and the books after Calc) I am very, very impressed by the content and presentation of the books (there was an errata page posted here recently for the Algebra I book). It's fine as a standalone program, but many do use it as a supplement.

 

We do one chapter per day, then I "plan" on two days per bridge-- if he passes a bridge (or later, City) right off, then he gets a day off; or he has another day to go back, reread and re-study and try again if he needs to. Obviously if something needs more time/more work, then we adjust. Different books have different numbers of chapters/lessons, though Fractions and Decimals and Percents were about 33 chapters each. The Pre-Algebra books (there are two) I believe may already vary that pattern; I don't recall off the top of my head. Each book does what it needs to to cover the topic, rather than just following a formula.

 

My younger son, 8, is using Singapore, and we love Singapore, too. However, rather than NEM, I am watching closely how his reading issues progress, to see if he might also be a candidate for LoF when he gets far enough along (right now he's starting 3A, so we have a while to go yet). DS8 is using both MM and Singapore (usually 1 section of Singapore Txt + Workbook + IP book, then 1 page of MM 4 days / week, then about 4 pages of MM one day per week). If he moves into Fred, we'll drop the MM since he won't have the gaps in his education that DS had, having been pulled from PS earlier.

 

If my younger one were to keep going with Singapore + Fred for some reason (say, we just couldn't bear to give up Singapore) I would not bother trying to match up the topics and treat them as two separate topics. The flow of Fred doesn't do well to jumping around; not only is it a storyline, but the mathematics in it is very much deliberately designed to build on itself, and reinforcement of prior lessons is also very built in, and jumping around would make it utterly incoherent. I think I would just run both programs concurrently without modifying my approach to either.

 

You could certainly try Fred as a fun summer program if you wish-- I just wish you luck in prying it out of your kids' hands at the end of summer if they find out there are more books :). We are taking a 4-week 'break' before starting Pre-Algebra with Biology to do some probability, and it's killing my son to not know what happens to Fred next :). He also cannot wait to start Pre-Algebra, even if he knows it's not a "real" subject :). That is the joy of Fred-- it is a standalone program, but it can also be used in just about any way you wish. If you just treat it as "fun" you of course should not expect to get as much out of it; it is designed to get the math out by putting a lot of hard work in! But it will be enjoyable anyway, and perhaps spark an interest in math that will have your child working the problems in spite of himself because . . . how can they not? :D

[chepyl]

Thanks! That helps a lot! We might give it a try for the summer. See what he thinks. I don't want to gice up SM because he does so we with it. But he is not enjoying math like he did last year.

[zoo_keeper]

OP, you need to be more specific. I believe the PP is using the original LoF series geared towards older children. This series, from what I've read, could be a stand-alone program. However, based on the ages of the children in your siggie, I'm betting your referring to the LoF elementary series that was just (partially) released. This series is most definitely supplemental.

 

Regarding the elementary series, we've finished the first 2 books and we're anxiously awaiting the third. While the LoF elementary books are great bedtime reading, they couldn't function as the primary math program. For that, we use SM wb/tb/CWP/IP.

[Jay3fer]

Imo, LOF (the elementary series, see previous post for clarification questions) would work with any curriculum. It's very light, with lots of preamble even if you haven't covered something formally yet. However, check the other threads on here for the controversy (or not) over the "Dogs" book.

[Trez]

We use SM here as our primary math instruction and we incorporate Life of Fred Fridays. My boys are grade 5 and 8. We don't try to match things up. The ds5 is doing LOF fractions and ds8 is almost finished pre-alg/economics. They love LOF and have learned all kinds of interesting facts (not only about mathematics). In the summer we drop Singapore and they continue with LOF.

[Crimson Wife]

For us, LOF falls into the "supplemental" category as do the Danica McKellar books. DD has definitely learned things from them, but they don't replace Singapore.

[EKS]

I would absolutely not use Fred alone (at least not for the books we've used which are Fractions, Decimals, and the two Prealgebras). But it does make for a fun, interesting, and occasionally thought provoking review.

[Shelly in the Country]

My eldest completed LoF Fractions, Decimal and Percents, and both Pre-Algebra books concurrently with Singapore. I think we began them when she was in 4A/4B or 5A/5B. She did the Pre-Algebra books last year while working through 6A/6B. My dd enjoyed the story and likes math, so she didn't mind the extra work. She usually did one lesson from the Fred books each day after her normal math assignment. I didn't schedule it. She just worked through them on her own as an optional assignment. She would sometimes skip Fred if her Singapore assignment was especially long.

[NittanyJen]

OP, you need to be more specific. I believe the PP is using the original LoF series geared towards older children. This series, from what I've read, could be a stand-alone program. However, based on the ages of the children in your siggie, I'm betting your referring to the LoF elementary series that was just (partially) released. This series is most definitely supplemental.

 

Regarding the elementary series, we've finished the first 2 books and we're anxiously awaiting the third. While the LoF elementary books are great bedtime reading, they couldn't function as the primary math program. For that, we use SM wb/tb/CWP/IP.

 

I would agree with that statement; although I have a few posts up about how to extend the lessons in the elementary series beyond light reading, I would not use the ABCD books as a standalone. My bad for not looking at the ages in the sig. line.

[Moniksca]

We use SM here as our primary math instruction and we incorporate Life of Fred Fridays. My boys are grade 5 and 8. We don't try to match things up. The ds5 is doing LOF fractions and ds8 is almost finished pre-alg/economics. They love LOF and have learned all kinds of interesting facts (not only about mathematics). In the summer we drop Singapore and they continue with LOF.

:iagree:

We do LOF Fridays as well. My ds just started fractions. It's a nice break from our regular math.

[chepyl]

OP, you need to be more specific. I believe the PP is using the original LoF series geared towards older children. This series, from what I've read, could be a stand-alone program. However, based on the ages of the children in your siggie, I'm betting your referring to the LoF elementary series that was just (partially) released. This series is most definitely supplemental.

 

Regarding the elementary series, we've finished the first 2 books and we're anxiously awaiting the third. While the LoF elementary books are great bedtime reading, they couldn't function as the primary math program. For that, we use SM wb/tb/CWP/IP.

 

I list the kids ages in my signature so I don't always have to list them in every post.

 

I said I did not plan to drop SM. I wanted more info on the program because I don't want two full math curricula. I want a fun supplement. Knowing that the elementary books are supplemental in nature helps. That is not the impression I got from the LoF website. It made it seem that the full program could be stand alone.

 

I would absolutely not use Fred alone (at least not for the books we've used which are Fractions, Decimals, and the two Prealgebras). But it does make for a fun, interesting, and occasionally thought provoking review.

 

That's what I wanted to know. I am looking for supplement without busy work.

 

I would agree with that statement; although I have a few posts up about how to extend the lessons in the elementary series beyond light reading, I would not use the ABCD books as a standalone. My bad for not looking at the ages in the sig. line.[/quote

 

Thank you all for your input. I ordered Apples and we will try it as some bedtime reading and activities. If it goes well, we will order the next one. I like the idea of real life applications for the concepts he knows.