Dolphin Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 DS started LOF today as a supplement for his TT. He is doing better with Math, but I am finding that going over basics in different ways is helping. He took 5 hours today to do his independent work (Normally it takes him about 2 hours) I am pulling my hair out trying to figure out why his head is SO in the clouds. I even bribed him with snap circuits! He read the entire Life of Fred Apples today. The whole thing. He LOVES Fred:lol: So, I told him new rule, Fred is last after everything else is done. Also, no moving on unless he has written out the Math. I told him I would order the next book when he was 2/3rds through the Math. His one hour of free reading time that he has before bed tonight, he comes out and asks me if he can do Math instead.:glare: My son is strange. Oh, how I wish I had found Fred earlier. Any of you with kids who are stronger in reading and struggling with math...Give Fred a try:auto: Nicole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandymom Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Any of you with kids who are stronger in reading and struggling with math...Give Fred a try:auto: My dd5 is very mathy and HE loves Fred too! He always wants to read more and more, but I have to say no because I don't want to get through all the books before he gets into 1st grade! :D My oldest struggles in math a bit too. He's good at it, but his ADHD makes it harder to look at a page full of numbers without zoning out. Fred has been VERY effective for him too, since he LOVES reading. It just brings it all together for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 :lol: We love Fred too! Read the whole of Apples during the holidays and have gone ahead and ordered Butterflies. FAntabulous! another series to be hooked on. Watching the mail daily for B'flies to get here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chepyl Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 My son begs to read more. I limit it to three chapters a week, usually all on Friday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindyg Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Love Fred at our house too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaffodilDreams Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Fred fans over here, too. Fred has helped my reluctant reader enjoy reading. She loves math, but normally hates reading. She happily reads Fred, though. I could kiss Stanley Schmidt for making that happen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 My DD loves Fred, too-it's very strange to have to say "No, you need to put away your math book and go to bed!". Luckily, it's taking her a little longer to actually go through and DO the math. Which reminds me...I need to order Decimals and Percents. And maybe Pre-algebra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Okay, so as a new member of the Fred fan club. When should I start Apples with dd4? She will be 5 in April. Also, what Fred level should a child be in who is doing TT4? I just can not believe how quickly Fred became a success. He out did AAS. Pretty close though. In one lesson spelling went from ds's least favorite to favorite subject. What else am I missing, that my child will be so blown away by that quickly. Anything small, fun, not to expensive, supplemental, that will just add to the "I am happy I am a homeschooled kid" bucket? He is 9, so occasionally I see him glancing at the school across the street during recess. For the most part he still enjoys the fact that he is in his pj's eating a hot breakfast while they are all dressed and trudging in the cold into the school building. I like to stack my deck:lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grover Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 DS loves Fred too. He got E - H for Christmas :lol: I've let him go ahead and read them by himself as fast as he likes but we're also reading them together and he has to write down the math for each one as we read them together (reading and math covered in one go... woo!) Together we're about half way through butterflies. I started him on Apples even though it's a long way below his math level - I figured it's good practice in how to present things in a maths book as we work our way through the series. Fractions and Decimals are sitting here but he's not allowed them until he has finished through to H - I'm hoping that'll last us this year :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2boys030507 Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 My boys also love Fred. He is reserved for Fridays. My older two read and do the problem for about 45 min. My little, I read one chapter and work through the problems with him. He is still learning the concepts so we are going really slow. My olders, they know the topics but it is great review and lots of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoo_keeper Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Okay, so as a new member of the Fred fan club. When should I start Apples with dd4? She will be 5 in April. Also, what Fred level should a child be in who is doing TT4? We started "Apples" when my eldest and middle daughters were 6 and 4, respectfully. I think they were on SM2A and SM1A at the time, too. While the math starts out easy it does increase. We're on "Edgewood" right now and I think the math might be about SM1B-level. But besides their math level, if you're using Fred for fun reading you'll need to ascertain your child's reading capability. For example, while we do Fred as a read aloud, the girls read them on their own for fun after we've completed the book. And Fred's not just dual-purpose (i.e., not just for math and reading), Stan inserts lots of little science and history tidbits as well! I love Fred! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in SW WA Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 My DD loves Fred, too-it's very strange to have to say "No, you need to put away your math book and go to bed!". Sounds like our house. All three of our Fred books are sitting on dd's nightstand. She loves these books and refers to Fred at the oddest times (which have nothing to do with math). :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Sounds like our house. All three of our Fred books are sitting on dd's nightstand. She loves these books and refers to Fred at the oddest times (which have nothing to do with math). :) All day today, I keep hearing about Fred. He LOVES that Fred's doll can draw better than Fred. I only read the first 2 chapters as prep. I had NO IDEA that he was going to read the whole book. :lol::lol: We were at gymnastics today (where the parents already look at me oddly as ds likes to bring Latin to work on at Gymnastics). He kept walking over to me to tell me something else about Fred. I was reading my kindle and said "Will you please stop interrupting my reading with stories about your math book and get back to your Latin!":D Yep, we are the strange family (oh, gymnastics is in the morning when my 9 year old ds SHOULD be in school):tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyinMD Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 My 7 yo son loves Fred. We've done the first 2 books. I do have to limit him or we'd be through all 8 in a couple months. My ds has a knack for math. He's told me a few times he was thinking about some of the math problems from the Fred books in bed at night. He also insists on labeling ovals as ellipses now. None of my girls like the Fred books at all. I've tried with my 3 older girls and wound up dropping with all of them. My 7 yo dd isn't at all interested in reading them with her twin brother. They don't do math together because ds is so far ahead of her anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 We love Fred here too. DD9 and I are just starting Cats. The computational parts of math are really easy, and well below her level, but there is a lot of great conceptual math stuff that is new to both of us - we were so jazzed learning about infinite sets and aleph-null (yep, in Butterflies). It makes math fun, and playful, which was sooooo important for her recovery from ps math. She begs and begs for more LOF every time we pull it out. I, too, use it as bribery (do an extra page of MM and we'll do Fred!) and try to limit chapters per day to 3 or 4. I'm planning to get through the elementary series with her this year, and to have her do Fractions & Decimals on her own next year. I've started Apples with DD5, and she likes it too, but not with the obsessive passion of her older sister. I'm thinking it might almost be too soon . . . she loves math, and likes to do math problems, but she's not quite ready to embrace the abstract and playful, and she thinks Fred is kind of weird . . . I've been thinking of putting it on the shelf for a few months and coming back to it. Nothing to do with the level of math, but more the abstract, random, conceptual nature of the storyline. She's more concrete just now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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