Life of Fred Elementary series. Where to begin for older dc?

[1pageatatime]

For a struggling 5th grader, who has basic math facts down, which book should I buy first?

 

TIA

[stephg]

I would like to know as well. I was thinking of purchasing some for my rising 5th grader for this summer.

[rieshy]

I only have the first two books, I've finished the first and almost the second reading aloud to my first grader this year. He loves them and they count as "fun" for us, he doesn't consider them his school work.

 

I would say that the answer depends. If your son likes the humor in the books and likes to be read to, then start at the beginning. He won't have to "do" the problems at the end of each chapter because they will be too easy, but the stories and characters build on each other and a lot of odd facts are thrown in. We just read about Aleph-Null. I had never heard of the concept, so I bet the average 5th grader will glean some info even from the early volumes. You could read through quickly until you got to a level in which your son actually has to work to answer the questions and then you could slow down.

[Garga]

I recently got LoF for my sons. My ds10 is in Fractions and ds8 started at the beginning, but I have my ds10 read ds8's books as well as his own. My ds10 loves to read the below-his-level books, just because they're so much fun to read.

 

I agree with the above poster about starting at the beginning, or at the very least well before what you son's level might be. Think of them as reading books at first, if you can't justify spending all that money on sometng so far below his level.

[Tenaj]

I started my DS11 in Goldfish this year . .. he's not a mathy kid and it was a good fit (he's also just now finishing up CLE Math 4). We only do LOF on Friday's and he has worked his way through Goldfish and about half of Honey this year. I have Ice Cream on the shelf for the summer.

 

My ds9 who is doing R&S Grade 5 math this year is doing the Fraction book and I'd say that's been a good fit for him. It was just the right amount of challenge for him, also.

[acsnmama]

I'm not sure, but we love LOF! My son is doing 2nd grade math, and we started with the first book, I purchased the first 10 books. They are keepers. The first book so far has been super easy for him, but really fun, so he doesn't mind one bit!

 

I hope your child loves them too!

[Dolphin]

I started my 4th grader on apples. He loves them. We are cruising fast through them at a chapter a day M-F. He did the math right from the beginning. The nice thing about this is, he thinks it is easy. It was way to easy for him and the start, and he just things of Fred as easy. He is on H right now and should be starting Fractions at this rate before the school year is done. (He is now in 5th).

 

I would start with apples and let him build his confidence up.

[LMD]

I ended up getting Apples just to see what the fuss was about. Now I see what all the fuss is about! Impressive. Both of my olders love it - in fact I've caught my DD (3rd) sneaking the book off into her room to finish it even though it is well below her math ability level...