How do you use Life of Fred?

[Mom28kds]

I've seen alot of threads talk about supplementing with Life of Fred. How do you do this? I'm switching over curriculum next year to CLE from Abeka for my next year 3rd and 4th grader. I'm also bringing home my next year 5th grader from PS who struggles in Math. I think LOF could be fun for them. How do you use it and what levels should I be doing?

[luuknam]

I just started 4yo on Apples. One chapter at a time and then the end of chapter questions. Too soon to say much more about it. We have been doing and will continue to do math apps on my phone, playing with cm cubes/hundred charts, adding up while playing dominoes, etc.

 

I did some of Apples, Butterflies and Cats with my now 7.5yo last spring/summer, I think. He's in public school or I would have done more. It was a way to sneak more story into him. He loves math and is great at it.

 

I've been lending my books to a friend in homeschool swim&gym. Her youngest is 11 and struggling a little with math, and I suggested Life of Fred, but also told her she should not spend money on the first books, since they're at a 1st grade level or so. But that her kids might enjoy LoF and that reading them from Apples on might help fill in any gaps. So, they've been reading my books, starting at Apples. She said she ordered Kidneys and up for them, which turns out great, since I have Apples-Jellybean. And now I have first dibs on used Kidneys etc. :)

 

ETA: you can find the author's advice on where to start on the author's website.

[sweetstitches]

We do 2-3 chapters a morning together as part of our morning center time. We'll slow it down once we catch up a bit. They are in 3&5 so this is pretty easy for now.

[Coco_Clark]

We've gone through Apples-Dogs.

 

We do a chapter or sometimes two on Fridays along with some fact drill and maybe a math game or project. It's our more relaxed day for nature study, following rabbit trails, and ect.

[Tanikit]

We used LOF daily from Apples to Honey and then in Ice Cream slowed some doing it once or twice a week. Now in Jelly Beans we have slowed down further and do it as a break when we finish a section in Singapore. I suspect however that we will speed up again soon - she was struggling with the concept of prime numbers, and needed some time. We were also covering fractions in some detail in Singapore at the same time and it was just too much at once - so I make things work for us as and when needed.

[Five More Minutes]

We use it when we feel like adding in something different. For a while, Fridays were "Fred Days" when they used LoF instead of their usual books. This year my one dd tends to pick up a book and work through it in a chunk of time; my other one dabbles in it more regularly. They also typically work through a few LoF books in the summer.

 

My only "rule" is that they have to do the questions before they move on to the next chapter.

 

You might want to try borrowing a couple before purchasing. What some of us find fun and quirky can be annoying for others. Even though Fred has been awesome here, it's offbeat and I don't think it will work for everyone.

[luuknam]

You might want to try borrowing a couple before purchasing. What some of us find fun and quirky can be annoying for others. Even though Fred has been awesome here, it's offbeat and I don't think it will work for everyone.

 

You can find a sample chapter for each of the books online, I think on ztwist? For a kid entering 3rd grade next year, I think I'd suggest starting with Apples (and I'd probably add it now, not next year), just because it's fun and not too many books behind. But if you can find someone to borrow Apples-Dogs or so from, that would of course be even better, budget-wise. On the bright side, last time I checked they kept a pretty decent resale value.

[Laura Corin]

We used Fractions, Decimals and Percentages as a review when I felt that the topics hadn't really sunk in.  They worked fine like that - We just went through the two LOF books between the other texts that we were using.

[Guest MamatoDDEE]

We read a chapter every night at bedtime and answer the questions orally. My son will be in 1st this coming year and we've gone through apples and butterflies twice. It has been our sole math, but I will probably use Right Start or Singapore next year and go through Cats and Dogs at night.

[Stellalarella]

We do LOF for fun on Fridays.  (sometimes :))

 

[texasmama]

With my boys, I used LOF Fractions, Decimals and Percents as a review and to cement the concepts.

 

A few months ago, I picked up a cheap LOF Honey at a used book store and handed it to little dd, and she was hooked! She loves Fred like the boys never did. She begs to do an extra chapter of Fred at night before bed. She wants to do LOF before her SM book (currently working through 3B). She does both LOF and SM four days a week most weeks. She sometimes does Fred on the weekends. I do require her to at least attempt the questions, and they become a teaching tool. Fred and SM are not aligned, and Fred covers some very out of the box topics for a kid this age, so I do have to do some teaching on them. I just bought the intermediate set, and she is on Kidneys. I have Fractions, Decimals and Percents on my shelf from my boys so we are covered in Fred for a while. :)

 

Essentially, my dd is doing two math curricula by choice. I don't consider LOF a stand along program, but I love how she is now happy about math. SM alone frustrated her. With Fred alone for the ride, SM is doable.

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

I use Fred on days when I need a break from teaching, say as independent work when I run to the store. I also let him do a lesson after a math test. To be perfectly honest, he started reading multiple lessons a day in his free time, and since most of them were easy for him in the beginning, I let him. We have all the elementary books, and I will have him go through the set again as Ice Cream and Jelly Beans had some challenges for him. He is still working on his facts, so I also plan to Have him earn the Intermediate books as a reward for learning all of his addition/subtraction, multiplication and division facts.

[3rugrats]

I have to keep my kids from reading Fred, otherwise we would be reading every day and then have no Fred left for a long time. They aren't cheap when you read them that fast!

I don't have a specific day when we read, but I'd say a week or so doesn't go by before they bring it up. I never have to. I have been amazed by how much my kids like it (6 and 7yos). I find the comments the author inserts occasionally a little strange, but foe something my kids love so much, I just keep getting them. I think we've averaged about 2.5 to 3 books a year.  

[luuknam]

I find the comments the author inserts occasionally a little strange

 

That reminds me, the books do have the occasional religious comment, like naming a set with 12 elements, one of the sample answers is the disciples, or Fred praying when he's scared or something (but without writing out the prayer). It's pretty minimal, to a point where I don't mind it (hey, I survived christian elementary school and Sunday school and still became an agnostic/atheist), but I thought I'd point it out in case there are people who think any trace of religion is too much. I also think in most instances the religion is easy to skip when reading out loud.

[Cottonwood]

This is DS12's first year homeschooling.  Last year he was in 6th grade and they did pre-A.  This year, as he adjusted to homeschooling, his math needing shoring up as well.  So we are going pretty quickly through Saxon Alg 1/2 to try to close any gaps.  I feel he is ALMOST ready for Alg 1 but not yet.  So I ordered LOF Beginning Alg for him as a 'bridge' to start getting into the Alg 1 work.  I just plan it where it seems to fit.  He may do Saxon for a few days then he does a couple LOF days.  He loves it b/c LOF seems to take him less time but when I check it, he's done a fair bit of work, so he feels more accomplished.  Saxon is a lot of work too, but it's rote and much dryer.  With LOF, he feels like he's done less (b/c he enjoys it more) yet I consider it enough math to make me happy.  Once he finishes Saxon's Alg 1/2, I'll go ahead and pu thim in Saxon Alg 1 and he can use LOF on days where he has a hard time concentrating and needs a break.  He considers LOF a break. lol

[Guest tainzhiuma]

They worked fine like that - We just went through the two LOF books between the other texts that we were using.

[kchrrs]

This is my sixth grade son's first year homeschooling as well. I brought him home because he was falling behind in math. We tried a sample of Fred and he liked it and wanted to get the story from the beginning so we bought Apples to Decimals. For Apples - Farming he did 3 chapters a day because each only took about 5 minutes. Goldfish - Mineshaft is 2 chapters a day because they take about 10 minutes each. Once he hits Fractions I'll slow him to 1 chapter a day for the remaining books. He is currently on Mineshaft. We use Fred as a fun supplement to Math Mammoth. My son is enjoying being caught up on math and really understanding what he is doing. He was becoming so frustrated at school. I think Fred is adding to his enjoyment.

[Momto6inIN]

My 7th grader has been using it this year to help him recover from the trauma of using MM and Saxon last year (said tongue mostly in cheek ;) and to give his brain some time to mature to be ready for full on Algebra.  He did Fractions, Decimals & Percents, and Pre-Algebra with Biology.  Fred has served his purpose for us as my DS no longer says he hates math and says he's ready to start Video Text.

 

I plan to have my next year's 6th grader (who does *not* see MM as torture) finish up on some MM topics and then use the Fractions and Decimals & Percents book to reinforce those concepts before doing MM7 the following year.

[AngelBee]

Following

[LisaKinVA]

Mostly, I use it as a gentle review/warm-up.  So, in my regular curriculum (say, Math Mammoth for 11yo DS), he'll do a lesson in Fred Fractions first, followed by his Math Mammoth lesson.  Younger daughter will use a lesson in the morning (she's in CLE 4/Math Mammoth 4)

[3rugrats]

We use it whenever my kids ask for it, which is very regularly, so I don't need to worry about reminding them. They love it. We go through about 2.5 books a year and would do more if I bought them when we finished one. 

 

We use it for fun, but our main curriculum is Miquon. 

[arliemaria]

We read a chapter every night at bedtime and answer the questions orally. My son will be in 1st this coming year and we've gone through apples and butterflies twice. It has been our sole math, but I will probably use Right Start or Singapore next year and go through Cats and Dogs at night.

 

Can I ask why you felt it necessary to repeat the books?  What benefit you gained?  Is it because you had him answer orally and not written?  My son will be in first next year and I feel he could handle Apples now, but my husband wants me to wait to begin in September.  

[Tanikit]

At LOF Ice Cream I sent my DD back to read LOF Apples by herself as I had been reading the text to her up til then. She thought it was very amusing and that the Math was really easy even though she had done LOF Apples just a year earlier. I had expected her to write everything from the beginning, but in the rereads she could do it all orally. She only re-read Apples and Butterflies before we moved on to Jelly Beans.

[luuknam]

Can I ask why you felt it necessary to repeat the books?  What benefit you gained?  Is it because you had him answer orally and not written?  My son will be in first next year and I feel he could handle Apples now, but my husband wants me to wait to begin in September.  

 

The author actually recommends rereading them (every 4 books or so, iirc - so reread after reading Apples-Dogs). They're stories, and kids like to hear their favorite books multiple times. Kids learn by repetition. If you do the books at one chapter a day or so, you'll go through them too fast for a young child (the books have about 18 chapters, so if you don't reread them you might go through too many books too quickly and get too far ahead in math for the average kid). I'm still working through Apples with my 4yo, so not to the point of rereading it yet. Not sure if we will or won't.

 

ETA: by "too fast for a young child" I mean for kids more or less in the normal age range for the books, as opposed to for example the 11 and 12yo kids of a friend of mine reading through Apples-Jelly Beans just for fun and to do a quick review of math.

[LindaOz]

I am going through LOF Fractions with my 10 and 12yo. I read it aloud and they do the questions. We then discuss and compare answers.  They are doing another math program as well, but on the days we start with LOF I allow them to do less other math work.  It's going great and they are enjoying it.  My 10yo has also commented how much he enjoys it and how he likes the way the concepts are explained.

[AngelBee]

Following

[IsabelC]

I use it as one of the ways we do some math when the kids need a break from their main math curriculum (currently all on MM). We do math every day of the year, so sometimes they just get sick of lessons and want to do something different. The something different could be LoF, or other math books, or something else like Moebius Noodles activities.

I am rather over LoF at the moment though. It irritates me because the concept of narrative math is so wonderful, but it's executed so poorly. I wish somebody else would steal the idea and write a secular, global, apolitical and pedagogically sound version, preferably with a female protagonist. But my kids like to have it as a change, so we do it.