ma23peas Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 After the bulk of curricula to choose from, I finally just picked one...LOF...My son is just about to finish Saxon 8/7 so I got the Pre-Algebra and the Algebra from LOF...I love math and I want to teach it to my son, I don't want to rely on video programs that I don't want to sit and watch...I'd rather have a text that we can do together so that I can help guide/teach. I may switch to something different in Geometry but right now I'm looking forward to trying it...any comments you can share about your likes/dislikes of this program or even if you used it and chucked it...what do you use now? My son has always been distracted by colors/drawings (like Abeka math)....and he's an auditory learner...so I didn't want to bog him down with videos, and it seems this book is all black and white so that actually helps....I'll post a full review of the first book in about 3-4 months. Thanks!! Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1bassoon Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Tara - No help here, but our copies of LOF Fractions & Decimals/Percents just arrived Friday. My 16 yo spent a good part of the day reading them and laughing out loud! Overheard today from ds12 - "Mom, I can't wait until Monday! Then I can do Life of Fred!" I guess we can both report back in the next few months! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindyg Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 We just finished Fractions, and ds loved it all the way to the end. I forbade him to read ahead, though. He got one lesson's worth of the story a day until we finished it. It just about killed him to wait! But I knew if he finished the story, he would not be motivated to work out the math. He did find the math a bit difficult, but the story motivated him to persevere. We got stuck on on one problem, and we called Mr. Stan (the author). He was delightful to talk to, and explained the problem perfectly right off the bat. We don't use LOF exclusively, but I bet we do use it long term. (We'll begin Percentages Monday.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ma23peas Posted November 9, 2008 Author Share Posted November 9, 2008 Welcome Heather to the Cotton Court! :) Alabama is really changing with all the newbies moving in! :) I've spent half my life in Alabama (born here) and love it..hope you're growing to love it, too! I'd love to share this journey with you of LOF... Cindy, my question for you is if you think I should get his fractions/percentages...we've had a lot of those in Saxon 7/6 and 8/7..I just didn't see the need to get them...wondering if I should now and just breeze through them as a review...what's your take on it? Thanks! Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1bassoon Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Welcome Heather to the Cotton Court! :) Alabama is really changing with all the newbies moving in! :) I've spent half my life in Alabama (born here) and love it..hope you're growing to love it, too! I'd love to share this journey with you of LOF... Cindy, my question for you is if you think I should get his fractions/percentages...we've had a lot of those in Saxon 7/6 and 8/7..I just didn't see the need to get them...wondering if I should now and just breeze through them as a review...what's your take on it? Thanks! Tara Thanks Tara - I do love it here - but sadly, we're trying to move to where dh is working, in Chattanooga. :001_huh: Oh, well, at least it's still south! You couldn't PAY me to move back north again!! My ds just finished Singapore 6A/6B. I'm having him do the LOF fractions & decimals/percents, whipping through them by Christmas, hopefully. I wanted to check the format before I jumped in to Beginning Algebra, and he could use the review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindyg Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Cindy, my question for you is if you think I should get his fractions/percentages...we've had a lot of those in Saxon 7/6 and 8/7..I just didn't see the need to get them...wondering if I should now and just breeze through them as a review...what's your take on it? Well, I don't know where he is. My son started the fractions book in the 4th grade (finished it in the 5th). So Fractions was just right for us. We'll continue with the LOF series in order. But your son is older, so, I don't know that you need to go back. The main question is can he add, multiply, subtract, and divide fractions? Can he identify prime and composite numbers? Can he find least common denominators? Can he work with improper factions and mixed numbers? With LOF Fractions, you get a whole book of this. Then, you move on to LOF Decimals and Percents, where you spend a whole book on decimals and percentages. So, if he's comfortable with these, I'd go on. If not, I'd go back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea in TN Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 My 15 yo son NEVER understood math before he started LOF. He has now completed Beg. Alg and is doing geometry and ADv. Alg at the same time. He is able to completely do them himself. I check the "bridges" though. He has an "A" average. He just took the ACT and said there were a lot of questions covered in LOF. He felt LOF helped him. But we do not have the results yet :) My 7th grade son finished Saxon 8/7 and is now doing LOF fractions and Jacobs Algebra. He is really enjoying both - but so far after Saxon 8/7 they are both review LOL. He is my Mathy kid. LOF is really just for fun for him. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 I love math and I want to teach it to my son, I don't want to rely on video programs that I don't want to sit and watch...I'd rather have a text that we can do together so that I can help guide/teach. I may switch to something different in Geometry but right now I'm looking forward to trying it...any comments you can share about your likes/dislikes of this program or even if you used it and chucked it...what do you use now? We are 1/2 way through LoF Algebra and MUS Algebra. I find it interesting that you say that you want to guide/teach. I feel the same way. I have a degree in math and that's probably the last subject I'll outsource. We have used MUS since K, and I love it. I love the teaching aspect of it. Ds says it's easy. However, it is not as rigorous in the high school years as many other programs. Enter LoF. Ds does LoF on his own. I only check answers and help on problems he can't get. Ds likes it because it is humorous. I do hear him laughing while he's doing his lesson. The variety and depth of the problems is very, very good. However, I find it annoying. I like clear and concise, and sometimes I want him to SHUT UP and get to the point. When ds has a problem, I can't easily glance back at the section and find what I need to help him. I dislike that many of the answers follow right after the questions. (Way too tempting for my ds). I dislike that sometimes he teaches in the answers to problems. Since you state "I'd rather have a text that we can do together", perhaps you'll have a better experience than me because you'll be doing it together. My plan is to use Foerster's Algebra next year. Maybe with MUS Geometry or LoF Geometry or maybe we'll just go to Jacob's Geometry. Not 100% certain at this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valerie in MI Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 My son seems to enjoy LOF Beginning Algebra. He's about halfway through it. At first I was checking his work but now I don't even bother. I'm a bit behind him in reading the book and was curious as to what he was working on so I just was trying to read over his should the other day. I wasn't going to help him. He said, "Go Away Mom. I'm on automatic pilot. I don't need your help". So I guess maybe this is the end of my doing math along with him and checking everything like I did with Singapore 6 and below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkateLeft Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 My oldest is using LOF along with the Home Companion, and really enjoys it. The only downside for us is that the problems aren't always fully worked out. We're about halfway through beginning algebra, and although it generally isn't a problem because this is review for her, sometimes the expressions aren't provided for the word problems, just the answers. So when she gets stuck or needs help, I either need to sit down and figure out the full solution, or I need to have her wait until my husband gets home. I really wish there was a more complete solution manual available for LOF. I took a pretty rigorous course of mathematics in high school, but it's been a LONG time since I've done any of this stuff, and I've found that I've forgotten a lot. With the younger ones all needing my time as well, it's just not always practical for me to sit and work through the problems! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 We love LOF. We've used LOF fractions and now we're on to decimals and percentages. I also ordered their first "beginning algebra" with companion book and their Calculus book for my 13 and 16 yr olds who are in public school, because they wanted LOF books. I think they're a bit too simple sometimes, and he's still working out some incorrect answers. I had my daughter do the fractions book and wasn't careful enough to have a place for her to store all of her "math pages" but will have her store the next books more carefully. I also only have her do the first 1 or 2 bridges...and do one bridge on the whiteboard to make sure that she's understanding the processes. She does her times tables and divisions, but we still need to work on those for speed and accuracy. Overall, we love LOF and think it's a great book. I keep Saxon for explanations to some problems and wouldn't mind hearing of other math programs that people are using with their LOF:-) Carrie:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacqui in mo Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Chelsea, let us know the results of the ACT, please. We're doing LOF now too & I'd love to hear your results in this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 My 7th grade son is doing this, too. He is about 2/3 of the way done with LOF Alg (with home companion - which I highly recommend btw) and he checks his own work. He comes to me with questions, but that's about all I do with him (other than make sure he gets his work done). My 10th grader started with LOF Geometry, but we found that it wasn't a good fit for him. He is now using Jacob's Geometry and doing much better with it. I think too much of the explanation of the proofs was lost in the verbage of the LOF geometry text whereas the Jacob's text seems to be more 'to the point'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea in TN Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Chelsea, let us know the results of the ACT, please. We're doing LOF now too & I'd love to hear your results in this way. I will :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea in TN Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 Chelsea, let us know the results of the ACT, please. We're doing LOF now too & I'd love to hear your results in this way. Grade 10 - I am pretty happy - Considering where he is in math. So we now know where we need to work. I plan to start assigning some Dolchiani Alg II Problems / Jacobs Alg. / Jacobs Geometry on Monday. More of just stuff to supplement LOF. More "traditional" presentations. Unoffical Results - Comp. 21 Math - 16 (LOF Beg Alg., Finished Bridge math for Spectrum Chemistry prior to the test. Just beginning LOF Geometry and Adv alg when took the test, Before LOF Modge Podge of stuff MUS, Dolchiani, etc....) English -21 Reading - 26 Science - 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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