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Life of Fred Mathematics Curriculum

Life of Fred: Mathematics
Life of Fred: Mathematics - The Life of Fred books are engaging, entertaining, low cost and great for independent learning or self-study. Every book in the series teaches math through the power of story. In a way, Life of Fred is a blend of Young Adult fiction and progressive math work.

The series is written by Dr. Stanley Schmidt who is a retired math teacher and uses his creativity and passion to teach math in an engaging, entertaining fashion. All the books are structured around the adventures of Fred, a 5 or 6 year old boy, depending on the series, who teaches math at KITTENS University. That scenario alone testifies to the silliness of the stories. But make no mistake-- Dr Schmidt is very serious about weaving math concepts throughout the story. He is so proficient that students often don’t know they’re ‘learning’ math.

Through the fictitious life of Fred, students are learning real life applications as Dr. Schmidt subtly addresses the often heard questions, “Why am I doing math? and “When am I going to use this?”

Price Comparison

Life of Fred Series Complete 10 Book Set (Elementary)

The price quote listed on the picture above is from the complete 10 books set of Life of Fred. However, each book is available separately.

Life of Fred Review

Life of Fred is a very user friendly math curriculum. If your child struggles with math concepts or is bored by the dry textbooks that you’ve used, take a look at this series. Dr Schmidt’s style is to teach for the conceptual understanding rather than rote memorization of facts and formulas. It’s really designed for independent study allowing the student to go at whatever pace is comfortable or necessary. Each book in the series builds on concepts learned in previous books so it’s good to start at the beginning and work your way through all the texts. Your student can go from book one, Apples, all the way through high school. An added bonus is that LOF is not just a math curriculum. Because of the very nature of the ‘story’ form and the way that it is written, it inherently includes other subjects such as geography, history and science. This series can be a stand-alone math course or a wonderful supplement to a traditional text. Each of the chapters teaches a concept and ends with practice problems that should be completed before proceeding.

LoF Elementary Books

The ten elementary books are in alphabetical order by names, Apples through Jelly Beans, and are not based on grade or age, but are typically used with grades K-4.

These books include practice problems at the end of the chapter called "Your Turn to Play.” There are answers and explanations as well.

LoF Intermediate Series

The intermediate series includes the titles Kidneys, Liver, and Mineshaft, and are best used when your student already knows the basics of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. This series is typically used for 3rd-7th grade.LOF has the series, Intro to Algebra which includes Fractions, Decimals and Percents, typically used by 6th-12th graders.

LoF Pre Algebra

The LOF Pre Algebra series includes Pre-Algebra0 with Physics, Pre-Algebra 1 with Bioloby, and Pre-Algebra 2 with Economics. In this series, Fred focuses on helping students solve real life problems, using math and science, in an engaging fun way. This is applicable for 3rd-7th grade.

LoF High School Series

The life of Fred High School series helps students prepare for college by focusing on algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. At this level there is a practice book that shows how each problem is worked to help the learning process. Depending on the series, there are companion books or extra practice books available. As with any subject, you must take your own student’s learning style into consideration when choosing the best curriculum. Life of Fred is definitely a fun, unique way to approach the concepts of math. All the books are hardback and affordable, ranging in price from.

Since they are non consumable, they can be used for many students.

Also, when choosing curriculum, it is recommended to talk with others who have first- hand knowledge, read reviews, go to the website for more specifics and/or join in a Facebook page dedicated to sharing information about Life of Fred.

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