Life of Fred Math Products

Karla C's review
FAQs on the author's site

Overview

Name of Product: Life of Fred Series
Author: Stanley F. Schmidt, Ph. D.
Place in curriculum: New supplementary math curriculum
Date Made Available to Customers: May 2015
Some of our thinking: The series is fun and such a pleasure to read. The Life of Fred series makes learning math fun by giving real-world examples that Fred encounters. Use this book over and over with multiple children. All answers are written on separate paper or in a notebook.
Some things we liked…

  • Humorous stories
  • Good variety of problems
  • Good depth of problems (challenging)
  • Doesn’t feel like a math textbook

The elementary series is well received by many users. It is a strong series. Outside of MathTacular and Singapore Math we don’t have much to offer to elementary students for extensive math practice. Singapore doesn’t have much drill built in. Life of Fred does have problems for the students to work as you go along, where MathTacular doesn’t (with the exception of #4). The elementary series could be a good option for special needs students. This series covers 19 lessons and is designed to take approximately one month to complete.

This past year we had to drop the Keys to books. Fractions and Decimals and Percents were added to the line-up offering as a replacement option. These books cover about 35 lessons each and are designed to take approximately a month or two to complete.

Financial Choices was added in hopes that it would be a great offering for our high school students who aren’t looking for a full/intensive math program. This book covers 34 lessons.

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About the Product

Who is Fred? As the author describes “Fred Gauss was born on the western slopes of the Siberian mountains. By the end of the final book, he is six years old. In his everyday life he first encounters the need for each new part of mathematics, and then comes the mathematics. Never again will students have to ask their perennial question: "When are we ever gonna use this stuff?"

The Series:

Elementary Series: Covers appropriate topics for roughly grades K-4. Your child need to know how to count, add, and subtract to 10. If they can do that they are ready to start Life of Fred: Apples. “Dr. Schmidt recommends that all students up to the end of 4th grade start with the Apples book as he introduces higher level math concepts throughout the entire elementary series. Students will be introduced to terminology that they normally would not encounter until much higher levels.”

Intermediate Series: Covers appropriate topics for roughly grades 4-5. These books will prepare your child for Life of Fred: Fractions. When a child finishes Jelly Beans, they will have all the skills to begin learning fractions. Since a student can quickly progress in the elementary books, a student might not be old enough to really be ready for Fractions (author recommends 5th grade). That is where Kidney, Liver and Mineshaft come in. The Intermediate series allows for more practice of arithmetic while the student gets old (author recommends 10 years of age).

Fractions Series: According to the author “If you have completed the Life of Fred Elementary and Intermediate Series or you know:

  • the addition tables (What's 5 + 8?)
  • the subtraction tables (What's 8 - 5?)
  • the multiplication tables (What's 7 times 8?)
  • long division (What's 6231 divided by 93?)

and are 10 years of age or older... ...you are ready to start Life of Fred Fractions, the first book in the series. This book goes far beyond basic fractions so you probably do need it even if you have already learned a bit about basic fractions. After completing Life of Fred Fractions, go on to the Decimals and Percents book. Again, this book teaches much more than decimals and percents!”

Pre-Algebra Series and above: At this time we do not have plans to carrying the upper levels. We wish to see how the series sell and get user feedback before offering more products.

Life of Fred: Financial Choices We did decide to offer Life of Fred: Financial Choices. This book is designed for 10th grade through adults. You'll also learn about credit cards, investments, retirement, insurance, taxes, habits of success, real estate, stocks, bonds, mortgages, REITS, certificates of deposit, mutual funds, and even some pointers on finding a spouse!

Making Friends with Numbers: This book complements the Life of Fred books nicely for those students who prefer workbooks. It is also suitable for other math programs. “This is a workbook of 108 creative practice sheets for multiplication facts. It is written both for third-graders just beginning to learn multiplication facts and for older students who, at any stage of their studies, need to review those facts. The exercises in this book facilitate memorization without being dry repetition. They promote number sense and teach mental strategies that help with multiplication facts. They prepare students for a rich and rewarding mathematical experience.” - From the author

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Humorous
  • can be used independently
  • good variety of problems
  • good depth of problems (i.e. challenging)
  • Multiple users who have posted reviews on various sites state that Stan Schmidt is helpful if problems arise.
  • Great for kids who are visual learners. The author offers easy-to-understand explanations. For a visual learning, as I am, seeing equations in black and white made my head spin with boredom and frustration. Life of Fred hits on traditional methods by providing problems to solve by applies it to a story format or picture the how and why behind the equation. It helps provide an understanding of how this equation applies in real life…helps gain full understanding.
  • Kids aren’t dependent on a calculator.
  • It doesn’t “feel” like a math book.
  • It is more reading for the few who may desire more reading like materials

Cons: (list not-so-good features and possible improvements it could use)

  • Many answers immediately follow the problems (tempting student to look)
  • Sometimes he teaches in the answers to problems (which kids may not take the time to read it)
  • Student may need additional practice
  • Not enough practice problems
  • Kids work independently. There can be a temptation to just copy the answers down and be done. However, this is addressed in the book.
  • One child might need extra help with a topic. There aren’t additional sheets to help with more practice. Parents have posted resources that they have used to help reinforce/provide extra practice for their child.
  • Not everyone wants to learn this way. Some kids learn better with textbooks, drills, videos or other programs.
  • The books are not limited to just math. We will need to read the books or encourage parents to read before your kids do to make sure everything is alright with you.
  • It doesn’t “feel” like a math book.
  • It is more reading, most kids like a break from all of the reading Sonlight does in its programs.

Who is the audience for this book?

All age/grade levels. Sonlight has decided to offer the lower elementary series intermediate, and a few upper level books. We are offering this book as a supplement math program, so if a customer has a child that needs more practice with some topics or is advanced in Math this would be a great recommendation. Based on our research, we have found that some have used as a full program, but most start using as a supplement. I would not change our current math recommendations until we have a better understanding of usage, demand, etc.

Placement

We recommend that you start with Life of Fred: Apples if your child does not know the addition tables cold. If your child knows the addition tables but not the multiplication tables, we recommend starting with Life of Fred: Farming. If your child knows the addition and multiplication tables cold and is in at the least fifth grade, then start with Life of Fred: Fractions.

The author does not recommend Fractions for students younger than age 10 or 5th grade. 5th graders and some 6th graders should start with the Intermediate series (Kidneys, Liver, Mineshaft) before starting with Fractions. They'll even benefit from the last two books in the Elementary series as well (Ice Cream and Jelly Beans). After they know your addition and multiplication tables, they are ready for Life of Fred: Fractions. Students will go far beyond elementary knowledge of fractions! Even if they already know how to divide up a pie so that they get the biggest "fraction," this is absolutely the right place to start.

NOTE: If your student has finished all of the Elementary books but is not old enough for 5th Grade, we recommend that you go through the Elementary books again. Like any good book, you learn more the second (or third) time through. You don't need to hold your student back, but your child will not be behind if you wait until they are 10 before tackling the Pre-Algebra series.

It is also recommended that you have younger students (1st or 2nd grade) go through the first few books with you before doing them again on their own. This will give them necessary review and give them time to prepare for Life of Fred: Fractions.