Life of Fred: Fractions

I read multiple reviews on this series from many sources before purchasing. Due to their age and previous classroom grades, we began with "Live of Fred--Honey". One son is excellent in math and the other struggles and this seemed like a good transition from classroom to homeschool while attempting to show my sons there are multiple ways to learn a subject. We homeschool and now use this in addition to our Saxon curriculum. The boys find the invented characters fun and imaginative. They love how so many other topics, processes or facts co-exist with their math. It really took their understanding of math as an integration in all we do everyday, to a true understanding. They now look at their math completely differently and more openly. I'm not sure this could be used as your only math when homeschooling, but perhaps if you spent extra time on the new things introduced in each chapter, it could be. Most importantly, it has captured my son's attention. When they are invested, they learn. We will continue with this series.

The Life of Fred series is original, hilarious, and clever. It includes useful math instruction but also touches on many other areas of learning. We use it as a math supplement but if you know you are going to homeschool for all 12 years then perhaps you could use this as your only math curriculum. We have been homeschooling for 5 years and it has been so lovely and challenging and a million other adjectives. However, we take it a year at a time so I have to prepare my daughter for other more conventional math curriculum in case she were to transition from homeschooling to some other situation. We would love to bypass the whole common core nonsense. So be aware that this series would not be good preparation for common core math, that's because it makes sense! Happy Homeschooling!

Used book in good condition.

These are really great books. They teach math without you knowing you're learning math. They are entertaining and hold my son's attention - in fact, he can hardly put them down.

I loved this book! The entire series is actually very nice. Very easy to read and understand. Great for kids to understand the mechanics of learning fractions. They make it easy and fun. It's funny and serious at the same time. The book is hardback so it's very sturdy. We'll be using it with our daughter for some time.In case you're interested, here is the complete listing (that I know of) of all the series:Elementary Series - 10 booksApplesButterfliesDogsEdgewoodIce CreamJelly BeansHoneyGoldfishCatsFarmingIntermediate Series - 3 booksKidneysLiverMineshaftPre-Algebra Series - 5 booksFractionsDecimals & PercentsPre-Algebra 0 w/PhysicsPre-Algebra 1 w/BiologyPre-Algebra 2 w/Economics

While we use Fred as a fun supplement to our homeschool curriculum, I can see how it would work as a stand alone. 'Fractions' adds an extra element with The Bridge, a 10-question test that happens every five chapters to make sure students master skills before they move on. One of my big loves about this series is that Fred encourages critical thinking rather than the more formulaic other texts take.

Our family loves Life of Fred! My children sit and giggle and love doing math with it. My daughter was having some difficulty grasping a concept (I'm not sure if it was this book, or another one) and e-mailed the author and he personally responded to her and helped explain it to her. I do find however, that at times supplementation is needed, but we still LOVE these books!

We received our book a couple of weeks ago to supplement our homeschool program. So far we have done the first 3 lessons and my son enjoys the stories. They are relatable to my 5th grader and I find him giggling away, using the tape measure to verify the details discussed in Fred's stories. My son has been able to do the math problems at the end of each chapter on his own which, is a big plus and overall we are happy with the book. The only minus or detriment I see is that the answers are in plain sight on the following page. I can easily see my son in the near future flipping the page over to copy the answers! I wish the answer key would be in the back of the book or, in a separate leaflet. I still recommend the book because it appeals to kids but I will need to sit nearby to make sure cheating is not an issue.