The Life of Fred Elementary Set #1: Apples, Butterflies, Cats, Dogs (4 books total) Hardcover – January 1, 2011

Most math is taught on its own, without any context. Even most homeschool math programs just teach rules and repetition without any real discussion of the application. As a consequence most kids hate math.These books are the complete opposite. They're fun stories that introduce math concepts in context and applications and don't demand senseless repetition.A family member told us about how much their kids loved this, so we decided to try it. Now our kids love doing math, and they clearly understand the concepts and when to use them. This is easily the best homeschool math curriculum I've ever encountered.

I like this math books and how they introduce practical math into kids life. I personally compliment with downloadable exercises from the internet, since they don't have enough practice. But for homeschooler introducing to math topics, is great. Images can be better as well. But I will not take a star off because of that since the content is good.

My son is highly gifted. For our first year of homeschool, we started in Saxon Math. The constant reviews and worksheets made him hate math (it used to be his favorite). Since starting LOF, which I read about on the Hoagies website, he loves it even more. I started him at the Apple book and let him work on his own time. Since the concepts in Apples were very elementary, he was able to really get into the story. He has completed the first four books in a matter of weeks. I am ready to get to his level so we can begin working together. The other day I picked up book 3, Cats, and just read off a question at the end of a chapter he was just beginning to read. I said, "What's the cardinality of Orion's belt?" Now I had no idea what the answer was, so I was very surprised when he just looked up and calmly said - "3". I flipped the page to the answer...he was right!! Not only that, he could explain to me how he got his answer. This book is great for kids who get concepts very quickly and remember them easily. It seems to be adding so much more to his learning experience.

My 6 (almost 7) year old daughter absolutely hated math. This sent me on a search where I found Fred. Now she LOVES math. It is her favorite subject. The literature/story nature of Fred has captured her attention. We are now through book Cats. She often wants to do more than 1 lesson a day. She has learned so much more than she did in her year of math last year. It was a headache and we both ended up frustrated with the traditional math approach. Fred has made math fun and saved our homeschool year! Add in some math facts on the side and Fred is hard to beat! People are constantly impressed with her basic understanding of alegbra thanks to Fred as well as the typical addition and subtraction for her age.

We've been doing the first Life of Fred book borrowed from a friend for a little while. It's a great way to introduce math to little ones, especially if your children are like mine and love to listen to stories! I ordered the complete set so we could move on seamlessly without having to continually borrow books. Package arrived in great shape, and in a fairly timely fashion considering the shipping delays die to the pandemic. Also this seller knows how to flatter his customers, I will be ordering more books from him in the future!

We have tried so many different math curriculums throughout the years. I recently purchased these for my youngest because he was struggling with reading and he loves Math. I have friends who rave about Life of Fred and have been for years. Well, now i know what all the hype was about. He is loving these books! The questions at the end of each chapter really make him think and use his reasoning skills. He is learning reading, and some grammar, science and other things as well. These books are fabulous! He could have started much higher up, but we chose to start from the beginning. He's zipping through them, but having a ball!We can't say enough great things about Life of Fred now. We will be sticking with his and ordering more.My only disappointment is that I didn't listen sooner and order these for my older kids when they were younger.

Dr. Schmidt sprinkles college level knowledge with basic arithmetic. He includes it in a way that's interesting enough that you might be very well versed in academic vocabulary by the time you finish all his books. I know there's a lot more- The days of the week feature prominently in this first set along with so much more than I can summarize. The best I can do is to say that I think it elevates our homeschool experience, both in terms of laughter and learning.

Tried this out for our homeschool after hearing so much about it and all the raving reviews. My daughter likes it for the first lesson and I can see how it would be great for someone struggling with math. We tried it out because my daughter is actually pretty good at math and easily bored with other curriculums. Unfortunately, this didn’t really peak her interest much and she didn’t find the silly storyline believable or interesting to keep going beyond the third lesson. I returned because she didn’t like it but I feel it could be very helpful to someone not naturally interested in math or particularly great with it so they can find real world scenarios to relate concepts to. I do agree with other reviews that there aren’t a ton of examples and might would entail parents to create their own examples or find extra practice from other sources.