Life of Fred--Butterflies

I love the Fred series! I own Apples, Butterflies and just starting Cats. I bought from Amazon, and received them quickly and in perfect shape. (Don't you love Amazon??) Fred is a little boy who is a math whiz and a professor at Kittens University. The kids and I have gotten such a kick out of reading these clever little stories. My boys are 7 and 5, and thanks to Fred I will often hear them playing referring to things as perpendicular, referencing the Orion Nebula, and pointing out which trees are deciduous! There is way more than math in these books! A super fun approach that is unlike any math textbook you might find. Oh, I guess it should be noted that I use this as a read aloud together for the boys. My 7 year old uses Singapore math, and my 5 year old is doing Dreambox learning, which is an online math game. It isn't too far over their heads, although I plan to cycle back through the books once in a while in hopes that it will stick even better. :)

We love LOF. This is our second book, after Apples, and my son always wants me to read it to him. The books touch on a variety of topics while applying practical math concepts in a way that is fun and entertaining. Its silliness level is right up my almost-7-year-old's alley and has been so since he was a young 6. I am not sure that an older child would find them as entertaining, at least at this elementary level...maybe up to age 8?What I do not like about the series is the medical advice included. Ever so often Fred does 2 things, he mentions diseases, degenerative disorders, and/or someone gives him bad nutritional advice on how sugar causes some major illnesses (forget variety and moderation!) AND/OR he mentions God and religion. If you are a positive naturalist, like me, you can just - as I do - skip over the medical advice. If you are more into a secular curriculum, like me, you can just skip over the religious material in the book. Personally, it does not bother me since it is not often (there are maybe 2 references/sentences in Apples) and it is Fred's experience (he is not proselytizing anyone...it's definitely not a preachy book!). But if you are an Atheist, and completely against the mention of God, this book is not for you.Due to the health comments I will probably only buy the series as long as I am the one reading them to my son (and I am prepared to read them all to him) so that I can screen out those sections.

My kids, ages 5 through 8, love these books! Apples, for example, really helps the kids know those hard addition facts (i.e. the 7's) perfectly by the end of the book. (We are in the beginning of Butterflies.) They won't even know they are learning!These books are a series go in succession starting with A for Apples and B for Butterflies C, D, E...and so on through mathematics topics. Apples starts with addition and Butterflies goes to the next level. Even if your child already knows addition, he/she will still enjoy reading Apples. But, if you start midway, you can do that as well because each book introduces the characters.

So much fun. My 4th grader needs to read more. She is wacky so I thought she would enjoy Fred's sense of humor. It was a HUGE home run. She and grandma really look forward to reading the next 2 chapters and then catching me up on what Fred was up to. Along the way she is learning math, and other subjects (Fred throws a lot in there). We started with the first book, Apples and are glad we did.

We got these because almost everyone we talk to has used LOF and love it. We moved to something else because it kept bring up advanced algebra questions in the quizzes that were not even covered in the book. I don't know what the purpose of this is but it was very discouraging to the kids that already had a hard time with math.

We have just started our adventure into this book. I have so far found it to be axactly what I was looking for. a book that would make the student want to learn physics at the same time as teach it in such a way that they learn it well. so far we are off and running in it. they enjoy and cannot wait to see what is next. I want the kids to enjoy learning both math and science.

My son loves these books. They have made math fun again. I do think that a lot of additional practice is required to absorb some of the lessons being taught though.

This is the second book in this series. I use this with my son and we absolutely love it. The story line is wonderfully funny and chalk full of extra bits of information from other subjects, which keeps it all lively. There hasn't been a dull moment in this curriculum. When you, the parent, think this is not "long enough" or this isn't enough math, please remember to have an open mind and think "outside of the box." You will not be disappointed.

There should be something on the cover to inform consumers that this book is also a Christian book. So along with math there are religious parts as the story of Fred progresses. The actual book is ok, it seems to hold my son's attention, and he is learning from it, but the story is so simply I'm guessing he's eventually going to get tired of it.

Exactly as described