Life of Fred--Fred's Home Companion: Beginning Algebra
I was highly suspicious as I listened to Louisa laugh through her math lessons and totally enjoy doing them. I was stunned to watch her go straight for math when she started her homeschool work each morning. I picked up the book and read an outlandish story about a miniature boy named Fred and all his adventures. I couldn't imagine she was really learning math, so I asked her to tell me what she had learned so far in the 16 lessons she had completed. She quickly jotted down this list for me:
infinite sets
natural numbers
integers
set notation
ratios
coefficients . . . (need I go on?)
I was impressed to say the least! How could a girl who hates math actually be enjoying Algebra and really learning the terminology as well as how to do the operations? I contacted Stan Schmidt, the author of the Life of Fred, and a retired college math professor of 28 years whose self-proclaimed mission is to help kids love math. I asked him, "How do I know a student who does Life of Fred will retain it?," to which he replied, "How much of your school algebra did you retain?" Ouch!
The idea behind Life of Fred is that if students have an enjoyable experience and have fun doing their math, they will remember it and use it and have a good taste in their math about the whole subject. The sub-title on each of his math books is "As Serious As it Needs to Be". And that is just the point: math doesn't need to be horrid and dry. This is math—just as serious as it needs to be—and I can tell you from Louisa's smiles and chuckles, that's not very serious at all!
As a bonus, these books are very low priced compared to any other math books on the market. (Compare to Saxon at $50-70)
If you have a creative child who is languishing on traditional math programs, try Life of Fred!
Math, As Serious As it Needs to Be!
If you know your math facts (addition and multiplication) and you can read well, then the next step is to get to know Fred!
Beware: This is not a traditional math book. This is a child-directed course. The student reads the adventure story, does the math problems that occur as a natural part of the story, and checks their answers (the solutions are right there for the looking.) And learns to love math in the process! You will not get the detailed formula explanations that you get in a traditonal math book. I am still amazed that kids can read the story and learn the concepts, but they do!
Fred's Home Companion: Beginning Algebra
If you are a nervous mother who really wonders if this could possibly work, these Home Companion books were written for you. These books are study guides that give daily lesson plans, lecture notes for teachers, outlines of the lessons, extra problems not in the book, answer key, quiz and test materials. I have a divided opinion on using these books. If the Life of Fred is working for your child, and they are learning and enjoying, then why mess it up? Life of Fred is meant to be self-taught and I found with Louisa that she just zoomed on her own, and any interference from me would truly have been just that: interference! On the other hand, if you need the security of knowing what is going on and making sure your child is progressing, then buy these books. Hardcover, 128 pages. |
