Life of Fred  4/5 (19)

Comment: My kids (ages 5, 16, and 21) all love the Fred books! We have the entire set and I find them reading them often just for pleasure. My 5 year old wants to "do Fred" every day! Wonderful curriculum.

Comment: Great for out of the box thinking. Used for 4 years for 1st-7th grades. It is fun and educational, but answers are very available to the child.

Comment: Awesome Program!!!! My daughter (11 yr old) struggled with repetitive math practice. She could "do the math" but didn't have a real world grip on how it applied. Life of Fred has helped her tremendously with real world ways to use math. We love this program and will continue to use it.

We started with Fractions (still using) and will move into the other books as DD completes. (so length of use so far, 5 months)

Not too time consuming
Fun to read and put into immediate use what has been covered that day
Makes math easier to digest and understand

Comment: I have a math degree, I used to teach public high school math, and I LOVE the way Fred teaches math. He really gets at understanding. It's not "here's a trick to do with numbers" and "now do it 30 times." SO many kids can copy an algorithm and get good grades but NOT truly understand what they're doing! Fred doesn't let you do that. The problems really test whether or not you understand the concepts. It's fabulous!

Comment: My kids love Fred. He doesn't cover concepts in an orderly way and doesn't provide a lot of review problems, which is great for kids who don't like a lot of repetition. The story keeps their attention and they see how math is applied. We sometimes supplement with additional worksheets that we find online for free or I write up extra practice problems if they need it. I don't think it will work for every kid. For some, a more straightforward approach with lots of review problems would be better, but I like the more "fluid" approach as it follows the storyline and I like that he throws in other facts in the story, in addition to math.

Comment: I have tried several other recommended math sources, but always kept coming back to this. My son failed 9th grade algebra with a more expensive brand, so we came back to Fred and he passed with colors. We will always use this series.

Comment: My Kids have enjoyed these. They get the concepts in a fun way. I have felt the need to supplement with worksheets and additional practice. A friend who is a college math professor is very impressed with these books.

Comment: So glad I found this curriculum! My son is in high school and has barely gotten through some of the required math classes. Life of Fred is interesting, entertaining, and thorough. He loves it, and, because he loves it, I love it!

Comment: We started Fred in 1st grade and have completed Apples and are working on Butterflies. My daughter is engaged and is constantly asking to do another chapter in the book. I do supplement with worksheets on certain topics that I feel she needs work with, but overall we are enjoying the curriculum. I know there are a lot of people that don't think it's "enough," but for us, it works well. It's engaging and interesting, and the author sneaks little bits of higher level math in here and there. If you can deal with your child learning differently, and not necessarily in the same order as other "grade" curriculums - Fred is a great choice!