I fought it, I really did.
We've used MathUSee for a couple of years, and by and large I've been happy with it. Changing curriculum is expensive and disruptive so I was trying NOT to learn about alternate math options.
But...but...but...I kept hearing about a weird math curriculum called 'Life of Fred'.
Then at a homeschool meeting earlier this year, I picked up a Life of Fred book. It looked interesting. And I discovered that our local library has the Life of Fred books.
So we got one out the first book, Life of Fred: Apples. Joseph has been struggling with MathUSee so I gave him a break from that curriculum and had him work through the Apples book.
It has so far been a success though Apples is very simple. We'll see how he does as he progresses through Butterflies and Cats.
Ok, so what IS Life of Fred?
The whole book series revolves around the mathematical adventures of a 5 year old professor named Fred who teaches at Kittens University. He lives in the math building and sleeps with his stuffed animal, Kingie (who talks.) He has various adventures, and all point towards math concepts. The author (in the introductions) points out that many young people ask, "When will I ever use this stuff?" The Life of Fred books integrate math concepts with real life in a fun and interesting way.
They are incredibly clever books, they really are. Fred is cute and charming and NICE. The author makes periodic references to obeying God and being kind to people...it's sweet.
The books go all the way through Calculus, incredibly enough.
Now, there aren't many practice problems at all. Each chapter ends with 5 or 6 problems, all different from one another. The concepts are being taught in a way that likely will stick, but the student doesn't get much practice. For practice problems, you probably will need another curricula or math program.
However, I like the books SO MUCH that I decided to go nuts and buy the first 10 for $160. I have to admit that when I opened up the box with them in it, happy little chemicals shot around my brain and I had a brief experience of "homeschool products high." That's kind of like the high a shopaholic feels at a purchase, but hopefully in a more restrained way.
So what is the plan? I'm planning to have most of the kids switch over to Life of Fred books for the next few months. They will review concepts and, more to the point, think of math in a different way. The LOF books do come at math from a different angle. We'll get back to MathUSee, probably, but this will pave the way for better math understanding.
1 comment:
No, Laraba, my negative comments about Life of Fred were specifically about Calculus. There are just not enough clear explanations, not enough worked examples, and some of the questions are beyond the level of the chapter--without proper explanations in the answer key. Math on DVD Calculus has been a real help, though.
I think our LoF Calculus experience highlights an important issue about math studies: it's always important to use at least two resources.
LoF is very popular because it complements most other curricula; I don't think it stands on its own very well...but then, few math curricula do.
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