Skip to main content

Maths With The "Life Of Fred"


I first heard about the Life Of Fred on the Rockpool Homeschool Forum. It was suggested to other homeschoolers as a math resource for kids who found maths boring or were difficult to engage.

We use Singapore maths as our maths curriculum.Singapore maths is a complete curriculum and we love it. My boys have maths brains and I want to make sure they continue enjoying it so I try to make maths as fun and engaging as possible. We have loads of maths manipulatives and games but I wanted to find something that got them thinking about maths in a 'real' way.


So I decided to buy the first book in the Life Of Fred series to see what is was like.

The Life Of Fred is a maths curriculum that is written like a chapter book with pictures. Each chapter contains a story about Fred with some maths lessons thrown in. It concludes with some practical application where you read out a series of questions and kids write the answers in a blank notebook. Each chapter builds on the knowledge from the previous chapter.

But, what level to start on?

This is a curriculum much like All about spelling where regardless of where children are at - you start at the beginning. The first book in the series is Apples. Although the first few chapters are very basic for my boys who are doing Singapore maths 2B, it gets them 'thinking' about maths in a different way and so far they haven't complained that it's 'easy'.

 
Even my 3yo is happy to sit and listen to the stories which are only a few pages long. 

I wouldn't use the Life Of Fred as a stand alone curriculum but I think it's a great supplement and so far we are enjoying it! 

In Australia you can buy the Life Of Fred from Adnil Press.


Disclaimer: I did this review because I wanted to!  
I did not receive any products in exchange for this review!
Labels:

Comments

  1. KylieApril 17, 2013 at 4:19 AM

    We've started using LOF this year too!!! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. acemummyNovember 14, 2015 at 1:44 AM

    How have you found the non Australian content, such as measurement (miles, feet) money (dimes, quarters) etc?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inspiring Character That Lasts - We Choose Virtues Giveaway!

One of the benefits of homeschooling is the opportunity to help shape our children's character. In fact, one of the points from our own homeschooling mission statement is that I desire....     To build strong character in my children believing that good character is more important than academic success        Children are not born with a set of values and beliefs about the world - they are taught. This means they do not always naturally become kind, patient, content and diligent - they need to be guided, gently corrected and encouraged to embrace the kind of virtues that God desires within us. I find this a challenge with my incredibly spirited, strong-willed children (yes, all of them fit this description). I have often allowed myself to feel discouraged and disappointed in their behavior rather than see it as an opportunity to teach and shape their character.  Another benefit of homeschooling is that we can encourage these virtues all day - not just for a
42 comments
Read more

How to incorporate World Travel into your Homeschool with a Large Family (and a budget)

So, how do you incorporate overseas travel into your homeschool with a large family (and a budget).  It's not overly complicated but are you ready to know the secret? Wait for it. How do you do it? You don't take them all at once! Yep, that's right - you take one at a time. 1 . Take one child at a time!  Can it become a logistical nightmare to work out what happens with the rest of the family while you (or your husband) are away? Yep - but it's worth it!  In 2015 my eldest son had the opportunity to travel to the Philippines with his dad on a church missions trip. Not only did this provide an opportunity to see poverty and understand the needs of others - it was also valuable father / son bonding time that he will remember for a lifetime. In 2017 my second-born (pictured) had the same opportunity to travel to Philippines but with me included! I took great joy in watching him be-friend local children and learn some of the language. Havi
Post a Comment
Read more

Why I Chose Skwirk For Homeschooling

Over the years we've used a few different online learning resources but I'm particularly excited about trying something NEW for 2015. Skwirk has had a make-over and quite frankly, it's awesome. There is nothing quite like it around at the moment and it has some great functions that work well with homeschooling. It provides animation based lessons for younger ones as well as great options for independent learning for older kids all the way up to year 10. As an educational tool it is aligned with the Australian curriculum so if that's important to you, or you just like to occasionally see where your kids sit in relation to their peers (like I do) this is a good thing. The subjects it includes are maths, English, science, geography and history. My plan was to use this for my 5 year old who is 'technically' in his first year of school next year. However, once I learnt all the features of the program I'm thinking it will be a great resource for encour
5 comments
Read more