Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Life of Fred math books

We just discovered these through a friend: Life of Fred books about math written in story form. They are written by Stanley F. Schmidt.

DS8 is devouring them and I wish I had found them for him a year or two ago when he was begging for math and I didn't know what to do for him!

stanleyschmidt.com

My son likes the books also, but I wonder if after reading a LoF book, for example Beginning Algebra, a gifted student should proceed to the next book in the series (Advanced Algebra) or cover Algebra I with a more traditional textbook.

Your son may also like "Algebra, the Easy Way" (and the trig and calculus books) by Downing. This book, like LoF, uses a narrative format.

Both of my girls love LoF. We're using them for afterschooling.

I just placed a hold on the fractions book at our library! Tonight, we are reading a Sir Cumference book (from the library as well)

Our experience is that our (very mathy) DS deveoured the LoF series up to about Algebra. We have the those later books but they didn't hold his interest as much. We definitely endorse LoF.

Thanks for the reference to the Downing books. They may fill a void.

JB

My DS9 loves these books because of the storyline. He is accelerated 2 years in math (and jumps up one more year next year). I have never made him do the questions (if I homeschooled I would), but he loves reading the stories and seems to absorb quite a bit. He has done the first 3 books, and is begging me to get the next 3 (trig. geo. and something else, I'd have to check). Anyway, he recalls a lot of what he has learned just from reading the books.

I have read the fractions and decimal books and thought they were a hoot. I still have to read the alegbra ones, but they helped me with my math, so I cannot imagine they would not help a bright child.

We too, LOVE LoF books! We have the fractions and the decimals one. They are amazing books. I wish schools used them! We do them for fun at home. They are just awesome!

Thanks for the other recommendations. DS is concurrently doing the Khan algebra lecture sequence and using the Harold Jacobs algebra textbook to get ready for Epsilon camp at the end of summer. Any free-time math reading you all can tell me about is much appreciated.

This is going to be a math-centric summer! (per DS's request) Since I am not mathy, I need help from you all For example, Catalana, you said you thought the LoF books were a hoot, but my eyes glazed over and my brain went slack when I browsed it! We are dealing with a rock-bottom math person trying to guide a mathy kid here!!

Thanks for this! I just ordered the first two. DD and I read the sample of the first book together and she was absolutely tickled.

I just want to let you know you are not alone. I'm not mathy either and my DS loves math. Some reccomendations - Check out mindware.com for interesting out of the box math, and Math alive series, http://www.amazon.com/Science-Math-Alive-Dawn-Stosch/dp/0761432132

I thought I wasn't mathy either until I signed up for the Living Math forum and over the years have been relearning math through the math literature books listed on the forum owner's website. Math stories are a great way to learn/relearn math. I now find that I do have some math ability and because I'm learning it from stress-free stories vs. textbooks, my interest in math has soared and I'm able to keep up somewhat with my very mathy son's interests. I strongly recommend the Living Math forum and website for those who haven't heard of them:
http://www.livingmath.net/ (go to reader lists tab for booklists organized by math topic)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LivingMathForum/

I also strongly recommend the Murderous Maths series. My son, who loves Life of Fred, finds MM even more of a hoot.
Visit the official site for more cool stuff:
http://www.murderousmaths.co.uk/
I've found that the Book Depository offers more competitive prices for buying them new (shipping is free worldwide):
http://www.bookdepository.com/search?searchTerm=murderous+maths

This is only personal opinion. I don't profit by recommending these books. Good luck!

It is never too late to become mathy! I get graduate students who totally do 180s on the subject of math person-hood after taking our classes (mostly women who think they aren't good at math). It always makes me sad when people (again, mostly women) shut themselves off from such a beautiful and useful subject, generally because they had a crappy teacher in the past or someone told them they couldn't do math, or they were never taught fractions and that made algebra impossible etc. One of my goals in class is to remove math phobia and return self-confidence, and the results are stunning. Yes, you can do math. Yes, you can learn to love math. Even as a mom. My students do it all the time.

For US customers, Horrible Ray is THE way to go for Murderous Maths, Horrible Histories, and Horrible Science books, magazines, and you've not experienced history until you've seen the Monty Pythonest HH TV show.

http://www.horriblebooks.com/

Not related to Ray, just a Horrible repeat customer.

JB

Kate, you might also try a couple of books by Johnny Ball, called "Go Figure" and "Why Pi" -- DS8 has been so addicted to them for years that we had to buy them because we were wearing out the library's copies. We haven't tried LoF yet but we do intend to, this summer, so thanks for the extra recommendation!

I second Horrible Ray for LOF and Horrible books - fabulous service with a smirk. He even gave me a fanciful title when he sent me my first LOF book (for DS7), which just arrived last week.

That's funny. I seem to have ordered the first two LOF books from Horrible Ray completely by accident, through Amazon. I hope that the books are all they're cracked up to be.

can't say enough good things about the LOF books we love them over here...and Kate the dds have corrected me when I'm wrong or miss something, I'm not very mathy either...

Those look to be just what my niece (9) would enjoy. Thanks.

My son (4) is into fractions, but doesn't understand multiplication, so it might be something I will get him for later, too.

This recommendation alone makes me want to buy these for "my son". LOL I'm an artist who has a dad who told her that she could never become an architect because "You're not good in math."

Thanks so much for the great recommendations, but I have to say, you guys are killing me! You expect ME to get enthusiastic about math, too?!

Seriously, thanks for the pep talks

Mr. Schmidt thinks algebra is not for pre-pubescent children: "There is an old saying that you shouldn't start algebra until you have hair under your arms. A child's brain needs to develop physiologically before tackling the abstractions that algebra contains." http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/32%20pre-algebra.html . I disagree with him and buy his books for my 7yo boy anyway.

Waiting for that specific part of puberty would exclude even my non-mathy dd12 at this point and she did just finish accelerated Algebra I in 8th grade with an A in the class. I can't see waiting for specific physical development to ascertain when my dc is ready for a certain academic subject. Some kids are hitting puberty really young and some are physically later bloomers. Does that make kids who are in precocious puberty smarter or more abstract thinkers than kids who hit it at a typical time or later?

It is fun reading other people's opinions about LOF. I still want to check out the Murderous Math series.

Here is my review of LOF Fractions, after reading it with my son.

http://teachingmybabytoread.blog.com/2011/06/06/too-many-algorithims-in-life-of-fred/