Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources what's the name of those math books....

I've seen them posted on here and can't remember for the life of me. I think they are a comical picture sort of book that has a series of topics from fractions to algebra to you name it. I want to say it has a boy's name in the title?! Does anyone know what I am referring to?

THANKS A TON!

YES! That's It I think! I knew someone would know. I was at a total loss. THANKS A TON!

I recently got the Life of Fred: Fractions book and had a great time reading it. We're trying to get my DD10's 5th grade teachers to let her use the Fred books instead of Everyday Math. My daughter loves the writing style and enjoys it more than EPGY or ALEKS.

I have read such great reviews about that series though most people seem to feel there aren't enough practice problems in them, though the author feels that once you understand the concepts deep enough, repetition isn't supposed to be drilled in your head over and over. I just bought it and hope to have it in a few days. I bought the fractions one as well. I got it for DD7 (almost 8). It might be a little heavy content wise for her, but, she picks up things so quickly and really loves things like that, that I think she'll enjoy it. Even if she isn't 100% ready for it, I think she'll gain something from it.

LOL. We're anxiously awaiting ours too. The lack of repitition is one of the reasons I ordered it. Hope it's as great for my dd as others have found it.

My son was hooked when he read "Using the Fred Way, the math was giggled into place and was too funny to forget.

Now every time he makes a funny about one of his lessons, as he often does, he tells me he is just giggling it into place.

HOLY COW! I ordered it LATE Friday night and it was here today! I couldn't believe it! We dug right in! My daughter kept asking.... when do we get to "the bridge". HAHA! We got to chapter three before we ran out of time. I had to giver her a few quick lessons on multiple digit multiplication but she picked up so easily. I think she'll enjoy it.

No sign of mine yet- I ordered it on Thursday. I'm wondering how long it will take us to work through, so I can plan our next math adventure (not that we're in a rush).

MamaTo2... did you order it directly or through somewhere else? I ordered right from them.

I ordered from Rainbow Resource since I needed a few other things. They always take 5 days, even though they ship UPS.

Are you homeschooling, or supplementing public school curriculum?

My kids go to a private school. Although they do have a GT program and do differentiate, my daughter is ALWAYS looking for more. They certainly keep you on your toes! it's tiring just keeping up. Especially with the fact that it doesn't take much repetition for a new skill to be learned, it seems we are always looking for new challenges!

I have often thought about homeschooling so that my daughter can be at the level she is capable of learning at, but so far, school is working out well for us (don't get me wrong... that's only because of persistent advocating on my part ....) BUT after the "official" numbers have come back for several standardized tests, I think they are finally taking me seriously that I'm not just another pushy mom who thinks her kid is a genious :)~. In fact, this year (we are only in 2nd grade) I think this is BY FAR the best year yet as far as teaching to her level. For the most part (which really isn't much) BUT, compared to years past, it's a far cry and I can see that the teachers and staff are trying to offer more.

I take it you home school? How do you like it? Do you utilize one of the homeschool online programs or are you doing it all by yourself? The thought of it terrifies me, but I have often thought that if I get to a point that it's not working at school, I would consider that, but have NO CLUE where to even begin. I am keeping my fingers crossed that things go well with school though and i don't have to cross that bridge.

Yes, we homeschool without any oversight, though DD is currently doing a course through EPGY.

The schools here are quite rigid. After reading one local gifted parent's blog detailing her pleas all through the school, the school board, and on to the State Department of Education (which sent her back to the school board), I decided not to even try.

The private schools here are not good.

To be honest, it does feel like a very big responsibility to me. And since dd is outside of "the norm", there are special challenges to educating her myself.

So far, so good. She's really burning a hole in my wallet going through books, but we love the freedom.

I give you credit! The mere thought of it scares me! But, like you, being outside of the norm, I fear that I wouldn't be able to do it alone! I have thought about the courses like EPGY and what not, but have yet to take any.

Battling with the school administration is not an easy job, that's for sure. they look at you like you have 3 heads, they listen with complete poker faces, that you have no idea how you are being received, until they see their "official standardized results" come back, and in utter silence, without saying a word to you, they merely make some changes in your favor. I feel I have to choose my battles. I don't want to be too pushy and have them shut me out, but at the same time I feel every child has a right to LEARN and if you can't teach my kid anything, then something needs to change! Private school is burning a whole in my wallet too, so I guess we are both in the same boat. they always say, gifted kids are more expensive to raise! LOL!

So what do you think of the book after looking through it? Mine came yesterday.

I think my daughter will enjoy it. It is just like I've read, not like any other "math" book that I've seen! We did the first few chapters the day it came! Did you look through it at all?

I've got Life of Fred Fractions & LOF Decimals. I'm thinking of ordering LOF Geometry because DD7 said the reason she's transformed from "I hate math!" to it now being one of her favorite subject is that she likes geometry. That was just from covering a couple lessons on parallel lines, perpendicular lines and right angles using Painless Geometry. Any feedback on LOF Geometry?

That's great Inky! I will be getting those in the future, I am sure!

DD likes it very much so far. I think she relates in some way to Fred. When I first looked through it, I thought I may have made a mistake. She's already covered fractions, and much of the material is repeated in this book.

However, once we started working through it, I see a difference. Her previous work on fractions was "isolated" the way you learn in a traditional math book. With LOF you read through his story and pause at the end of each chapter to work a few good quality problems.

It seems more like applying what she has already learned situationally, similar to the way a parent would ask a child to figure out math issues that pop up in real life to the child some real-life application. (Like today we're going to paint dd's room, and I'll be requiring her to figure the area of her 4 walls to determine the amount of paint we need.)

Also, it covers several other topics like Roman numerals and some geometry. The references to figures of speech throughout Fred's story are spot on, because DD did a unit on figures of speech last semester. She also read Wind in the Willows last summer, and gets those references too.

She must really be enjoying LOF, because she asks for it in her spare time.

DD's regular math has just gone into decimals. I'll buy the Life Of Fred decimals to use after we finish that.

She's really interested in Geometry too, but I was wondering if the LOF Geometry would be too much without doing the Algebra first. The recommended order from the author is Algebra first, but I'll switch it to match dd's interest if it's "doable".

Good luck with LOF!