I think my DS8 would like the Life of Fred books but I'm confused where to start the series. He has little tolerance for "boring" stuff that he already knows so if I start him too early I risk turning him off from the series all together. Any advice?

I'm really not sure exactly where he is with math. His winter MAP was 237 which is was the top 99+% nationally and top 98% for our high performing district. He's in 3rd grade but is in pull-out math which is a one grade level skip so he's doing 4th grade math in school. It was a long hard fight to get him into the pull-out so there is little hope of getting the school to do more even though he still complains that he isn't learning anything.

In addition to your child's overall MAP math score, do you have the report which mentions skills attained, and indicates next skills in the progression, to learn? Using those descriptions to match to a curriculum may help take some of the guess-work out of placement.

A description of what is contained in each of the "Life of Fred" math books may be found online here.

Another possible approach may be to compare the Common Core Standards for Math with a curriculum...
Here is a link to CC 4th grade math.

Life of Fred is so fun! The website gives good descriptions of what each book covers but even if you end up with one a bit lower than his ability level the supplementary info in the story line will engage him. Or aim a level higher to be sure then backtrack if you need to. Definitely worth the money and the resale market is good.

I think the original series started with fractions so it is not necessary to start at the beginning.

Sorry if this is a little off-topic, but does anyone know of a product similar to these books but that comes in an electronic/printable version? I just checked out the Fred books and they look great, but the postage to Europe is killer.

I don't know of anything similar to Life of Fred, as they offer a totally unique approach. LOF is not planning to go digital (as seen in the answer posted on this webpage).

Although the international postage is admittedly high, if your child learns well with the LOF approach, I would go ahead and purchase these books, then economize in another area to keep the family budget healthy and on track.

It may also be possible to purchase some LOF books second-hand, locally, thereby not experiencing the high international shipping fees.

In looking at the LOF FAQs webpage, I see that there is a Q/A pertaining to the OP's question: Where should I start in the Life of Fred Series?

My HG/PG mathy kid started LOF at that age and we started at Apples and flew through them. We used them as a supplement and mostly to keep some part of learning fun since school was not fun. LOF is different, each lesson is funny and short and there aren't tons of problems to do each chapter. Usually just 5.

Thanks Spaghetti, but it doesn't look like they have the elementary books

Thanks Indigo. I might do the sample pages with DD4 and see if she likes them. The problem is I don't know yet if she'll learn well with the LOF approach, and it's not very economical to buy one book to see how she goes - especially if she likes it and then I have to buy the elementary set.

...

Oooh, just noticed that I can buy a set of 4 books, I don't have to buy the whole elementary set. Maybe I'll do that instead.

My local library had some of the books for check out. You may want to double check your local library prior to purchasing.