DD11s learning center (like a school, but for homeschoolers) uses this curriculum. They specifically state in their class descriptions that while there is minimal religious content, they feel like the strength of the curriculum outweighs that concern (they are very secular and inclusive).
However, having had a couple of years of Life of Fred classes there, DD doesn't like it. Now, math is not her strongest subject, and at first the friendly narrative based nature of the curriculum appealed to her. But after a while it got old. She says she feels like it's hard to find the actual math in all the story and she doesn't feel like the books actually teach the math so much as how to apply it to real world situations. I guess she felt that there was a gap.
I think the teachers did too though. One teacher supplemented with some very detailed worksheets that demonstrated the problem solving step by step. She reviewed this with the class in addition to using the book and this worked well for DD. The other instructor supplemented with IXL (because in her view the weakness was a lack of practice problems). This worked less well because IXL's smart scoring fed DD's perfectionism and just drove her nuts.
I should also say having watched her do the practice problems that the books are not very well laid out if you want to go back and refresh a skill for yourself or double check an answer. It's like finding a quote in a novel as opposed to a section in a text book or user's guide.
She's currently doing her math at Mathnasium (not as tutoring, but as a complete curriculum) and it's been pretty good. They identified some basic problem solving gaps that DD is now working on (we noticed this as well). She also generally enjoys the tutoring sessions and feels like she's really learning math.
