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Numbers that Add to 7, Circles, Ellipses, Reading 6:00 on a Clock, 5 + ? = 7, Days of the Week, Leap Years, Spelling February, Dressing for Cold Weather, 15 Degrees Below Zero (–15º), Deciduous Trees, Deciduous Teeth, Counting by Fives, 3x + 4x = 7x, Archimedes 287 B.C. Wrote The Sand Reckoner and Got Killed Being Rude, ante meridiem (a.m.), Donner and Blitz in German, One Million, Euclid Wrote The Elements, Squares, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Whales Are Not Fish, The “There Are Zero . . .” Game, Sets, the Popularity of Zero, Why Boats Are Cheaper to Rent in the Winter, Triangles, Herbivores and Carnivores, the Colors of the Rainbow, a King in Checkmate, the Story of the Titanic, ≠ (not equal), x + 4 = 7, One Thousand, Counting by Hundreds, Reading 3:05 on a Clock, Rectangles.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
19 people are currently reading
328 people want to read
About the author
Stanley F. Schmidt
94 books64 followersStanley F. Schmidt is an educator. He began teaching high school teacher at the age of 22, and later taught in a college.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
February 21, 2022
I can't believe I waited so long to jump on the Fred bandwagon! My child LOVED this and so did I. We can't wait to start the next book.
October 12, 2022
I bought the first four in this series because our 9yo has developed intense anxiety about math -- I mean panic-grade intensity at the sight of an addition or subtraction sentence.
(This was due to a number of problems at school, and the issue crossed subjects... a detail I mention for context on my review.)
So: it was silly. It was low-stress. It was a pleasant beginning to our summer weekdays, an escape from the COVID shutdown and daily rapid antigen testing of current life. We read & narrated each chapter. We giggled occasionally, rolled our eyes with a smile more often. He always wanted another chapter.
Mission Accomplished -- for us.
However: for eight-plus years I've seen moms recommending Life of Fred as the sole elementary math curriculum for early elementary, and with personal experience I can confirm that this is probably not a good plan for the vast majority of children.
I don't think practicing 30-50 problems a day is necessary, but (honestly speaking) from 18 days with this our son *might* master sums to seven (if he had not already).
Cute enough, if you like silly stories, and I can highly recommend for including in math lesson planning as review / confidence builder for kids who have math anxiety likeour fourth grader -- but not as a standalone first grade / P1 / Form 1B curriculum.
We start Butterflies next week & the kiddo is looking forward to it. That's not nothing! It's exactly what I wanted, actually. Wish us luck :)
N.B. the text includes multiple references to the Christian God. We are not Christian, but we keep an inclusive library at home so it was okay... not ideal, but okay. If you want a secular program, keep away.
//UPDATE 2022-10-13//
We have stalled at the end of book five, Life of Fred: Edgewood. I do not recommend buying this series as a full set, nor the smaller Elementary sets of 4 books each. If you decide to try Fred, buy titles one at a time as you need them.
More details at my review of Edgewood here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
(This was due to a number of problems at school, and the issue crossed subjects... a detail I mention for context on my review.)
So: it was silly. It was low-stress. It was a pleasant beginning to our summer weekdays, an escape from the COVID shutdown and daily rapid antigen testing of current life. We read & narrated each chapter. We giggled occasionally, rolled our eyes with a smile more often. He always wanted another chapter.
Mission Accomplished -- for us.
However: for eight-plus years I've seen moms recommending Life of Fred as the sole elementary math curriculum for early elementary, and with personal experience I can confirm that this is probably not a good plan for the vast majority of children.
I don't think practicing 30-50 problems a day is necessary, but (honestly speaking) from 18 days with this our son *might* master sums to seven (if he had not already).
Cute enough, if you like silly stories, and I can highly recommend for including in math lesson planning as review / confidence builder for kids who have math anxiety likeour fourth grader -- but not as a standalone first grade / P1 / Form 1B curriculum.
We start Butterflies next week & the kiddo is looking forward to it. That's not nothing! It's exactly what I wanted, actually. Wish us luck :)
N.B. the text includes multiple references to the Christian God. We are not Christian, but we keep an inclusive library at home so it was okay... not ideal, but okay. If you want a secular program, keep away.
//UPDATE 2022-10-13//
We have stalled at the end of book five, Life of Fred: Edgewood. I do not recommend buying this series as a full set, nor the smaller Elementary sets of 4 books each. If you decide to try Fred, buy titles one at a time as you need them.
More details at my review of Edgewood here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
May 7, 2023
Hmm, how to rate this book? As literature, it wouldn't get 5 stars, but as a lively narrative about math that so captured my kindergartener's imagination that he requested it every day and declared it "one of my favorite books"...I think it merits all possible stars!
The thing I most appreciate about this book, aside from its appealing liveliness and quirkiness, is how it weaves together so many different concepts and ideas beyond bare arithmetic: telling time, names of months and weeks, skip counting, big numbers, set theory, logic, geometry, algebra, even some basic scientific classifications. Since most of these things are much more intriguing to me than bare arithmetic, it was a joy to encounter and discuss them with my two boys and to realize afresh that the world of "math" absolutely abounds in fascinating features. It was also fun to see which concepts sparked their interest. Reading this book together has led to all sorts of questions, discussions, and reflections ("What comes after a billion?" "Three is a very useful number! [then he proceeded to name as many sets of three as he could see]").
Big ideas to wonder at + silly, oddly captivating story + math presented as a way of describing human experience and the natural world = what could be better?
A friend well versed in math recommended and lent the books to me, and I began reading without planning to add them permanently to our program of studies; but my son's enthusiasm coupled with my own valuation of the book made me quickly incorporate it into our daily schedule! This is all the math I'm doing with my kindergartener, but reading it seems to have breathed new life and attentiveness into my 2nd grader's math work with a more traditional curriculum. I think we'll read the Fred series as long as it holds their interest, because it does a stellar and unrivaled job presenting math as a cornucopia of enticing concepts. (And because my children like it!)
The thing I most appreciate about this book, aside from its appealing liveliness and quirkiness, is how it weaves together so many different concepts and ideas beyond bare arithmetic: telling time, names of months and weeks, skip counting, big numbers, set theory, logic, geometry, algebra, even some basic scientific classifications. Since most of these things are much more intriguing to me than bare arithmetic, it was a joy to encounter and discuss them with my two boys and to realize afresh that the world of "math" absolutely abounds in fascinating features. It was also fun to see which concepts sparked their interest. Reading this book together has led to all sorts of questions, discussions, and reflections ("What comes after a billion?" "Three is a very useful number! [then he proceeded to name as many sets of three as he could see]").
Big ideas to wonder at + silly, oddly captivating story + math presented as a way of describing human experience and the natural world = what could be better?
A friend well versed in math recommended and lent the books to me, and I began reading without planning to add them permanently to our program of studies; but my son's enthusiasm coupled with my own valuation of the book made me quickly incorporate it into our daily schedule! This is all the math I'm doing with my kindergartener, but reading it seems to have breathed new life and attentiveness into my 2nd grader's math work with a more traditional curriculum. I think we'll read the Fred series as long as it holds their interest, because it does a stellar and unrivaled job presenting math as a cornucopia of enticing concepts. (And because my children like it!)
March 1, 2019
My five-year-old and I read through this book together as a fun supplement to her math lessons. We both got a big kick out of it, and she seemed to really grasp the concepts presented because they were delivered through a fictional narrative. I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable allowing Fred to be her only math curriculum, but it takes a clever approach that definitely makes math more fun, especially for kids who love to read.
November 19, 2025
More people need to know about these books 🙌🏼 Jovie loved this and we were giggling the whole time. Such a fun way to learn about math!
March 9, 2023
I hated math all growing up. It wasn’t until college that I found I could actually do math well. I think it was partly due to my own ambivalence, partly to poor teachers, and partly to the way math textbooks work.
All I’ve ever seen before Life of Fred, with math textbooks, is a boring monotonous format with each chapter: how to do the math problem, 40 - 60 problems. Next chapter: how to do the problem, 40 - 60 problems. As a young person, this format would kill any joy or interest I had in math at all. It was the most boring of any conceived subject.
This series is a breath of fresh air when it comes to math. My 6 year old just finished this one, and absolutely loved it! The book consists of silly, off the wall adventures of Fred. Throughout the adventures, Fred must use his math skills to figure things out. It’s actually a lot of fun, and pretty funny!
What I mostly love about the book (and series) is that it teaches kids why they’re doing the math. It teaches them how they can use the math they’re learning. This was a major frustration for me as a kid. Not knowing why I was learning the math I was, or even what situations I could use it for in life, made it seem pointless and too abstract for me to care about. Life of Fred is so much better than my math text books growing up. Absolutely excellent!
All I’ve ever seen before Life of Fred, with math textbooks, is a boring monotonous format with each chapter: how to do the math problem, 40 - 60 problems. Next chapter: how to do the problem, 40 - 60 problems. As a young person, this format would kill any joy or interest I had in math at all. It was the most boring of any conceived subject.
This series is a breath of fresh air when it comes to math. My 6 year old just finished this one, and absolutely loved it! The book consists of silly, off the wall adventures of Fred. Throughout the adventures, Fred must use his math skills to figure things out. It’s actually a lot of fun, and pretty funny!
What I mostly love about the book (and series) is that it teaches kids why they’re doing the math. It teaches them how they can use the math they’re learning. This was a major frustration for me as a kid. Not knowing why I was learning the math I was, or even what situations I could use it for in life, made it seem pointless and too abstract for me to care about. Life of Fred is so much better than my math text books growing up. Absolutely excellent!
August 27, 2024
This is fun and interesting for adults or kids. As others have said, it is NOT a complete arithmetic text, but I think it's a very useful supplement. I would use it with Miquon Math and Cuisenaire Rods.
Besides teaching ways to add numbers to get 7, it teaches how adding 0 does not change a number, telling time (on a real round clock!), the concept of sets, the fact that the most common number of items in a set is 0, counting by 5s, 10s, and 100s, days of the week, how to spell February (which is of course pronounced as if it were spelled Febuary), and bits of geometry. It uses temperature readings to hint at negative numbers. And it teaches bits about Archimedes and the Titanic and even has a phrase in classical Greek and several in Latin, among other things.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
Besides teaching ways to add numbers to get 7, it teaches how adding 0 does not change a number, telling time (on a real round clock!), the concept of sets, the fact that the most common number of items in a set is 0, counting by 5s, 10s, and 100s, days of the week, how to spell February (which is of course pronounced as if it were spelled Febuary), and bits of geometry. It uses temperature readings to hint at negative numbers. And it teaches bits about Archimedes and the Titanic and even has a phrase in classical Greek and several in Latin, among other things.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
February 18, 2021
This math book is a living book. It makes math fun and draws the reader into the story. I purchased for my first grader but my preschooler learned alongside just fine because this book is so well written. We are on book two now.
November 9, 2023
Very unique. Very specific humor that fit my kids wonderfully haha.. a great addition to our morning time that my kids enjoyed, especially the ones aged 4 to 8.
Would not recommend as a replacement to a math curriculum but it was a fun way to experience math and silly stories at the same time.
Would not recommend as a replacement to a math curriculum but it was a fun way to experience math and silly stories at the same time.
October 7, 2024
Abby and I had a lot of fun reading through this out of the box math book. I was impressed at how much she learned. She asked every day to “read Fred”.
December 10, 2024
Absolutely hilarious!
May 28, 2023
The Life of Fred series is wonderful. Apples is such a gentle introduction to math for the little ones. My son isn't writing well yet so we did the "Your Turn" sections out loud instead of written down, and it worked well.
April 25, 2018
I like life of Fred because he is funny. And it’s pretty cool that his doll can talk. Fred teaches me math and it makes math fun. First I didn’t like math but now that he taught me he made things fun.
March 20, 2024
Anything that gets my kids laughing and doing math joyfully is 5 stars in my opinion.
March 26, 2012
Math is fun this way...each chapter continues the story of Fred...which is cute and funny for child and adult...and also teaches concepts...math and more. My six year old can read each chapter alone and answer the questions at the end of each mostly on her own. It is fun, and seems too easy to really be educational...but by the end of the book I could see a true progression. Without pain, my daughter learned to add and subtract (this needs some attention outside of the book honestly, but the book uses it to encourage critical thinking, not necessarily basic math which it is stated your child should already know basic number sense before starting), to answer basic algebra (x+4=7) questions, the days of the week and how to spell them, ordinal numbers, number sets, some history, some geography, how to read a clock, and mostly how to think things through. I ordered the rest of the series after using this one...at first I thought it wasn't enough; after seeing the rapid growth in my daughter I am convinced this math program is fully worthwhile. I like that the focus is on thinking...places math in the context of life.
July 27, 2018
This series is definitely not your typical set of math textbooks. The only reason I looked at this particular volume is it's the first in the sequence. I'm actually considering the algebra books but wanted to see how it all started. If I had to build an impression based only on the first volume I'd probably walk away now. It's cute, but it moves very slowly and seems to skip over some very important steps. I just don't think this would have worked for my child. That said, I'll glance through a few more in the elementary/intermediate series before examining the algebra volumes I'm actually interested in, but I likely won't read any others from cover to cover unless I decide the algebra volumes will work for us.
August 29, 2024
Read a few chapters of this periodically to my nephew when he visited. So it took us a few years to finish. We had a good laugh yesterday when we finished and as a fifth grader, he can confidently add everything to seven. Despite it being much below his grade level we are going to continue. Maybe we can finish the third book by the time he graduates high school, lol.
A fun and random book with little bits of math thrown in. The practice telling time on an analog clock is much needed even at 4th grade. Lots of fun.
A fun and random book with little bits of math thrown in. The practice telling time on an analog clock is much needed even at 4th grade. Lots of fun.
October 18, 2016
This book wasn't out cup of tea. Not sure if it's because we were also reading Childcraft Mathemagic and Lilac Mohr's Math and Magic Wonderland. But compared to those two books, the story line wasn't strong and very "twaddle-y". Now to decide to continue in the Elementary Series or jump up to the next level?
May 25, 2013
This was amusing and included lots of math as well as other interesting topics. My kids (ages 6 and 9 at the time)didn't take to it like I thought they would. I may try a higher level in the series to see if that resonates more.
May 6, 2015
We love Fred! My daughter and I really enjoyed reading about Fred, Kingie, and all their adventures. I was amazed at how much learning is packed into this book. It's learning that is also such fun to read. We can't wait to see what book two brings!
November 20, 2017
I enjoyed reading this to my daughter but, unfortunately, she didn't have the same feeling. lol I would give it a solid 3.5/4 stars but she would say 1 possibly 2. I'm averaging our ratings for 3 stars! :)
June 8, 2013
I don't think this would be all you could do for a homeschool math curriculum, but it was fun to read.
Read aloud
Read aloud
March 28, 2014
It's an interesting approach to math but it could never be a stand alone curriculum for my children.
April 30, 2020
I kindof like these but also find them strange at the same time.
November 6, 2020
My mom says she'll give us 3 oldest kids 20$ if we read the first 10 books by christmas, but I think she mainly made the completion for me cause I'm so bad at reading old times clocks.
August 2, 2024
Caleb's turn! We love Fred Fridays.
February 12, 2021
We have loved this, we have been using Math-U-See pretty much for our homeschooling journey for the last 5 yrs and while my 10 yr old does great with that, I believe bc his brain is wired for math etc, it has been a struggle for my 8 yr old twins. So we have taken a break for them from it this yr and I have tried to find fun ways to learn math and to help them understand math is important and we use it daily and this does just that!! Right now this book was pretty easy for them but it has been a fun and engaging story and they have def learned their math facts that equal 7 along with working on days of the week and months of the yr, some telling time and even a little science here and there!!! This will be a fun supplement to add to Math U See once we pick it back up!! And we are huge fans of reading aloud and learning thru living literature already in our homeschool so I am so glad I found this ❤️
March 19, 2021
My children (7 and 4) and I loved this book. It was organic and the perfect mix of silly and practical to tickle the imagination and playfully engage the thinking cap.
My oldest would drag his feet about math and I was hopeless at making math engaging even in a game setting. Fred lightened the atmosphere and made math part of the journey rather than the goal. We learned about things other than simple math facts and that knowledge made its way into our day-to-day conversations (what if my eyes were deciduous? Plop! Haha).
Highly recommend giving it a try!
My oldest would drag his feet about math and I was hopeless at making math engaging even in a game setting. Fred lightened the atmosphere and made math part of the journey rather than the goal. We learned about things other than simple math facts and that knowledge made its way into our day-to-day conversations (what if my eyes were deciduous? Plop! Haha).
Highly recommend giving it a try!
October 3, 2017
So far I love this series...we finished Apples and are about half done with Butterflies. The stories are cute and funny and if additional work is needed on any of the topics it's easy to come up with worksheets online or on my own. My daughter has enjoyed the books as well. She's less enthusiastic about the problems that require sentence type answers, but I think we just need to build up her hand strength.
October 10, 2022
Catherine gave this a 5 star rating. She loved it. We have some dyscalculia going on, so while we do brain integration training, we are pausing our formal math curriculum for this story based math. It is working to ease her math anxiety and makes math fun and silly, so I feel good about giving it 4 stars. So far, we have been able to fit three chapters a day in, but that may slow as we progress through the books.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews