Life of Fred: Dogs

Life of Fred Elementary Series #4

by Stanley F. Schmidt

The idea behind Life of Fred is that if students have an enjoyable experience and have fun doing their math, they will remember it and use it and have a good taste in their math about the whole subject. The sub-title on each of his math books is "As Serious As it Needs to Be". And that is just the math doesn't need to be horrid and dry.

Genres: Mathematics, Childrens, Education, Nonfiction, School, Textbooks, Reference

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Stanley F. Schmidt is an educator. He began teaching high school teacher at the age of 22, and later taught in a college.

Reviews

[Ardyth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was quite dark, honestly. Fred gets fleeced by the con artists again, and his bank account gets wiped out, and then there's a dramatic turn of events involving euthanasia of unwanted pets.

Seems like a lot for 6yo or 7yo! Dr Stan was feeling somewhat negative while writing this one, maybe?

Every book has had some Christian God references beyond what I might say is necessary for presenting a Christian character... this one felt more pushy (?) about it while also more brutal about the world in a general sense -- to the point I started to wonder whether this is a math book with American fundamentalist Christian political undertones or an American fundamentalist Christian social commentary book with mathematical undertones.

Aside from that, nothing to add to my feelings about the methodology. I like the variety of topics covered (algebraic notation should not intimidate anyone who reads these in elementary school) and overall the presentation of math. Yet also I really feel it isn't enough on its own.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished 2nd grade math! Ian likes math in general, but loves Fred Fridays.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life of Fred it great! I love the storyline, and it teaches math really well.

[Ammie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Life of Fred down in the books. My students favorite part of the day.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

The wackiness of this series would not have served me well as a kid, but my 6-year-old really enjoys it. This book, whose plot involved rescuing dogs, was the least appealing to me of the plots of the four titles we've read so far, but my daughter had no complaints. We will start book 5, Life of Fred: Edgewood, soon!

[Nevada Libert · Rating 4 out of 5]

great story. i love fred sooooo much.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though my daughter gave this five stars, I have to knock it down one for the times when the author includes concepts for which a child doesn’t have the background knowledge, or goes off on tangential topics that are unnecessarily obscure to the math topic. Obviously, there is a lot going on here that is not completely math focused, which is fun and humorous. Those are not the tangents to which I am referring.

[Anjanette Barr · Rating 4 out of 5]

My seven year old declared that LoF is "one of the only fun things about school." So, despite the many things that drive me bonkers about these books, I'll keep using them. The kids don't balk at the silliness, and they do learn from them.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, engaging, outside of the box math curriculum. My kids LOVE Fred, his silly humor, and learn much along the way with far less effort than with traditional math books.

[Enola Stevenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic as ever...and a little tear shed at the end!

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series still!

[Andrea Renfrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kid loves these. I hate them. We read them together because she likes them. The idea that they in any way "teach" math is a joke, but she is entertained.

[Meredith Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

(with Ben & Mabry)

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 10 yo son and I are plowing through these this summer. He finds them hilarious. The math is easy for him, but the way it is applied is so clever. There are other bits of knowledge, too.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are great books but the more I read the more I realize they don’t stand alone as a curriculum. The Life of Fred books are great for supplementing and making math interesting.

[Tom Romig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming and whimsical approach to learning math. Designed to engage and teach reluctant mathematicians.

[Diago Padilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a good series and it also is good for practiceing math

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading during our morning time loop..krb 1/9/17

Now putting this into the kids assignment sheets for the week to do the reading on their own, 1 chapter at a time along with Abeka's science book for 3rd year...krb 2/27/17

Jacob really started to enjoy and laugh with the book when he read it on his own as part of his school assignment sheets. I am so thankful! Will keep assigning the reading on their own for future Life of Fred books. (Ellie has always liked these books whether read aloud or by herself)..krb 5/19/17

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review of the Life of Fred: Dogs will be my last one in this entertaining series. Not only are new concepts presented (function, angles, adding two digit numbers and carrying one in addition), but older concepts are repeated (cardinal and ordinal numbers, addition and subtraction facts, place value). Fred learns a hard lesson about his finances, and dog care when numerous dogs are just too much for him and Kingie to handle. Another fun book about math and more!

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't like the chapters about life choices (food, 'fat', pie and weight gain chart, tv & 'lazy/ignorant') and didn't like how the euthenasia topic was handled. The religious input seems to be slightly increasing (God loves you). In the end, the math was very good and my son was doing great things. The story was good, ended with a twist, my son loved it. We're looking forward to starting Edgewood.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read all the Life of Freds up to Dogs and this is the first one where I felt like we started to start to learn math more. I still liked the first three and all the other things it covers, but this one was more than 4+5 and I was interested to see how he did it.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story itself was about four stars, but I have to knock one off since I was doing the math as I read it.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Fred books are so much fun. I wouldn't say they are a complete math curriculum, but they are interesting and educational and so quirky! I love them!!!

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids love these Life Of Fred books. Math interspersed with lots of other interesting ideas and facts.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fred is awesome! Worthwhile and useful in teaching the importance of math in daily use.

[Congetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son is not a big fan of reading or math, but he asks to read these books.

[Lisa Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elementary math, fantastic series, all Fred books are highly recommended.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

No matter what ages you have... read Fred aloud to your children.

[Cori Thonen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for teaching elementary math! This one focuses on the math facts for doubles, and the numbers 15 and 17.

[Machelle]

Although I couldn't conceive of using these books as a complete curriculum, they are a fun way to reinforce math concepts with cute stories. My boys are enjoying them even family read-alouds even as teenagers :) We started from the beginning of the series just to get the full story :)