Life of Fred: Farming

Life of Fred Elementary Series #6

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 point: math doesn't need to be horrid and dry. This is math-just as serious as it needs to be-and I can tell you from Louisa's smiles and chuckles, that's not very serious at all! As a bonus, these books are very low priced compared to any other math books on the market. (Compare to Saxon at $50-70). If you have a creative child who is languishing on traditional math programs, try Life of Fred! Math, As Serious As it Needs to Be! If you know your math facts (addition and multiplication) and you can read well, then the next step is to get to know Fred! Beware: This is not a traditional math book. This is a child-directed course. The student reads the adventure story, does the math problems that occur as a natural part of the story, and checks their answers (the solutions are right there for the looking.) And learns to love math in the process! You will not get the detailed formula explanations that you get in a traditional math book. I am still amazed that kids can read the story and learn the concepts, but they do!

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

128 pages, Hardcover

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

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

These books have helped C. continue to learn math without fighting it. She is slowly catching up, and mathematical concepts are cementing better for her with this. I'm personally looking forward to finishing the last copy we own, but I'm so glad it has helped her.

[Meredith Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

(with Ben & Mabry)

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

My third grader begs to do an extra math lesson, what more can I say about how great this is?

[Ammie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life of Fred has been transformative for my children and now my students. Grateful for Mr. Schmidt and his desire to make math delightful and silly.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. There are lots of random things going on to let you think about new things. We also ran into a few things that we've been learning about in other places too and that was fun.

[Congetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son loves Fred!