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Ouiz
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| Posted: May 27 2015 at 1:48pm | IP Logged
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Oh my... I've been away from this forum for way too long! What a Godsend y'all are!
My daughter (9yrs) is going into 5th grade. Saxon was NOT a good fit for her at all. She is great with stories and narrations (which was why Memorize in Minutes: The Times TablesMemorize in Minutes: The Times Tables worked for her when it would have driven my other kids nuts).
My question is, has ANYONE ever used the Life of Fred series for their younger kids? It looks just quirky enough to fit her personality, but I'd like to hear from someone who has actually used it.
God bless!
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Ouiz
Blessed to be married to the man of my dreams and mom to 8 wonderful children here on earth
B-17, G-16, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, G-7, B-4
Chez Ouiz
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: May 27 2015 at 2:09pm | IP Logged
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We love Fred! I've tried Right Start and Math Mammoth (and would still consider using math mammoth again as a supplement to add some more practice) and keep coming back to Fred.
It is pretty different from other programs. I do love the way it makes my children "see" lots of math problems in the course of their every day. Like, we'll sit down to dinner and they'll try to figure out how many pounds of meat each person will get if we divide all the hamburgers evenly. In that way, I think it has contributed to the boys doing more math outside of their formal lessons.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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SeaStar
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| Posted: May 27 2015 at 2:36pm | IP Logged
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We love Fred, too. We have used it as a supplement to RightStart math.
But, as much as we loved the Fred elementary series, I am seeing really big potential for Fred in the older years, too. My ds worked through LOF fractions, and it was intense but very thorough. Now he is finishing up LOF decimals and percents, and it has been a very good fit for him. I have been pleased with how much he has learned, even though it has been hard for him at times. (He is grade 6).
I read a post recently about a mom who uses LOF with RightStart up to about 6th grade and then switches totally to Fred. After this year, I can see how that would work.
Once you get past the elementary series, in addition to Your Turn to Play there is a "bridge" section... you have to get 9 out of 10 review problems correct to pass over the bridge to the next part of the book. If you fail the first bridge, then there are four more, each with ten questions.
I have found that doing all of the bridge questions (fifty total) for each section is working very well for us. My ds and I do 20 minutes of Fred twice a day. By the time he has worked through all 50 bridge problems, he is very comfortable with the material and much faster. And because it is Fred, the bridge problems are not just a bunch of endlessly boring, repetitive problems. They are just as fun and quirky as the rest of the book.
That is probably TMI, but , yes, Fred can work!
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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knowloveserve
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| Posted: May 27 2015 at 2:42pm | IP Logged
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After trial and error with other math programs we use Fred exclusively here. Starting from the get go now. Every now and again, I'll supplement with Khan Academy to explain a concept or do some times tables reinforcement. (Really, they just have to memorize them even if they don't understand the concept right away. Not memorizing the tables is so debilitating in math).
Teaching Textbooks was fine but we ruined the CDs. They are too expensive to ruin... so I threw up my hands and did Fred.
My oldest is now entering the Pre-Algebra books and we still love Fred...
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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Ouiz
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| Posted: May 27 2015 at 3:03pm | IP Logged
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Thank you all for such quick responses!!
She finished Saxon 5/4 this year, but it was just hit or miss as to what would make sense to her, and what would throw her for a loop no matter how many ways I explained it to her. There were a LOT of tears from both of us. 
Looking at the Fred books, there is SO MUCH in the earlier books that she's never even seen before. I'd hate to take her all the way back to 2nd grade to get her up to speed, but I don't want her to spend another year totally frustrated.
I'm also looking at Ray's Mathematics, but that would take so much time from me, and with 7 others to teach, I need her to be able to go on without quite so much Mom time.
Can a kid jump into Decimals and Percents? I know that's an unfair question to ask, since it depends on the child, but that book seems to be more... settled down?... and sticks to what a 5th grader should be learning, more or less.
God bless!
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Ouiz
Blessed to be married to the man of my dreams and mom to 8 wonderful children here on earth
B-17, G-16, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, G-7, B-4
Chez Ouiz
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knowloveserve
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| Posted: May 27 2015 at 3:15pm | IP Logged
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If it were me, I'd start all the way back at Apples and present it as fun, gimme math. She'll finish the book in 2 weeks. And all the rest go equally as fast... up until the Intermediate series that begins with Kidneys. And the Fractions book before Decimals/Percents is kind of integral in the "Fred spiral"... which is not identical to normal math spirals. The books really go by fast and they are so fun that kids often want to do more than 1 or 2 lessons in a day... especially at the early level... and especially if you allow her to orally answer the first few books' worth of questions because they'll be so easy. (My children are much more willing learners with oral assignments over written.) You could get her up to 5th grade speed within a year pretty easily I'd think.
Starting at the beginning will do two things:
1-boost her confidence in what she already knows.
2-introduce her to the concepts in Fred's early books that will already be taken for granted in Decimals and Percents. For example, the kids learn about Functions WAY early on... and even basic algebraic concepts. The author simplifies the introduction to these ideas very early so children aren't intimidated by 'hard' math once they get to it.
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: May 27 2015 at 3:19pm | IP Logged
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I agree with Ellie.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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SeaStar
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| Posted: May 27 2015 at 3:32pm | IP Logged
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Me, too 
I think a jump into Decimals and Percents would be tough. Here are some example problems we did today:
By trial and error, find the square root of 1,296
Name two prime numbers that add up to 30
What is the area of the largest possible circle that will fit inside a rectangle that is 60 miles by 90 miles wide?
Name the smallest whole number that is equally divisible by 98 and 5555
Darlene could get 69.3 yards of thread from a large sheep. She could get 70% of that from a small sheep. How many yards of thread could she get from a small sheep? Round your answer to the nearest tenth of a yard.
There is a lot in the elementary series that is built on, plus you don't want to miss any of Fred's exciting adventures, which is half the fun 
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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Ouiz
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| Posted: May 27 2015 at 6:04pm | IP Logged
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Eek! Yeah, she wouldn't be able to jump into that.
Thank you all for your help! I guess we'll just play around with it during our summer break and see if it clicks with her or not.
God bless!!
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Ouiz
Blessed to be married to the man of my dreams and mom to 8 wonderful children here on earth
B-17, G-16, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, G-7, B-4
Chez Ouiz
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4Real Forums : Living and Loving Numbers
Topic: Time to make changes?
