Finally! Math for Everybody 
Review of Life of Fred  www.lifeoffredmath.com

People are either math folks or they aren't...and two of my kids aren't.  Trying to find a math curriculum for those kids has been an ongoing struggle at best.   That was until I met Fred.

I admit that when a friend told me that her math curriculum was called "Life of Fred", I was very skeptical    How could a series of stories teach my kids math through High School?

Life of Fred is a collection of books written by Stan Schmidt that spans from beginning math concepts through calculus and statistics and so much more.   The books are set up in story form with the main character being Fred Gauss, a 5 1/2 year old college math professor at KITTENS University.   Fred uses math concepts in real life so you don't get the "when am I ever going to use this" question.   Along with math, Fred books include music, history, literature, science, art and many other topics.   The books are divided into four groups: Elementary books before fractions,  Before High School,  High School and University  Mathematics.

The ten elementary books begin with basic addition and goes through long division.  The books are titled alphabetically from Apples to Jelly Beans.   In these books Fred has multiple pets, we meet Fred's doll Kingie, travel to Edgewood, Kentucky, and meet a lot of interesting characters who come into Fred's life.   The stories are engaging and the kids can't wait to find out what happens next.

The Before High School book set covers fractions, decimals, percents, pre-algebra (with biography and economics) and physics.  Not only does Fred tell you how to work with these often tough concepts, but he explains why you do what you do with the numbers.  For non-math people this is really gives them the depth of understanding that many curricula lack.  My oldest daughter said that with Fred she finally understand the why of math, not just the what of math.

The High School books are beginning algebra, geometry, advanced algebra and trigonometry.   These books have extra practice and fully explained answers.  This set of books makes it easy for parents who may not be math whizzes to teach these higher math courses with confidence.

For students who want to move on past High School math can delve into Calculus, Statistics and Linear Algebra.  These books allow students to move on in math by themselves.   The books will take you through second year college math and give you the skills you need to tackle these classes at the university level.

The books have a small number of examples to complete called, Your Turn to Play.  This isn't the typical present the concept and then do a large number of problems.  The younger grade books have 19 chapters and no tests.   When you reach the before High School books you add "bridges". These are review quizzes that the student needs to pass before moving on in the book.  There are five different tries to get nine out of ten questions right.  When you look over the bridge questions you will know exactly what areas are problems so you can go over them again.  At the end of the books is a final bridge that reviews the whole book.  Again there are five bridges that the students can choose from to show mastery of the topics.  The High School books have companion books that can be bought with extra practice and detailed answers.

Life of Fred books are fun, informative and inexpensive.  The books range from $17 for the Elementary books to $40 for the University books.  All the books are hard cover so they can be used for multiple students.  The books are subtly Christian.  Fred budgets for the tithe, goes to Sunday School and prays, but the books are not preachy.  These books are not just for folks who aren't math oriented.  They are fun for everybody and don't be surprised if you enjoy reading the books as much as the kids do.