Tag Archives: life of fred

Sir Cumference and Lady Kalina

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No children were injured in the making of this photo. The child was injured before the photo was taken. And don't worry, Kalina didn't mind a bit that I took her picture when she was hurt. She loves the spotlight. These injuries were acquired when some sibling rough-housing got a little of of hand and led to an accident. The photo was taken to show Daddy exactly what Kalina looked like at the time of the injuries. An apology was issued and accepted. Forgiveness was sought and given. All is well.

But the reason I needed to post a photo of Kalina (and this is the only recent one I have that I haven't posted) was this:

Earlier this week I blogged about our love for Fred. I wrote about how I wasn't concerned that my children didn't work through the math problems when reading the books for pleasure. I wrote about how I was confident that they were picking up on the uses for the math presented, which some might argue are even important than the actual arithmetic. 

While working through Life of Fred Decimals and Percents with Tilly, I came upon this question which I asked aloud:

"If the diameter of the circle is 8 centimeters, what is the radius?"

Without skipping a beat, Kalina who was reading on the floor nearby, peeked around  the corner of the couch and yelled: "the radius is 4!"

Now, it was an simple enough problem, but how is it that nine year old Kalina, who has never studied geometry, could answer?

Ah, yes, the books! Are you familiar with the Sir Cumference series? If not, check them out now. {I have put my "Great Math Books" link on my sidebar} If you haven't looked into these, I beg you, homeschool family or not, to start collecting these books. They have given my children an incredible, math sense. A math sense that gives them the ability to actually use the math they learn! Imagine that.

Even though Kalina has never studied "Geometry" she was easily able to think, "hm…the radius is half the length of the diameter and 4 is half of eight (never mind that she hasn't hit division in her math yet either) therefore, the radius of the circle is 4!"

And if that doesn't convince you of the usefulness of these books, nothing will.

Life of Fred {Homeschooling}

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Tilly (11) has always been something of a math wiz;despite our "late" start to school (usually around age 8) and our laid-back style. It hasn't hindered her a bit. In fact, she's the farthest ahead in math out of any of children.

We've run into a bit of a roadblock in the last little bit, however. It started when Tilly forgot her password on the computer. This year Adalia, Judah and Tilly have all been doing Teaching Textbooks 7 (Tilly actually started it last year). We gave it a week or so, and she couldn't remember it, so she started working though the lessons in the accompanying workbook. I, being busy as usual, forgot that she was working though the workbook instead of the computer (which grades her work). And so I didn't check it for weeks. And when I did, I found she was struggling with decimals. Since so long had elapsed (and she'd worked through so many lessons) I gave her the choice of redoing the Teaching Textbooks lessons our going through our Life of Fred Decimals book. She chose Fred.

I've been a fan of the Life of Fred books since a blog reader recommended them. My children love to read them. They fight over them at bedtime. They are strewn all around our house (despite us having a designated "Life of Fred shelf"). What my children don't do is work through the problems. And I have no qualms about this. After all, they are using a full math curriculum (Teaching Textbooks) and in the Life of Fred books they are learning when and how to apply the math to real-life situations. And they love it.

Now however, the time has come to use it as a textbook. And I love Fred all more for it. What do I love? Every lesson is presented in story form. Not only does this make it interesting, but it also means there is no need to "introduce story problems" or talk about how you would use this "in the real world". Because in Life of Fred, math is never done just for the sake of "doing math". At the end of each chapter there are 4-7 problems for the child to solve. Not 35. Because really, if the child can solve 5 problems correctly, then can probably do 35 as well.  In the particular book we are working though now, ever five chapters there is a "bridge" with 10 problems. If the child gets 9 right, then can move on. If they get eight or fewer right, then they review the chapter, and try again (the books have five bridges per chapter). 

Tilly and I each read the chapter and I watch Tilly work through the  problems, checking to make sure she understands. And guess what? She's doing great and having no struggles with decimals.

Three cheers for Fred!