Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra review

Charry is finishing up her final lesson of Beginning Algebra today! So I thought now would be a good time to offer my humble opinion on the curriculum.

Charry started using Life of Fred, in 3rd grade, after a very bad 2nd grade year.  And to be honest the books aren't perfect.  But for all their faults the love of math that they inspire has made them totally worth it for us.

So how do they inspire a love of math?  The books tell a humorous tale of tiny 5 year old Fred Gauss and his adventures as a math teacher at Kittens University.  Charry is willing to work through the math in order to read about poor Fred and his misadventures.

How well do they teach math? Well, that depends on the student.  Fred books present math as puzzles for the reader to solve.  If a child loves working through puzzles these are excellent.  My child is not a lover of puzzles so she took some coaxing.  Since she is a lover of attention having math one on one with mom was a motivator.  And since I love puzzles I could walk her though things, asking the questions that helped her head in the right direction.

Is it really a complete curriculum? Yes, but that doesn't mean it never needs supplementing.  With the Beginning Algebra book I also bought the "additional problems."  Since I'm not great at making up problems this was helpful.  But we didn't use most of it. For most lessons what was in the book was enough for her to understand the concept.

Did she remember what she learned? Yes! Between the antidotal Fred stories (which all related back to the math) and the mom examples, she got a high A on her final test!  To be honest it surprised me how well she did.

So what are the faults? One is the time I had to spend with her. I don't consider this a fault really but many homeschoolers want their students able to work independently in highschool.  Honestly I don't think any math curriculum is very "independent" especially once you get to highschool.

Another fault that seems to be present in all of Dr Schmidt's books is an arrogance of the author.  He constantly seems to belittle other math books and other teacher.  I think it is all in jest but occasionally it will rub me the wrong way.

So all in all I love Fred! (In fact I'm coming very close to owning all of the Math books) And next year Charry is excited to be following his adventures once again!

"Insta" replay, so April came and went

Blogging has not been a high priority lately.  Last month I finished a term of school, worked hard on my finals, and then jumped into lesson planning for next year!

When life gets busy I find myself focusing being there for the moments rather than taking pictures but here is the short list:

 

    

As you see we spent time with family, goofed around and generally enjoyed life! 

Insta-replay, whoops where did March go?

So I kinda fell off the blogging bandwagon for a bit there.  To be honest somehow I lost track of quite a few of my goals last month, but a new month means I can start again! So here it goes!

We've had a month packed with fun!  

My pretty girls with their matching hair bows heading to AWANA.

 

We've been pretty good about going to the library once a week, Charry volunteers and Merry and I work on school or read. 

 

Merry is working on a science project, learning about color and light.  She will be writing a report, making a display, and giving a speech.  But for now she's just doing experiments.

 

We've managed to try a few new eating places, I love that my girls will use chopsticks!

 

We've also managed to spend lots of time with my mom, mostly drinking coffee.

 

And we've enjoyed a few cultural outings, like going to a play in Portland!  The book is one of Merry's favorites and the play was nicely done.

So that was what I was up to, I hope March was as fun for the rest of you!

"Insta"-replay: living for the weekend

 

Another day another coffee!  It's been a busy weekend, coffee was necessary, trust me. 

You know the feeling of thinking you had posted a blog only to discover later you had been interrupted in the middle and never got back to it, sigh.  I need more coffee!

Last week was a lot of fun.  We celebrated a birthday, felt loved on valentines, watched my dancers in their classes and has fun family time!

 

 

 

 

I'll be honest, I don't have any pictures of my favorite part of the week, I was too busy enjoying it to get my phone out!

"Insta"-replay, dreary weather

This week has been noteably wet and wetter.

 

Luckily it hasn't been too cold.

 

Which was especially luckily when our power went out! Along with our near by Target.  So we made a trek to an outlet mall to explore and so I could get a coffee.

 

The weather hasn't gotten Merry down, she continues to show off her bubbly personality and unique style.  I think she especially enjoys dressing up for clogging where she receives a myriad of compliments.

 

And a shout out to Aunt Katie for entertaining the girls (and their parents) during the super bowl! She is the best!

"Insta"-replay: Year of the chicken

Since I missed last week, I decided to cut this week short and do a Friday update. How novel, I know.

 

We seem to spend a lot of time sitting at the dance studio, but it's not too bad.

 

Charry had been volunteering with me at AWANA.  It is fun to watch her being responsible!

 

It is a New Year, at least in China, so we went out for our traditional try to eat with chopsticks meal.  I'm sure the waitresses have a good laugh behind our backs.

 

In honor of the year of the chicken my mother-in-law made the girls awesome hats!  They are just too cute!

 

And I found an excuse to start my day with a trip to Target for coffee, so yay!

My year is going great, I hope yours is starting well too!

"Insta"-replay, what about me?

I realize I normally focus on what my kids do during our busy weeks, so much so you may think all I do is drive them around.  That is only mostly true.

 

I spend a good deal of my free time working on my school.  I really like being a student.  So while deadlines are stressful the classes are fun.

 

I also take a clogging class each week.  It gets me up and moving as well as stretches me as a person.

 

I try to get coffee with my mom pretty regularly. Partly because I like coffee but mostly because I like hanging out with my mom!

So those are the "me" activities, that I do along with the mom activities each week.