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Life of Fred: Apples
(Life of Fred Elementary Series #1)
by
Numbers that Add to 7, Circles, Ellipses, Reading 6:00 on a Clock, 5 + ? = 7, Days of the Week, Leap Years, Spelling February, Dressing for Cold Weather, 15 Degrees Below Zero (–15º), Deciduous Trees, Deciduous Teeth, Counting by Fives, 3x + 4x = 7x, Archimedes 287 B.C. Wrote The Sand Reckoner and Got Killed Being Rude, ante meridiem (a.m.), Donner and Blitz in German, One
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Hardcover, 128 pages
Published
2011
by Polka Dot Publishing
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My five-year-old and I read through this book together as a fun supplement to her math lessons. We both got a big kick out of it, and she seemed to really grasp the concepts presented because they were delivered through a fictional narrative. I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable allowing Fred to be her only math curriculum, but it takes a clever approach that definitely makes math more fun, especially for kids who love to read.
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I hated math all growing up. It wasn’t until college that I found I could actually do math well. I think it was partly due to my own ambivalence, partly to poor teachers, and partly to the way math textbooks work.
All I’ve ever seen before Life of Fred, with math textbooks, is a boring monotonous format with each chapter: how to do the math problem, 40 - 60 problems. Next chapter: how to do the problem, 40 - 60 problems. As a young person, this format would kill any joy or interest I had in math ...more
All I’ve ever seen before Life of Fred, with math textbooks, is a boring monotonous format with each chapter: how to do the math problem, 40 - 60 problems. Next chapter: how to do the problem, 40 - 60 problems. As a young person, this format would kill any joy or interest I had in math ...more

Math is fun this way...each chapter continues the story of Fred...which is cute and funny for child and adult...and also teaches concepts...math and more. My six year old can read each chapter alone and answer the questions at the end of each mostly on her own. It is fun, and seems too easy to really be educational...but by the end of the book I could see a true progression. Without pain, my daughter learned to add and subtract (this needs some attention outside of the book honestly, but the boo
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Since there were no reviews, I read the first book via ILL. It has what I would call a primitive design, but the math content seems solid. It presents math concepts and other concepts in a story format, with exercises to be done on the reader’s own paper. The main character makes a couple mentions of God in his musings, but the overall content does not seem religious in tone.

We love Fred! My daughter and I really enjoyed reading about Fred, Kingie, and all their adventures. I was amazed at how much learning is packed into this book. It's learning that is also such fun to read. We can't wait to see what book two brings!
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This series is definitely not your typical set of math textbooks. The only reason I looked at this particular volume is it's the first in the sequence. I'm actually considering the algebra books but wanted to see how it all started. If I had to build an impression based only on the first volume I'd probably walk away now. It's cute, but it moves very slowly and seems to skip over some very important steps. I just don't think this would have worked for my child. That said, I'll glance through a f
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So far I love this series...we finished Apples and are about half done with Butterflies. The stories are cute and funny and if additional work is needed on any of the topics it's easy to come up with worksheets online or on my own. My daughter has enjoyed the books as well. She's less enthusiastic about the problems that require sentence type answers, but I think we just need to build up her hand strength.
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This was a fun, funny, interesting, and completely perfect math read for our family. the concepts are introduced in an engaging way and gently reinforces each new concept as the story continues. it is full of facts and tidbits of information from other areas of study and this helps to make it interesting and pull in readers of all types. we can't wait for the next book in the series!
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I didn't think to put this on my "story time current" shelf, but these books are now a staple of our evening read aloud time. All of us absolutely loved this book, and I like the extra dose of maths a day that we get without hardly even realising. My learning-to-read child is also enjoying the Fred early readers.
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This is our first "official" year homeschooling and I hate the kill and drill approach to math. My son refers to this as his "buddy Fred" and we love it. I am looking forward to starting the next book.
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I enjoyed reading this to my daughter but, unfortunately, she didn't have the same feeling. lol I would give it a solid 3.5/4 stars but she would say 1 possibly 2. I'm averaging our ratings for 3 stars! :)
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Fun, entertaining and educational. My boys can't wait to begin the next book.
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My boys enjoyed the oddity of this book and the simplicity. I find it crazy, but if it helps my boys with math, I'll do it.
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It was very educational.
I don't really like Fred as much as I like Kingie. ...more
I don't really like Fred as much as I like Kingie. ...more

My mom says she'll give us 3 oldest kids 20$ if we read the first 10 books by christmas, but I think she mainly made the completion for me cause I'm so bad at reading old times clocks.
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Life of Fred Elementary Series
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