Picking This Year's Curriculum

Having 4 (soon to be 5) kids, I took on finding the perfect curriculum this year with slightly different than normal standards.  I have high-risk pregnancies, and I know that I will have a c-section which will put me in the hospital for at least a week, maybe more.  To top that off, I anticipate the delivery to be sometime around the week of Christmas and I know that my recovery time is long, probably around 4 weeks.  So, I expect that when I bring the baby home we will be in the midst of a chaotic mess, my husband has already used almost all of his vacation for the year, and I will be breastfeeding a new infant; so I expect that we will take at least a month off in the winter from our general studies… at least those that mom is a huge part of.  With this in mind I was looking for curriculum that was versatile, that the older kids could take on a little faster or alone if they wanted or needed to, something that my friends could jump in and help with or could be done a little at a time.  I wanted to make sure that the kids did not lose momentum and that they were challenged and enjoyed school.  I have to say, as of right now I am feeling like I chose the absolute most perfect curriculum to fit our families needs that I could have!

Life of Fred - Curriculum review

First off I should explain that I could not find this book anywhere local to look at it and decide what I thought up front about whether it was at the level that I wanted, but I made the choice to start with Apples for three reasons:  1.  I have three younger children that will certainly be using this book.  2.  My older children have been taught math in the traditional since with very little application tied in.  3.  To build on a consistent wave length.  

My older daughter has struggled with math forever, maybe struggled is a bit harsh; but when compared to my son she was just not getting it the same way.  She often compares herself to her peers, and she seemed so frustrated that her younger brother was advanced two years past her grade level and was working on more advanced third grade math than she was.  She seemed to just be memorizing a little bit here and a little bit there.  She HATED drill work.  We had tried using an online math curriculum with her which she enjoyed, but if she got just one answer wrong it would set her back a specific amount on her skill test and she had even more work to do.  Last year was hard because we had signed up for that program for a year and she wound up in tears on a regular basis.  

My oldest son is a math whiz, at 6 years old he is working on multiplication; yet I really do not think he understood why he needed all of the information, he processes math like a calculator and just spits out the facts (much like I did).  I realized that while he had a strong understanding of math, I really would have preferred to have a reasoning that made since for why I wanted (not just needed) to learn math.  I believe if I had had a stronger foundation in why I wanted to learn math I would not have lost all interest when I reached math analysis in high school.  

(Both children tested out of theheadoftheclass.com curriculum in September for their grade levels).

So, when I found a little information on Life of Fred books there were many things I saw that I loved about the curriculum.  First, I really liked the idea of the story being told.  It seems like an easy way to interpret how math skills will apply to daily life.  I ordered these books from ztwistbooks.com.  The cost was $16 per elementary book, free shipping!  The books are hardback with sewn in binding and will last for generations!  There are no workbooks to buy, you will not need them.  I would suggest a notebook with loose leaf paper, because at about 4 problems per chapter, it will not take that much paper.  

One could look at the cost of $16 per book and 10 elementary books ($160 for the entire elementary collection) and argue that for one child that is high; however, there are a number of reasons I would argue this.  First of all, these can be used with each of your children, so in my family it will cost me less than $4 per child per book.  Additionally, I do not have any workbook to buy as I would with nearly all other math programs.  This program addresses more than just math, it talks about manners, spelling, times of the year, weather, dressing for the weather, responsibilities, social development, some history, some science, and many other life lessons.  The value of blending all of these lessons into a book is great, and to top it off the books are written in a way that allows the children to read from them themselves and are interesting and entertaining enough that my children frequently choose to read the book on their own schedule.  Yesterday, my daughter pulled it out and was reading it to the kids while in the van running errands and today she brought it to me and asked for me to read it while they folded laundry!  So, while my big kids (6 and 8) are having class and learning, my little ones (2 and 4) are already benefiting from hearing all of these math and life facts.  They will be reading apples for a couple of years yet, but those principles of math and life are already starting to form in their little brains and they will have a very strong foundation to start on!  Having the kids so enthralled in the book has to be a sign that they are enjoying it and definitely going to have it be a strongly remembered part of their education.

In my opinion, I do not want to spend a ton of money on curriculum, especially at the elementary level; but when there is a program like Life of Fred, that will be such a strong asset to my children I would certainly say it is worth every penny.  

**If you buy these books on Ebay, even if they are used, you will probably pay way more than if you buy them used from Ztwist.  I watched them and looked for them everywhere before I made my purchase and the Ztwist site offers the best deal, they are brand new, and they are sent out quickly.  Ztwist is most likely to have the book in stock and has the advantage of selling them for a lower cost because they are the direct sale company :)  I have no affiliation with them.  I ordered on a Friday afternoon and had my books by Wednesday with their free shipping. 

Now, since I have spent such a long time going off on a tangent of all of the wonderful things I have to say about LOF books, I would also love to share my opinions on the things I would have been more intense in looking at if I were going to buy for an older child and not pass the books down…

First, on Ztwist you can review a full chapter from any book that you are interested in.  I would do this.  My older children are far beyond the Apples grade level (though they are still able to listen to and enjoy the material and it is a way to build their confidence and reinforce), if I were only buying the materials for the older children I would have strongly considered looking at a more advanced level.  Secondly, I was really unsure of how long to consider each book to take.   Just yesterday I did find someone who said that each elementary book could take between 6 weeks to more than a year depending on the child.  After seeing my children with the book, I would say we could easily get through a number of the books in 2 weeks at a time, at least until they get caught up to the level of multiplication; however, I would also say that Apples does tie into multiplication some, so it is laying the groundwork and may be more about getting into the style of math education that they are in.  I do love that LOF offers not too much drill and kill at the end of each chapter; however, I would really love to see the option of several different sets of problems so that they could have different questions if they re-read the chapter at a later date.  I may actually create those for my children :)