Life of Fred

By Polka Dot PublishingChecked October 29, 2026No affiliate links. Programs never pay to appear. How we label

Life of Fred is a series of hardback math storybooks that follow Fred, a five-year-old math professor, from early arithmetic through high school math and on to university topics. Each chapter tells part of the story, teaches the math Fred needs, and ends with practice questions the child answers in a notebook, with the answers in the book. Younger children are read to and older students read on their own; there are no teacher's guides or workbooks to buy.

Subjects: Math
Grades: 1st to 12th grade, and on to university math; the first book can start anywhere from 1st to 4th grade source ↗
Method: Literature-based source ↗
Format: Books and workbooks source ↗
Faith label: Faith-based
Cost a year: $49 a year. Beginning Algebra Expanded Edition, about one school year: $49; the optional Zillions of Practice Problems book is $39. Elementary books are $19 each, and the 10-book Elementary Series takes about 16 to 21 months. Read on October 29, 2026; prices change. source ↗
Placement: Where to start guide ↗

What it does well

Each book holds the lessons, practice questions and answers, so there is no teacher's guide, answer key or workbook to buy.
Elementary books cost $19 each, and the sturdy hardbacks are written in a notebook rather than in the book, so younger siblings can reuse them.
The math sits inside a running story with word problems, and younger children can listen while a parent reads aloud.
Books returned within a month in saleable condition are refunded.

Watch for

There is less drill than in most programs, and the publisher says some students prefer more problems or add a second program.
The stories wander into many non-math topics, from grammar to history, which suits some children more than others.
The elementary books are not tied to grades, so matching them to a school year for records takes some planning.
There are no videos or online lessons; the child learns by reading or being read to.

It fits

A child who loves stories and reading, in a family that wants inexpensive, self-contained books with little parent preparation.

It doesn’t fit

A family that wants lots of practice problems, a scripted parent lesson each day, or a program laid out grade by grade.

Visit Life of Fred ↗

Compare Life of Fred

Other programs for the same subject and grades:

Art of Problem Solving Grades 5 to 12: Introduction series about grades 5 to 9, Intermediate series about grades 8 to 12
CTCMath Kindergarten to 12th grade, through Pre-Calculus and Calculus
The Good and the Beautiful Preschool to 12th grade; high school has language arts and biology only
Khan Academy Kindergarten to 12th grade, plus early college courses
Math-U-See Kindergarten to 12th grade, in 13 levels placed by skill, not grade
Saxon Math Kindergarten to 12th grade
Teaching Textbooks Math 3 to Pre-Calculus, one course per grade level, about 3rd to 12th grade
Generation Genius Kindergarten to 8th grade, in K to 2nd, 3rd to 5th and 6th to 8th grade bands

Lists it is on

What we read, and how we label

Every fact on a card was read on the publisher's own website on the date shown, and the page it came from is linked. A fact we could not confirm there is left out. Costs are for one child and one year of the main package, as the publisher's page showed them that day; prices and sales change. Method and format are the publisher's own description where it gives one. The only thing we say about religion is one label, secular or faith-based, given by the rule above; where the publisher's pages don't settle it, the card has no label.

The publisher’s pages we read on October 29, 2026:

Something wrong or out of date? Publishers and parents can send a correction and we will fix it. Publishers can send corrections, never money. All programs compared · Find your homeschool style