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I have used Life of Fred math with my 10 year old and 14 year old. My 10 year old is thriving with it. One thing I like about Life of Fred is how he introduces advanced concepts on a simple level much earlier than any other math curriculum. For example, he introduces Sigma in one of the elementary books, and my 10 year old totally understands it. It's not really a HARD concept, just not one that is normally introduced at such an early age. Of course, the main thing most kids like about Fred is that there is an ongoing story being told throughout all the books. This keeps my son interested and engaged and helps math not be quite so dry.

One thing I will say is that once you get to Goldfish or Honey, your student might need to take a break from doing lessons in his textbook to focus on learning his multiplication facts for a little while. From Honey on, he will have much more success and much less frustration if he's able to recall those facts easily. "Fred" even encourages the reader to make what he calls "Honey cards," which are just multiplication flash cards, and to practice them often.

Unfortunately, my 14 year old needed more explanation than was offered at his level. He started Life of Fred in Algebra II during his first year of being homeschooled. I could have gone back to an earlier curriculum to give him the foundation he needed, but decided to switch to a different curriculum. He was really enjoying the way LoF teaches math, but he was struggling too much with the concepts and getting frustrated.