They are a delight.  One mother emailed:

Dear Professor Schmidt,

. . . On Saturday, my friend lent me her copy of "Life of Fred: Fractions."  That evening after supper, I started to read it and giggled so much my [11-year-old] daughter came and sat beside me to see what I was reading. . . . We got a piece of paper and a pencil, and she wouldn't stop until we had read five lessons. . . . She said: "This is the funniest math book I have ever seen."

Another mom wrote:

Hi,

. . . From the time I was in 2nd grade, I cried my way through math.  In high school, I wrote my best friend's term papers and she did all my algebra. . . . Now, here I am with your book. . . I've found myself sitting at the kitchen table, giggling over the story lines, working out problems and actually "getting it" for the first time in my life!!!! :)  And that's a very good thing since I am now a homeschool mother of 5. . . .

Just so you know, even my 7 and 6 year olds are BEGGING me to read the story of Fred to them!!!!  Enough so that they're grabbing paper and pencils attempting to answer the questions with their sibling so I'll read more!!!  It seems too good to be true.

They are self-teaching. 

No need to have anyone interpret them.

The Life of Fred books are gloss-film laminated hardcover with Smyth sewn binding.  Fully indexed and illustrated.  They are not workbooks to write in, and each book will be enjoyed by all your children (and grandchildren!) 

They are roughly one-third of the price of everyone else.

Take, for example, Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra which sells for $29 (with no charge for shipping!)

Looking on Amazon.com on March 10, 2007, you would see:

Beginning Algebra, Ninth Edition
by Margaret L. Lial, John Hornsby, Terry McGinnis
List Price: $122.67

Elementary Algebra: Concepts and Applications
(7th Edition)
by Marvin L. Bittinger, David J. Ellenbogen
List Price: $122.67

Introductory Algebra (10th Edition) (Paperback)
by Marvin L. Bittinger
List Price: $118.00

Beginning Algebra
by K. Elayn Martin-Gay
List Price: $164.87

Introductory Algebra (4th Edition)
by Robert F Blitzer
List Price: $122.67

Introductory Algebra (Paperback)
by Richard N. Aufmann, Vernon C. Barker, Joanne S. Lockwood
List Price: $114.36

Introductory Algebra through Applications (Paperback)
by Geoffrey Akst, Sadie Bragg
List Price: $118.00

Beginning Algebra (6th Edition) (Paperback)
by John Jr Tobey, Jeffrey Slater
List Price: $118.00

Elementary Algebra, Fifth Edition
by Mark Dugopolski
List Price: $115.31

Elementary Algebra (2nd Edition)
by Tom Carson, Ellyn Gillespie, Bill E. Jordan
List Price: $122.67

Beginning Algebra (Paperback)
by Donald Hutchison
List Price: $125.00

Introductory Algebra (8th Edition) (Paperback)
by Margaret L. Lial, John Hornsby, Terry McGinnis
List Price: $118.00

Introductory Algebra (Paperback)
by Julie Miller, Molly O'Neill, Nancy Hyde
List Price: $110.00

Elementary Algebra
by Michael Sullivan III, Katherine R. Struve,
Janet Mazzarella
List Price: $122.67

Each of these books contains more math than is normally taught at the college level.  These are not skimpy.  Solid preparation for SAT exams and upper-division mathematics.

A) 46 ruler-and-compass constructions

B) a discussion of higher-dimensional geometry with a chart to 14 dimensions.  How to compute how many edges there are in a hypertesseract.

C) modern geometry (invented about a hundred years ago) which fixes the errors in Euclid's geometry. 

To see the Table of Contents for Life of Fred: Geometry, click here.