Greetings! My name is Joshua Sheats and I am the new publisher of Life of Fred. As of October 2025 my company, Polka Dot Publishing, LLC, has taken over all publishing duties for Life of Fred. I am extremely excited to build on the excellent work that Dr. Schmidt has created and to see it spread to the world!
Permit me a quick moment to introduce myself to you and to share with you my vision for Life of Fred in the future.
I grew up in a homeschool family and I have known since about age 15 that I would homeschool my own children. Unusual, I know! But I have always had a deep interest in education.
My work for the last two decades has primarily been in financial education. I began my career selling life insurance and working as a financial planner. In 2013 I surrendered all my licenses and launched a financial podcast called Radical Personal Finance. For the last decade I have been teaching financial planning to the public through that platform.
Several years ago I had the idea to create a personal finance curriculum for high school students. So, I went out a-Googlin' to see what was on the market. Typing “personal finance curriculum high school” took me directly to the promotional PDF on this very site for Life of Fred: Financial Choices.
As I read through the Table of Contents, I was immediately impressed by what I found. I thought, "I know exactly what this guy is teaching here…but I'm the only other person I have ever heard talk about this stuff!" Intrigued, I wondered what “Life of Fred” was and started to research.
After I discovered that Life of Fred was primarily a math and science curriculum I decided to purchase a few books and try it out. I bought the elementary series and gave them to my children to read.
They loved it!
I enjoyed watching them cackle their way through Fred's adventures, gobbling up the books for fun during their free time. Over time, I became so impressed with the Fred books that I purchased a full collection of them (from Kindergarten to College), determined that my six homeschooled children would at least read all of Fred's adventures before they graduated.
Because I have a public podcast where I've spoken a lot about education, I shared my love of Fred with my audience and some of them become Fred fans as well. In 2024 I received an email from a listener asking me if I wanted to interview Stan on my podcast. (This listener had become friends with Stan and was helping him with some aspects of Fred.)
I immediately replied, "Yes!" And in 2024 I released this podcast (also available as an older announcement further down on this page).
I enjoyed speaking with Stan, but the best was yet to come! In February 2025 I received an email from Stan, via my listener, indicating that Stan, at age 80, was considering retirement and he was looking for someone to take Fred forward. I happened to be in Las Vegas when I received that email and I drove up to Reno that day to meet Stan. We hit it off; after a good bit of negotiation I purchased Life of Fred from Dr. Schmidt in October of 2025.
WHERE TO FROM HERE?
I bought Fred because I believe in the value of the stories. I think our country and our world would be immeasurably improved if every young person in the world read the Fred stories as part of his or her math journey.
Fred makes math fun, engaging, and memorable! And we need more young people who love math and are engaged with math.
I hope to build on the legacy of excellence of Stan's work and to grow and expand it and make it accessible for many more people. I'd like to see a set of Fred books in every home in America and the world!
Stan has dedicated his life for more than 20 years to the single task of building the world of Fred, a coherent story that builds a web of wonder around math and science from Kindergarten to College. It is the product of a genius creative mind applied in a single direction for decades. I love it!
I could never do what Stan has done. I owe him an enormous debt of gratitude.
What I can do — what I will do—is to take Fred to the world. I want to help people to understand Fred, to love Fred, and have easy access to a lifetime of loving math, through Fred.
Keep an eye round these parts for steady progress towards that goal.
Joshua J Sheats, Publisher
Listen to my interview at Radical Personal Finance from October 2024 below!
My tenth college-level book is here. Life of Fred: Abstract Algebra. This course is required for math majors at most universities.
This completes the full math education from learning to read all the way through a college major in mathematics.
A math major at KITTENS University are these 14 semester college math courses:
LOF: Logic
LOF: Calculus (four semesters)
LOF: Statistics (two semesters)
LOF: Five Days of Upper Division Math
LOF: Abstract Algebra
LOF: Linear Algebra
LOF: Real Analysis
LOF: Complex Analysis
LOF: Numerical Analysis
LOF: Metamathematics
Learn to read: the Life of Fred Eden Series for Beginning Readers is now available. Thirty-two page hardback beginning reader books in full color for $8 each. Click here for more information. In addition to Fred and Kingie's vacation adventure, young readers will learn about . . .
Have fun reading AND learning stuff!
Elementary school:
10 Elementary Series (Apples through Jelly Beans)
3 Intermediate Series (Kidneys through Mineshaft)
Fractions and Decimals and Percents
Middle school:
3 Pre-Algebra books with emphasis on
Physics, Biology, and Economics
Students will learn more physics, biology, and economics than most adults know.
High school:
The four standard courses: two algebra + geometry + trigonometry
Stan wrote a book for those who are serious about talking to God (and listening)!
Prayers at 8:30 is an illustrated collection of 104 prayers unlike those you hear on Sunday morning. Written to change your life.
For details click here.
Life of Fred: Financial Choices. Tenth grade through adult. A zillion topics never mentioned in school or at home, including a guide to retiring in 24 years. For details click here.
The Language Arts series (English) for high school students is now complete.
For details click here.
On my personal site StanleySchmidt.com are two major expansions:
-----Under "TV Shows" are the videos of
StanCAT: What It Means to be Well Educated
the television programs I produced in the 1990s. Click here.
-----Under "Sermons" we're currently taping some of his sermons. By the end of 2024 we should have some ready.What It Means to Live Life Fully. Click here.