Chrisman

6yo learning fractions with Synthesis. Teaching style is Socratic. Answer correctly, get increasingly challenging follow-up questions. Lover her proud face at 1:10. That justified pride in what you've learned is the best motivator. Far better than points or leaderboards.

It took us forever to land on cookie sharing as the ideal intro to fractions. Seems obvious now, but it's easy to get too abstract when teaching math. The goal is for the ideas to unfold in such a logical manner that the student understands effortlessly.

@JakeKeuhlen ha we get those fights too

@chrisman Counterpoint: 5yo and 3yo have a trundle bed and I had to mediate a 2am fight last nice because 3yo wanted to snuggle and 5yo couldn't sleep with her taking all of his space lol

We tried bunk beds when my boys were 5 and 3. Turned out the light. Went in to check on them 10 minutes later. They were snuggled up together on the bottom bed, sleeping soundly.

Chromebooks in school are a great evil. Bring back the floppy disk.

A lot of you are too young to remember Synthesis version 1

@nancydoylebrown genius

@chrisman I observed another brilliant parenting move a couple weeks ago when a friend's son came up to her and asked when they were leaving (adults were chatting) and she glanced at him and said "seven minutes," and he walked away happily. I was like that just worked??? It was amazing.

Raising our fourth toddler has made it incredibly obvious the way to deal with negative emotions is distraction. Oh you're crying because you hit your head? Is that a bird outside? Problem solved.

@CristusVictor Took me too long 😭

@chrisman I learned this pretty quickly

@TheCoolestCool @CVW_IV Love to hear it 🙏🙏

@CVW_IV @chrisman A Synthesis Dad here. It’s definitely working. Unreal product.

The goal is to be the best tutor in the world, screen-based or otherwise. We are currently running studies in partnership with governments to prove this.

@CVW_IV The teachers say it's "obviously working." First standardized tests are next month. Should have some data soon after to share.

@chrisman How are the trials coming along? When do you expect to share results?

@HannahWardEdu @synthesischool Prices will go up. For now, making sure we overdeliver.

Hold up. I was just able to get Synthesis Tutor (the absolute best screen-based math program for elementary kids I've ever found) for ALL my kids for only $119 for the year? That just happened? FAMILY PLAN!? @chrisman @synthesischool When did your pricing become so generous?!

The real magic of Synthesis is *explanations* not rote memorization. That said, if kids can memorize their times tables AND put that arrogant rabbit in his place, we won't stand in their way.

@kwharrison13 Blood Meridian was pretty good on audible. youtube.com/watch?v=etOkZ6…

Blood Meridian, The Lord of the Rings, and Snow Crash are some of the least enjoyable audiobooks I’ve ever listened to. Blood Meridian, The Lord of the Rings, and Snow Crash are some of the absolute most enjoyable books I’ve ever read on a physical page with my eyes.

It was kids day at the local orchestra. Took the 9yo. He was hoping they'd play Vivaldi's Four Seasons. They paired with a Mariachi band. Played La Bamba.

@eoghan In El Salvador, the women who remember the before times can't stop smiling when you ask them if it's safe.

Please ask an honest, young woman what life in the streets of European cities is like today.

@eigenrobot It's improvement at a non-bottleneck.

interesting thing about vibecoding is that i havent noticed any significant increase in * new software products unrelated to AI * new features in products i used other than AI features * fixes to existing broken features in products multiple potential explanations for this: 1. im dumb and dont notice things 2. no meaningful gains to coding velocity from vibecoding 3. all gains going to AI features 4. coding velocity is not the main bottleneck to shipping features and products

@GuruAnaerobic Similar phenomenon in cycling when they started measuring and limiting hematocrit. Everyone started doping to get right up to the line, which meant if you were naturally closer to it you didn't have as much to gain.

My theory is that improved running economy from supershoes is reducing the difference between Kenyans/North Africans and white Europeans.

@Alexfeinberg The more I learn about this, the more I think athletic scholarships should be abolished entirely.

To understand why youth sports have become such a scam factory, you have to understand the economics My Vandy classmate was the SEC Player of the Year in Tennis and coached at several top academic schools She can legitimately help amateur tennis players get into elite schools How much would a parent pay for this service? Well, you first need to ask how many kids are realistically in her addressable market Maybe 100 players per year would be good enough to get looks but lack the talent or experience to make the most of it. They’d all need to be “bubble” kids as the best ones won’t need her and the bad ones can’t make it with her Assume her first couple years, this would be a part time job where she’d could develop a reputation Maybe at year 3-5 she could have time to scout and garner interest from 25 of the 100 target kids So how much would these parents pay? Perhaps she could convince 20 of the 25 to pay her $5K Or 10 of the 25 to pay her $10K Or 2 of the 25 to pay her $50K $100-$200K in annual revenue AND her pipeline would need to start fresh EVERY year AND the market could only support a few of her So the economics look awful if she confines her target market to only kids she can help And there are way more coaches than her who got into coaching because they thought they’d love it or had no other ideas for a viable career path who eventually realized the job requires more ass kissing of parents and administrators than actual sports knowledge and required 60+ hour weeks for $50-$100K salaries So they’re all looking for an escape but the economics don’t make sense unless they convince parents that an opportunity that doesn’t exist for their kid actually does And that’s where you come in and are expected to pay $15K per year to support a dream you have for your kid that likely won’t come true Now my parents made this investment in me. It’s not ALWAYS a bad one. But u less your kid LOVES it, you really have to question the investment of your time and money

@Alexfeinberg We'd be even worse. Look at what the Bolsheviks did.

If you want to know where we’d be without God, just look to our 2 closest relatives in the animal kingdom Chimps are violent AF and are constantly raping and warring with competing tribes And bonobos are sexual degenerates