Grades 9–12

College tracks

One project, four years. Pick a track and keep the same inquiry. The done bar each year is something a second person can check. Cryptography aims use the computer science track; the adversary work lands in grade 12.

All seven Mechanical engineering Electrical engineering Computer science Marine biology Pre-med Pre-law PhD on-ramp

Print this page for a paper log. Only Pre-law, grade 9, will print.

Grade 9 this week — Pre-law

Use this clause, and only this clause: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.” Facts: Sam left a backpack on a city bus. Sam had eaten a sandwich at noon. The driver opened the backpack to look for a name. It was raining. Write one page on which facts the clause uses and what result follows. A reader who has not talked to you follows that page.

Log for this week

Type every field (or print and write). Then hand the log to a second person and ask them to rebuild from it alone.

Date.
Facts the clause uses.
Facts the clause ignores.
Result that follows.
Reader’s name.
Whether they reached your result without asking you.

Pass: a second person rebuilds from your log without asking what you meant. Fail: they have to ask, or they cannot get a comparable result — rewrite the log.

Logs also reach hello@contact.schoolhouse.space.

What a finished log looks like

Numbers here are made up. Measure your own.

Date: 2026-09-12. Facts the clause uses: Sam left a backpack; the driver opened it. Facts ignored: sandwich at noon; rain. Result: opening the bag to look for a name is a search of an effect; on these facts the clause’s protection applies. Judgment fork written for the reader (do not ask the author): A = bag still Sam’s effect → protection applies; B = leaving it on the bus ends that security → protection does not. Reader: a classmate who has not discussed the problem. They pick A or B from the page alone. A first draft that names abandonment without an A/B choice fails that read.

Grade 9 — start the project

Grade 9 — start one project

You are on one track. The project lasts four years. This year you start it and keep a log. The log is the start of the file you will send. Do not open a second project.

Every week, do four things inside that project:

Mark which facts the clause uses and which it ignores, and write the result that follows.
Write one claim, two reasons, and one real objection. About one page.
Read one short clause and write what it says, separate from a summary.
Add to the log.

Finish these rungs on the First Principles ladder. Each one has a gate. The rung is done only when the gate is done.

Finish Instructions a machine could follow only, plus the memo below.

School courses beside the project: algebra. Add a lab science only if the major will require it.

Pre-law

Take one short statute, rule, or contract clause and a one-page fact pattern that includes irrelevant facts. Write which facts the rule uses and what result follows. One page.

Done when someone who has not discussed the problem with you follows your writeup and reaches your result, or their miss shows a step you left to judgement. If the open step is a judgment call, name the choices (A/B) on the page so the reader can pick without asking you.

This week. Use this clause, and only this clause: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.” Facts: Sam left a backpack on a city bus. Sam had eaten a sandwich at noon. The driver opened the backpack to look for a name. It was raining. Write one page on which facts the clause uses and what result follows. A reader who has not talked to you follows that page.

Log for this week. Date. Facts the clause uses. Facts the clause ignores. Result that follows. Reader’s name. Whether they reached your result without asking you.

Teacher guide

Grade 9 — teacher guide

One student, one track, one project. Do not assign a second project. The “this week” task in the lesson is the required start, not an example to skip.

Ladder. Rungs 1–8 for every track except pre-law. Pre-law does rung 1 and the memo.

What to cut. Renderings, extra clinical hours, mock-trial travel, and a second app. The log and the done bar in the lesson stay.

Admission. The log is the record. Do not build a separate activities list this year.

Example of a finished week (facts and result are for the teacher; the student must write their own). Date: 2026-09-12. Facts the clause uses: Sam left a backpack; the driver opened it. Facts ignored: sandwich at noon; rain. Result: opening the bag to look for a name is a search of an effect; on these facts the clause’s protection applies. Judgment fork written for the reader (do not ask the author): A = bag still Sam’s effect → protection applies; B = leaving it on the bus ends that security → protection does not. Reader: a classmate who has not discussed the problem. They pick A or B from the page alone. A first draft that names abandonment without an A/B choice fails that read.

Grade 10 — predict, then revise

Same project as grade 9. This year you write the prediction before the next result, and you revise after someone disagrees. The first prediction stays in the log after you revise.

Every week, inside that project:

Quote the words that decide between the two rules. The first choice stays visible after you revise.
Revise after someone who picked the other rule. Answer their best sentence.
Quote the sentence in the rule that does the work, separate from your summary.
Keep both versions in the log.

Finish Deduction and Proof technique.

School courses beside the project: advanced algebra and trigonometry, into precalculus. Add chemistry only if the major will require it.

Pre-law

Take two rules that both seem to apply to a new fact pattern. Pick one. Quote the words that make the other lose. Exchange with a classmate who picked differently, and answer them in a revised memo. The source is the text of the rule. Each step follows from a step already earned.

Done when the revised memo quotes the classmate’s best sentence and responds to it.

This week. Two written rules, and only those. The clause from grade 9, and this company rule: “The driver may open an unattended bag to identify the owner.” Facts: the backpack was on a seat, not in anyone’s hands; the driver was looking for a phone number; Sam was still on the bus two stops away. Pick one rule. Quote the words that make the other lose. Trade with a classmate who picked the other rule, and answer their best sentence in the revision.

Log for this week. Date. Rule you picked. Words that make the other lose. Classmate’s best sentence. Your answer in the revision.

Teacher guide

Grade 10 — teacher guide

The prediction is written before the measurement or the visit. A revision that hides the first claim is not done. The first claim stays visible.

The “this week” task in the lesson is the required start for that grade.

Ladder.

Rungs 13 and 14.

What to cut. A new topic that abandons last year’s question. One change between the two results, not a redesign of everything.

Grade 11 — let someone break it

Same project. Someone outside your household tries to break the result. Their paragraph stays in the log. That person is the one who can write the letter.

Before you register for grade 12, write three lines from the course list your desired college publishes: courses you will have finished, courses still missing, and the term you will take each missing one. Add a missing course around the project. Do not drop this track’s mathematics, lab line, or memo to make room for an elective.

Every week, inside that project:

In a timed sit, apply one quoted rule to one quoted fact and write the result.
Answer the other side in the text, not afterward.
The packet is the source. A textbook restatement does not carry the claim.
Put the outside reader's paragraph in the log before you answer it.

Finish Deduction, Proof technique, Boolean algebra, and Counting, if those gates are not already done.

School courses beside the project: the major’s reading and writing. Add calculus only if the major will require it.

Pre-law

Sit for 45 to 60 minutes with a packet of two or three authorities and a fact pattern. No outside research during the sit. Write the answer the packet supports.

Done when the memo applies a quoted rule to a quoted fact. A summary of the authorities with no application is not done.

This week. Sit for 45 to 60 minutes. The packet is only the two rules from grade 10 and this fact pattern: the bag was zipped; the driver opened it; Sam was standing at the next stop; a passenger had asked for a lost phone. No other source. The memo quotes one rule and one fact and says what result follows.

Log for this week. Date. Start and end time. Rule quoted. Fact quoted. Result. No other source used.

Teacher guide

Grade 11 — teacher guide

The outside reader is not the household. Their objection goes in the log.

The course-list check happens before grade 12 registration. It does not replace the project or the track’s mathematics, lab line, or memo.

The “this week” task in the lesson is the required start for that grade.

Ladder.

Rungs 13–16, and a timed sit with no outside research.

What to cut. A test designed only to confirm the model. A memo that summarizes authorities and never applies them.

Grade 12 — an artifact a stranger can grade

Same project. The artifact is what a stranger can grade. One reviewer has watched the work long enough to describe it.

Every week, until that memo is the one you send:

Quote the rule the exam will make you apply, and apply it to a fact in the packet.
Keep the claim in a piece a reviewer can check against that packet.
Let the packet carry the claim. A summary does not.
Write in the log which fact would change the result.

Stay on the memo. Do not add the linear-algebra or probability rungs unless the major will require them.

School courses beside the project: the major’s reading and writing. Add calculus only if the major will require it.

Pre-law

Write a longer closed-universe memo with a counterargument. Give the packet and your memo to someone else.

Done when they cannot dismiss the counterargument without quoting the packet, or their dismissal shows a fact you ignored.

This week. Add a counterargument section to the grade 11 memo. Give the packet and the memo to someone else. They have to dismiss that section by quoting the packet, or show you a fact you ignored. Write down which one they did.

Log for this week. Date. Reviewer’s name. Did they dismiss by quoting the packet, or show a fact you ignored. Which.

What you send

The application is this project. By the time you apply, the file has these parts:

The grade 12 artifact for your track.
The log, showing the same question across four years and what changed.
A letter from the person outside your household who tried to break the work.
The course record this lesson names: calculus and the lab sequence where your track requires them. Also take the courses your desired college publishes as required. If one of those crowds out the project, add it around the project. Do not drop the lab line or the mathematics line to make room for an elective.
The undergraduate admission test that college requires, on the calendar that college publishes. If your track has a mathematics line, take the test after that mathematics is underway. This is not the medical-school, law-school, or doctoral test, and it is not a substitute for the project.
An essay that states the claim, the best objection, and what the project changed. It is not a list of activities.

What you enroll in

The first year of college keeps the next gate open. Add a course only when it serves that gate.

Once a week, in the hardest course you are in, take one problem the exam could ask. Close the notes. Write the diagram, the equation, or the rule before you look up the solution. Record whether you finished it and where the solution disagreed. That page is the log. A course you only follow in lecture is not done.

Pre-law. A major you can do well, with a heavy reading and writing load. Once a term, sit a timed closed-universe memo from a packet. There is no required pre-law major. The law-school admission test is the grade 11 sit, longer, and you take it in college. It is not the test in the undergraduate application.

Through the degree, to the gate

The first year is the start. The gate opens only if the later courses are the same kind of work.

Pre-law. Every year of the major includes the timed memo. The law-school admission test is that sit, taken in college. Law school’s first year is a closed packet of authorities applied to facts, written to a professional standard. The undergraduate major is the one you can do well. The memo is the skill the exams grade.

Teacher guide

Grade 12 — teacher guide

A stranger grades the artifact. One reviewer who has seen the work over time can describe it. That description is the recommendation.

The “this week” task in the lesson is the required start of the grade 12 artifact.

Ladder.

The longer memo. Do not add rungs 28–31 or 38–40 unless the major requires them.

What to cut. Clinical hours, competitions, and polish that crowd out the artifact. Cryptography practice stays on a system the student built. It is not an attack on a live network.

Do not add the calculus and lab line unless the major requires it. The memo stays.

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