How many 14-year-olds can do quality pull-ups and their taxes?
Every Common Sense University graduate will.
To be clear, CSU isn’t a college. It’s a school system for kids ages 6-14.
My wife Alissa and I are taking on the challenge of educating our kids.
We recently purchased land and now have a schoolhouse being built so that other local kids can join ours.
The schedule has 6 classes per day, 4 days a week. That allows a free day for adventures and APPRENTICESHIPS (more on this below).
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Each class runs 40 minutes on the hour, so that you have 20 minutes to do as you please between classes.
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​Action
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Reading/Writing
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Nutrition
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Help/Business (this is where math will be learned)
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Art
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Action
Yep, we start and finish with Action.
We are NOT facing modern child obesity statistics with a normal approach.
We are doubling up on activity, and you’ll notice there’s no “Lunch” period. That’s because THE KIDS MAKE THE FOOD every day.
Doubling up on physical activity and becoming masters of preparing REAL FOOD is our approach.
I won't be pushing these goals forcefully.
FAR FROM IT.
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My strategy with kids fitness is to:
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Make it AVAILABLE.
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Set an EXAMPLE.
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I REFUSE TO BELIEVE KIDS ARE LAZY.
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In fact, I believe the opposite. I see kids THRIVE when they’re industrious.
But the first problem I see is that there’s not enough physical work READY for them to act upon. This goes for both actual work to help out (more on this below) and physical fitness.
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It’s on ME to have kid-designed exercise implements FRONT-AND-CENTER - not in some faraway corner.
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And it’s on ME to set an example and regularly demonstrate everything I want them to work toward.
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Fitness and real food won’t be forced.
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They’ll be natural parts of life which the kids gain a deep understanding of over time, led by the example I set.
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Factor in the 20-minute breaks on the hour, and we have a school system where kids are FOR SURE not forced to be seated more than half the time.
Nor do you have to sit in a chair.
You’re free to sit on the floor or however you please.
Mix it up. Do what feels natural.
Kids naturally have great mobility.
What’s the rush to mess with that?
But mobility isn’t the only thing modern culture has messed with.
APPRENTICESHIP is a lost art which was once a natural way of life!
It slipped by without discussion in the academic process!
If your parents were bakers, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect that you’d know how to bake by age 14.
If your parents were farmers, it wouldn’t be shocking if you knew how to farm by the time you were 14.
Well, at CSU, part of the academic plan is knowing how to do your parents’ jobs, eventually at a professional quality level.
This is one of the most valuable things my parents did for me.
I understood how to treat clients exceptionally well, how to work HARD, and how exchange worked in the real world. I knew how to paint, landscape and do other jobs at pro grade.
I didn’t grow up in fear of money because I knew I could do well in my parents’ line of work, because I spent thousands of hours observing them and working alongside them.
I didn’t happen to go into that line of work, but that’s not the purpose of apprenticeship for CSU.
The purpose is young people who are fully trained to survive in this world, who understand how the world ACTUALLY works, from REAL observation and results.
And OF COURSE there are exceptions: I’m not saying a 14-year-old has to be a rocket scientist just because the parents are. …But I’m also not saying a 14-year-old couldn’t be!
I’m an exercise coach.
I know I can teach my kids my line of work at a pro level by the time they’re 14.
Do what’s right for you.
The whole process of CSU is to put forth an academic system based on COMMON SENSE - no matter how wildly that may differ from the norm.
And the bottom line is that the apprenticeship process has been largely lost in modern culture, and in CSU: IT WILL NOT BE LOST.
So one day a week, my kids will apprentice with me (CAN’T WAIT!).
And that’s not even including their daily HELP CLASS.
From ages 6-10 they’ll learn the foundation of business…
HELP.
“What could you do to HELP?”
You’ve got a full class to work on this, every school day.
While the average kid goes to school and doesn’t have to think about helping anyone, CSU students will become BEASTS at helping.
By age 10, when my kids start their own businesses, they’ll already have 4 years of Help Class under their belts, and 4 years of apprenticing with me.
And yes, my kids will then get reps registering their businesses, doing their taxes and learning all sorts of real-world skills, while continuing to apprentice with me.
I’ll share whatever further details wind up being helpful.
The site will always be free.
And I’ll produce all the equipment I make for my own kids, at super low prices.
That’s how I can merge ATG and my kids in a way that they can get REAL experience with my job.
In recorded history: KIDS HAVE NEVER BEEN LESS ACTIVE.
So why can’t my kids help other kids learn how to exercise?
And the MAJORITY of calories consumed in the US are now ultra-processed!
So why can’t my kids learn and then teach others how to make healthy meals?
They can.
Because that’s just common sense.