ACADEMICS
high school student, or are yourself a high school student, read the early parts. Even if you are 16 now, you might be able to address some of the gaps in your own education, and improve your academic abilities more than you might have expected. Note that this section assumes that kids attend school, and are not homeschooled. In other words, this section is designed to preempt the errors that schools will make, as well as take advantage of schools’ vulnerabilities. Of course, homeschooling can give a huge strategic advantage over regular schooling, but that is discussed later in this book.
Phase 1: Multiplication Tables As American math teaching continues to deteriorate, no sane parent will rely on schools to teach math fundamentals. As of this writing, both public and private schools are using Common Core, which is the single stupidest curriculum I have ever seen. I’m sure in the future they’ll find something even dumber. Here’s what you need to do: 1. By age 5: Know addition tables. 2. By age 6: Know addition and subtraction tables. 3. By age 7: Know multiplication tables up to 10. 4. By age 8: Know multiplication tables up to 12. 34
