Warm-up5 min
Say it before you see it
The idea. A guess you said out loud is something you can check. A guess you kept in your head just becomes whatever the answer was.
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Here is something that happens to everybody. You read a question. You think hmm, maybe. Then you see the answer, and you think — yeah, that’s what I thought.
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Sometimes that is true. Often it is not. Your brain is very fast at editing what you thought, once it knows what was right.
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There is one way to stop it: say it first. Out loud, or written down. Then it is on the record and your brain cannot quietly change it.
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That is why everything here asks you what you think before it shows you anything.
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It will feel uncomfortable the first few times. Being wrong out loud is a skill. Almost nobody practises it.
Question 1 · Binary
You are about to check the answer to something. When is the best moment to say what you think?
Question 2 · Free choice + reason
Something you are not sure about right now. Write it down, and write what you think the answer is.
No right answer. This one is yours to keep.
Question 3 · Transfer
Your friend says “I knew that was going to happen” after a football match. What is the one question that would settle it?
For the parent — Parent note
What we taught. Say your guess before you see the answer.
Why this first. Everything else in this week depends on it. A child who checks the answer first is not doing any thinking — they are watching someone else’s.
What to listen for. “I knew that.” Almost always means they did not.
A phrase worth borrowing at home. “Say it first, then we’ll look.”