Human Before AI

We’re raising thinking children in the age of AI.

Teacher-vetted project learning

AI literacy, critical thinking, life skills, and a digital portfolio
— with an interactive offline AI, for children 7 to 11.

Oct 2026 Enrollment Open

All three parts

Three parts, in order

Knowing AI, then Working It Out, then Building with AI. A comes first because a child who does not yet know the machine can be confidently wrong reads every answer in Part B as if an adult had said it.

Part A · Knowing AI

Knowing AI

What AI is, where it learned all this, where it goes wrong, and when not to use it at all. It is the part that makes the other two safe to do.

Part A · Knowing AI, further down ↓

All three parts

Commit before reveal

Your child writes down a choice and a reason before the page will show what happened next. It is the only thing this site ever locks.

All three parts

Ages 7 to 11

Part A reads from seven, Parts B and C from eight. A younger child starts with the part that never rotates, and grows into the other two.

Part B · Working It Out

Working It Out

Anyone can get an answer for free now. What is scarce is a child who can judge one — and half of this part happens with nothing switched on at all.

Part B · Working It Out, further down ↓

All three parts

Nothing to buy

Paper, a ruler, a kitchen scale, a timer. Projects use what is already in the house, and the materials are listed on the front of the task.

Part C · Building with AI

Mission

A problem with no steps. Your child decides what to make and what counts as done, and gets pulled into measuring, asking and working out things nobody set for them.

Part C · Building with AI, further down ↓

Part A · Knowing AI

Always included

Part A never rotates. There is no such thing as this season's Part A — whichever way you buy, the whole of it is on the shelf.

Part A · Knowing AI, further down ↓

Part B · Working It Out

Catch the mistake

Ask the AI for a number you can measure, then go and measure it. Every one of these has a branch for the times the machine turns out to be right.

Part B · Working It Out, further down ↓

All three parts

Ninety-day seasons

A season is ninety days, four a year. Parts B and C get a new batch of topics with each one; what changes is the topics, never the shape.

Part C · Building with AI

Building with AI

Confidence comes from finishing something real, not from being told you did well. Your child picks a real problem and gets further with it than they could alone.

Part C · Building with AI, further down ↓

All three parts

An adult, 60 to 90 min a week

From you, not only from your child. The parent script — what to say, what to stay out of, when to let it fail — is part of the product, not an extra.

All three parts

Any order, any day

Inside a part there is no order at all. No streak to keep and nothing to fall behind on — start anywhere, stop anytime, pick it up a fortnight later.

All three parts

Who says it is done

It moves outward as the work gets realer. The course decides a Session is finished, your child decides a Mission is, and whoever has to use the Project decides that one.

Knowing AI

Always included · Ages 7 to 11

AI literacy, and the safe way for children to use AI. This part comes first because a child who does not know it can be wrong hears every answer as a grown-up talking. They can practise on our offline AI, where what they say or type never leaves your child's own device.

  1. What AI Is

    Where it learned all this, the three rules that go on your wall, and the first question your child asks it for real.

    • Section 1Where it actually learned this

      No transformers, no diagrams. It learned from an enormous amount of what people have already written, which is why it sounds so certain — and why it has no way of knowing when it is wrong. This is also where a fact stops meaning “true” and starts meaning “something you can go and check”.

    • Section 2Three rules, on the wall

      Never give it your name, your address or your school. What it says is not what a grown-up says. If something feels off, go and find a real person. Your child writes the three rules out in their own words, and everyone in the house signs the bottom.

    • Section 3Ask it something, for real

      Before the answer appears, your child writes down what they think it will say. The page will not move on until they have. Sometimes it turns out to be right — that branch is written in too, because “the AI is always wrong” is just as useless a habit as believing it.

  2. Ask It, Then Check It

    Ask it for a number. Then go and measure that number yourself, with something from the kitchen drawer.

    • Section 1Ask it for a number you can measure

      Not “is this a good idea” — a number. How much weight, how many centimetres, how long. The AI here is not an assistant and not a tutor. It is a source that hands you a figure, and the figure is the whole point.

    • Section 2Go and measure it yourself

      A ruler, a kitchen scale, a timer, a stack of books. Your child does the measuring — not a search, not a second opinion from another model. This is the one section where an adult needs to be in the room the whole time.

    • Section 3The time it was right

      Every catch in this course has a branch where the machine turns out to be correct. What we are marking is whether your child went and measured, not whether they caught it out.

  3. Your Child's Portfolio

    The parent chapter. What a record is for, what happens when you press publish, and how to photograph work without photographing a child.

    • Section 1Why a child needs a record of their own

      Credentials are turning into signals and work is turning into evidence. We are not going to tell you this gets anyone into a school — that is not ours to promise. We will tell you what a record with the failures left in is actually worth.

    • Section 2Privacy: three levels, and how to photograph the work

      Local, sent to one person, public — and what each one really means. Then the practical half: photograph the finished thing, the hands doing the work, the object in use. Not the child.

    • Section 3Putting the first piece in

      Step by step, with screenshots. Nothing syncs on its own and there is no “back up everything” box — each piece goes in because you put it there.

    • Section 4Sending one piece to the wall

      Optional, and one piece at a time. What we check before it goes up, how long that takes, how to take it down again — and the honest part: taking it down stops new views, it does not undo the ones already had.

Working It Out

Rotates every season · Ages 8 to 11

Anyone can get an answer from AI for free now. What is scarce is a child who can judge one for themselves — and that is not a job a machine takes over but a skill that can be trained. Half of this part happens with nothing switched on at all.

  1. Things You Can Check

    A fact is not a thing that is true. It is a thing you can go and find out.

    • Session5 minFact, guess, opinion

      Three words children use as if they were the same word. The line this lesson installs is not true-versus-false — it is checkable-versus-not, and it is the line every catch later in the course depends on.

    • Conundrumone sittingThree sentences about one place — which one can you check?

      All three sound equally confident. Your child picks one and writes why, and the page will not show what happens next until they have.

    • Conundrum20–40 min“Someone said…” — turn it into a number

      A claim with no number in it cannot be checked by anyone. The work is rewriting it until it has one, then finding out where that number would come from.

  2. How Strong Is Paper

    Ask the AI how much a folded sheet will hold. Then stack books on it until you find out.

    • Session5 minHow sure am I?

      Before measuring anything, put a number on your own confidence. Children who never do this cannot tell the difference between being surprised and being wrong.

    • Conundrumone sittingWhich of these two folds holds more?

      A choice and a reason, then the answer. Both folds are plausible. The reason is what we are after.

    • Conundrum20–40 min · a catchAsk the AI, then press down on it

      Paper and a stack of books, nothing bought. Ask for a figure, then load the thing until it gives way. There is a branch here for the times the figure was close.

  3. Knowing It's There Without Seeing It

    One example is enough to break a rule. Finding that example is the whole skill.

    • Session5 minOne counterexample is enough

      Every lesson in this course that hands over a rule also asks the child to go and find one case where the rule breaks. This is the lesson that teaches them what they are looking for.

    • Conundrumone sittingDoes air weigh anything?

      Most children say no. A balloon and a scale say otherwise, and the gap between those two is the lesson.

    • Conundrum20–40 min · a catchIt says this invisible thing weighs X. How would you check?

      Designing the check is the work here, not performing it. If your child cannot describe how they would measure something, they cannot tell whether a number about it is nonsense.

  4. Who Made This, and Who Gains

    Someone wrote that sentence, and they wrote it for a reason. What was the reason?

    • Session5 minMotive — who said this, and what do they want you to do?

      Not suspicion of everything. A single habit: before deciding whether something is true, notice who benefits if you believe it.

    • Conundrumone sittingA choice from somewhere else entirely

      Deliberately from a different subject than the lesson. Children who only ever see motive in adverts learn to look for it in adverts and nowhere else.

    • Conundrum20–40 minThe advert is true. What did it leave out?

      No lie anywhere in it. This is the harder case, and the one children meet daily — a set of true sentences arranged to leave a false impression.

  5. Why Some Things Look Right

    And the lesson underneath it: some questions have no right answer, so you cannot catch an AI out on them.

    • Session5 minCriteria — and what you cannot catch an AI on

      Taste is not a fact and not a guess. Knowing which questions cannot be settled by measuring is exactly as important as knowing how to measure, and this is the only lesson in the course that teaches it directly.

    • Conundrumone sittingA choice you have to wait to find out

      From living things rather than design, and deliberately so: the answer arrives when someone else has already done the waiting.

    • Conundrum20–40 minRank three chairs — and say what you ranked them by

      The ranking is not the answer. The stated criterion is. Two children can rank them in opposite orders and both be finished correctly.

  6. Everybody Says So

    A lot of people saying a thing, and somebody having measured it, are two different things.

    • Session5 minNumbers of people are not evidence

      The habit is one question: has anyone actually gone and checked, or does everyone just know? Children can tell those apart once they have been shown the difference once.

    • Conundrumone sittingTwo sentences about the same thing — which one can be checked?

      One says everybody knows it. One says somebody measured it. Your child picks, writes why, and then finds out which of the two could be settled today.

    • Conundrum20–40 minSomething everyone in your house says — measure it once

      The quickest way to school, the coldest room, the longest queue. Pick one thing the household simply knows, and go and find out.

  7. What Counts As Fair

    Three children of different heights want to watch the game. Is one box each fair?

    • Session5 minThe same is not the same as fair

      Everyone gets one box. The tallest can already see and the shortest still cannot. Your child works out what went wrong before anyone uses the word fair.

    • Conundrumone sittingTwo ways to share it out — which one is fair this time?

      The same amount each, or by who needs it. Neither is always right, and the reason your child gives is the whole exercise.

    • Conundrum20–40 minA machine decides who goes first, using what happened before

      It has records and no idea who is in the room. No answer key, and the script says so in the lines the grown-up reads out.

  8. Could It Be Your Friend?

    Write down what a friend does. Then sort the list into what it can do and what it cannot.

    • Session5 minWhat a friend does

      Not a lesson about machines. A list of what friends do, sorted into two piles, and the sorting is something a child can check for themselves.

    • Conundrumone sittingOne friend always agrees with you. One argues. Which do you want?

      A choice and a reason. Most children pick the one who agrees, then hear themselves say why.

    • Conundrum20–40 minIf it always agrees with you, is it a good friend?

      Ends on a question, not an answer: if one day it really could feel something, would you change your mind? Your child's answer goes home with them.

  9. Whose Work Is It?

    Twenty endings, written by a machine. Pick three, make one better ending out of them. Who wrote that?

    • Session5 minChoosing, judging and rebuilding are things you do

      Selecting is not copying. This lesson makes the difference visible by having your child do both and compare what was left in their hands each time.

    • Conundrumone sittingThree endings to the same story — rank them, and say by what

      No right order. The criterion your child names is the answer, and two children can disagree and both be finished.

    • Conundrum20–40 minRebuild one ending from three of the machine's. Is it yours?

      The making is real and so is the question after it: what has to be true about a piece of work for it to be yours?

  10. Is What You See What Happened?

    Somebody chose where to stand, what to point at, and what to leave out of the picture.

    • Session5 minA photo was taken by someone

      Not about fakes. Every photograph has a person behind it who chose a place to stand, and that choice is something a child can find and name.

    • Conundrumone sittingTwo photos of the same thing — which makes it look bigger?

      Same object, two pictures, one choice and one reason. Then a look at where the camera was each time.

    • Conundrum20–40 minPhotograph one thing twice so it looks like two different things

      Nothing bought and nothing faked. Your child changes where they stand and what is in the frame, then says exactly what they changed.

Building with AI

Rotates every season · Ages 8 to 11

Confidence comes from finishing something real, not from being told you did well. Your child picks real world problems, and uses AI skills learnt from the course to get further with it than they could alone. Then they are real projects in their digital portfolio for them to be proud of.

  1. Something That Holds

    Two steps, paper only, and a person at the end who has to actually put something on it.

    • ProjectStep 1What do you want it to hold?

      Your child sets the target before building anything, and writes it down. Everything after this is measured against their number, not ours.

    • ProjectStep 2Build it from paper

      Paper and whatever is already in the house. If a project needs a shopping trip, nobody does it — so no project here needs one.

    • ProjectHand it overSomeone has to use it

      Not show it to. Use it. The person it goes to is the one who decides whether it was finished.

  2. A Container, With Less

    Three steps, and the second one is written to collapse — so that the third can be “now you know why”.

    • ProjectStep 1What do you want it to hold?

      Again the child sets the bar, and again in writing. Using as little material as possible is the constraint that makes this hard.

    • ProjectStep 2Build the bottom the way you think it should be

      It will break when it is full. That is not bad luck — it is written into the step. A project the course has designed cannot go wrong on its own, so failure has to be put there on purpose.

    • ProjectStep 3Now you know why

      Rebuild it, having felt the thing give way. This is the only place in the whole course where consequence is guaranteed rather than hoped for.

  3. Help Someone in Your House

    This season's main mission. No steps at all — your child decides what to make and what counts as it having worked.

    • MissionThe constraintsThree rules, and the third one is yours

      It cannot cost anything. The person has to actually use it — not something you decided they needed. And then your child adds a third constraint of their own.

    • MissionOpening questionWhat are you making, and how will you know it worked?

      There are no steps and we never say whether it worked. Copying the question back is not an answer; defining “finished” is the entire exercise.

    • MissionClosing questionYou said you would make that. Go and ask them.

      Not us, not a badge, not a completion bar. The person it was for. Every household answers this mission differently, which is why it is the one the season's wall is built around.

  4. A Corner You Don't Like

    One corner of your house that you see every day and quietly dislike. Change it.

    • MissionThe constraintsPick the corner first

      Before any idea about what to do with it. Children who pick the idea first end up looking for a corner that fits the idea.

    • MissionOpening questionWhat would you rather it looked like?

      And why that. This is the mission where the reason matters more than the result, because there is no measuring your way out of it.

    • MissionClosing questionTwo people can both be right

      Someone in the house will prefer it the way it was. That is not a failure condition — it is the point, and it is the only mission this season where it can happen.

A season is ninety days. There are four a year.

Monthly

One season at a time

$39/ monthcharged monthly, cancel any time

  • Everything is included.
    Part A always on, never rotates. Part B and C seasons are chosen while you subscribe.
  • Renews automatically.
    We email before each renewal, and cancelling is one button.
  • Your data, your control.
    The portfolio stays as long as the account does — ending the subscription does not end it.

Six months

Two seasons

$119/ six monthsthat is just under $20 a month, cancel any time

  • Same as the monthly plan.
    Part A always on, everything included, renews automatically, and the portfolio stays under your control.
  • B and C change every season.
    Renewing brings two new ones, so your child carries on into new work instead of the same course again.

Gift it

Paid once, never renews

$39one month

Gift a month

$119six months

Gift six months
  • A link by email, or a QR code to print
  • The account goes live when they sign up
  • Exactly what the paid plans get

Free refund within 30 days — no reason needed, one button, gifts included. You can read the first chapter before you buy anything. Prices are in US dollars, and checkout is not open yet — these are the plans and prices it will have.

FAQs

It needs an adult — 60 to 90 minutes a week

An eight-year-old does not run a project alone. The parent script — what to say, what to stay out of, when to let it fail — is part of the product, not an extra.

Part A asks for more. In the chapter where your child measures things, you are in the room the whole time. If nobody in the house has that hour and a half, this is not for you.

The AI will be wrong

It makes mistakes, invents things, and sometimes cannot answer at all. Catching it is the exercise: ask it for a number you can measure, then go and measure it.

Every task also branches for the times it turns out to be right. “The AI is always wrong” is as useless a lesson as believing it.

There is nothing to buy

Paper, books, a ruler, a kitchen scale, a timer. Projects use what is already in the house, and the materials are listed on the front of the task.

What it runs on

Anything with a browser. The AI downloads once and then runs on the device itself — after that it works with the internet off, and nothing your child types is ever sent anywhere. Reading pages aloud also needs a GPU the browser can reach — most laptops, desktops and recent iPads. Without it nothing else changes: every item can be finished with it switched off.

How long is a season?

Ninety days, four a year. Parts B and C change with each one; Part A never changes. Six months covers two seasons, monthly covers whichever one is open.

Do we have to do A, then B, then C?

We strongly suggest it. A child who does not yet know the machine can be confidently wrong will read every AI answer in Part B as if an adult had said it.

Inside a part there is no order at all. The only thing the site ever locks: your child cannot see what happened next until they have written down what they think and why.

My child cannot read that much yet

Then have the page read itself. It runs inside the browser, so nothing your child is reading gets sent anywhere.

Reading aloud · on the device

The page reads itself out loud, inside the browser

The voice downloads once, then runs on your own machine. Nothing your child is reading is sent anywhere to be spoken. One small record does travel, so that the portfolio survives a new laptop: which item was finished, and when. No writing, no photos, no conversation.

The part of the course that answers a child’s questions works the same way — a bigger download, once, and then it runs on the machine too. The privacy page says what does leave: the work you choose to save.

A few lines from a lesson about how much weight a folded sheet of paper will hold.

The first press downloads about 311 MB of voice model, once, from huggingface.co — the one connection this layer makes. After that it works with the network switched off.

It runs on laptops, desktops, iPads and phones — anywhere the browser can reach a GPU.

None of it is required. Every chapter is written to be finished with it switched off.

Can I give it to someone?

Yes, either length. A gift is charged once — $39 for one month, $119 for six — and it never renews. You pay, we send a code, and the parent receiving it opens the account.

Paying is not the same as the account being live. The child is under 13, so consent comes from the parent who will actually be there. You will not see anything about the child afterwards.

Why does a child need a record of their own?

A certificate says somebody assessed your child once. A record shows what they actually did — including the parts that did not work, which is the half nobody keeps and the half that is hardest to fake.

We are not going to tell you this gets anyone into a school; that is not ours to promise. What we will say is that every piece in the portfolio carries a line your child wrote about why it mattered to them, and that line is usually worth more than the thing itself.

What happens to the work my child makes?

What your child types, writes and photographs stays on their device. The pieces you deliberately save go into your account, and one small record travels on its own so the portfolio survives a new laptop: which item was finished, and when. No writing, no photos.

We keep that portfolio for as long as you have an account — it goes when you delete the account, and you can export or delete any of it yourself at any time.

Knowledge went flat. Judgment didn’t.

Answers, code and analysis at close to expert level now cost almost nothing. Being willing to put your name on one did not get cheaper.

The first three teach what to know. We teach what to do when the machine already knows it.

School
The basics. What has to be in a head first.
Tutoring
The same syllabus, earlier and more of it.
STEM and AI clubs
Robots, blocks, code — and lately, prompting.
Human Before AI

Whether the answer is any good — and how to build something real out of it.

We are not teaching children to use AI — we are using AI as sparring practice, until they no longer have to take its word for anything.

Where to start

Part A first. It is the one that never rotates.

Everything the course is, what it costs, and what it asks of an adult is on this page. Checkout is not open yet.