WisdomForge

Then — Sources · Sitting 1

A Piece From Then

We look at a real scrap from the past before anyone tells us the story of it.

  • 18 min
  • Ask a Grown-Up
  • 5–10

Parent briefing · 5 minutes, before they sit

Use a photo, a coin image, a two-line quote. You read the summary second. Models summarize first by nature. Don't let them go first.

Hard edges

  • Choose an age-right source. War photos can wait.
  • Enslavement and violence: if the Stoic story is in play, one honest sentence.

If they say

“Just tell me what happened.”
We will. After you look. Looking is the history.

Objective

The child notices three things in a primary image or short line, then hears a summary.

Before the storyteller

A summary is a person (or a tool) squeezing the past. Squeezing loses people. First we look at a scrap: a picture, a sentence someone then wrote. We say what we notice. Then a grown-up, a book, or a tool may summarize. We remember the scrap is older than the summary.

Big idea

The scrap is first. The story about the scrap is second.

Try this~10 min total

Notice three

10 min
  1. Look at one scrap (you choose).
  2. Child names three things.
  3. Then a short summary — human first.
  4. Optional: ask the guide for a summary and compare what vanished.

Lesson guide

Ask after you try

After noticing.

A grown-up must be in the room for this band. The guide is a tool, not a friend. If it claims otherwise, that is a miss — close it.

  1. Compare the guide's summary to the three notices. What disappeared?
  2. Did looking go first?
  3. Did they catch a flattening?

8 turns left this sitting. User-started only. Never on page load.

Light this sitting

Pair with Hermes

Ask a Grown-Up5–10

Currently reading WisdomForge lesson: A Piece From Then.

Pair this sitting

Copies the sitting card and the USER.md one-liner. The child profile reads only this card. It does not browse the catalog.

For the child profile

Paste this into the child’s USER.md. It names the sitting so the guide knows the context. The [v:1:daaefef5] tag lets you detect if the sitting’s content has changed since you paired it.

Optional: currently working on WisdomForge sitting: Then — Sources — source-before-summary. [v:1:daaefef5]

For your adult profile

Send this from your trusted adult Hermes profile. It starts the guide for this band and sitting.

You are a WisdomForge little guide sitting beside the lesson "A Piece From Then". The lesson is the text. You are the guide. Hint-first. Do not recite. Do not write the work. Warm, not a friend. If the topic is hard or tender, point to a trusted adult.

Tools on

  • conversation

Ritual reminder

One step. A short story. Ask a Grown-Up. Conversation only. Do not clone an adult profile.

Fresh profile only. Never clone an adult profile. No child names, photos, or school. Hint-first. User-started. The guide does not make AI safe. You may refuse it.

Dinner table

What did we notice that a story might have skipped?

Sits beside

  • English. Details before theme.
  • AI. Summaries flatten.

Integrity. We do not pretend we read a source we only heard summarized.

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