Joined December 2016
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- Followers 43,263
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29 Dec 2025
This is the textbook I wrote to support the most advanced high school math/CS sequence in the USA.
It's freely available. Link in first reply.
In Math Academy's (former) Eurisko program, which ran from 2020-23, we scaffolded high school students up to doing masters/PhD-level coursework: reproducing academic research papers in artificial intelligence, building everything from scratch in Python.
We currently have all of Eurisko's math prerequisites available on the Math Academy system (which is where Matteo and other Eurisko students learned it).
Eurisko ended in 2023 when I relocated because nobody else in the district had the requisite knowledge to teach it.
But we will eventually have the entire Eurisko curriculum, and more, on the Math Academy system.
28 Dec 2025
Can't think of a better way to close out 2025 than seeing the head of NASA ask my former student @matteopaz06 to apply, with a fighter jet ride as a signing bonus.
Matteo was one of my students in the Eurisko program, which, during its operation from 2020-23, was the most advanced high school math/CS sequence in the USA.
It culminated in high school students doing masters/PhD-level coursework (reproducing academic research papers in artificial intelligence, building everything from scratch in Python)
Matteo joined Eurisko as a 10th grader, during the last year it was offered, and worked hard to complete almost all 2-3 years’ worth of assignments in a single year. (Eurisko ended when I relocated; nobody else in the district had the requisite knowledge to teach it.)
This is exactly the position that we were trying to put students in with the Eurisko program – get them to a point of skill that they can capitalize on some math/coding-related opportunity and turn it into a chain reaction of fortunate events. And it’s been so great to witness some of these chain reactions get underway.
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People will do Olympic-level rationalization to avoid the hard thing that obviously moves the needle toward their supposed goal.
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It's so easy to think you're confused about something advanced when really it's just basic notation and routine skills coming back to collect.
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Stop pretending YouTube binges are a viable training strategy.
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The winning strategy has always been the same:
1. Develop deep mastery of your craft.
2. Build tools to scale your output.
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One of the biggest competitive advantages is actually giving a shit when everyone else is pretending to care.
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Justin Skycak retweeted
My oldest daughter, age 11, rising 7th grader now.
2 months of @_MathAcademy_ last summer, 15-30 minutes/day: 9 points on her Math MAP score (261->270) 🤯
9 months at a "blue ribbon" school, ~10h/wk with the math teacher: 1 point on Math MAP (270->271). 😭
@justinskycak
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If your practice does not expose weaknesses specific enough to correct, you are just practicing staying the same.
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Grade inflation tells parents that their kids' career doors are wide open while many are in fact getting locked shut.
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Justin Skycak retweeted
Jun 12
1. Aptitude exists
2. Skill exists
3. Knowledge exists
We should help people develop skill and knowledge, and because some will learn faster than others, we should teach them at their level instead of maintaining arbitrary flat standards.
Where’s the contradiction?
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Jun 13
The cure for procrastination is often just a tiny dosage of action. Tell yourself you'll stop after a few minutes. Usually you won't want to, because you had built the task up in your head to be worse than it is.
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Jun 13
The whole point of guided instruction is that you can quickly learn things that took generations of life-consuming work for geniuses to discover.
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Jun 12
Many people do not fail from lack of potential, but from lack of runway.
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Jun 12
The “learning styles” myth is one of many education myths that survived because it sounds kinder than reality.
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Jun 12
Do not ask whether it felt like learning. Ask whether it changed what your brain can do.
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Jun 12
Win the first hour of the day, and it becomes easier to win the rest.
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Jun 12
Self-discovery doesn't feel pleasant every step of the way -- that's the point. You discover what you're good at and love by working hard at various challenges until the signal emerges from the noise. There is no shortcut.
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Jun 12
A lot of people treat every internal resistance signal as sacred. I'm tired. I want a break. I don't feel motivated. I'm not in the right headspace.
Sometimes those signals matter. But sometimes they are just your inner child trying to avoid vegetables and homework.
Jun 10
So much of your future is shaped by what you do when nobody is making you do anything.
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Jun 11
Working to realize your potential is hard, but not as hard as coping with the fact that you had potential and did not capitalize on it.
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Jun 11
Sometimes you just have to behave like a parent to yourself and say this to your inner child: "Listen kid, I know you do not feel like doing this thing that is good for you, but I care about you and that's why I'm going to make you do it."
Jun 10
So much of your future is shaped by what you do when nobody is making you do anything.
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Jun 11
Use tools to extend your competence, not replace it -- otherwise they become your ceiling instead of your floor.
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