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What a Time Standard Means

Four short lessons on the letters next to a child’s time: a base plus fixed steps, the straight line hidden in the table, why a letter is not a percentile, and why a best time is the luckiest swim of several.

For grown-ups, from what SplitForge teaches children at Spark & Anvil.

  1. Lesson 1A base plus steps
  2. Lesson 2The hidden line
  3. Lesson 3Percent, not percentile
  4. Lesson 4A best time is a minimum
At the table · One or two, a grown-up with a swimmer of 10 or older

Find the base

You'll need: Graph paper, a ruler, a pencil, the printed time-standard table for your swimmer.

  1. Draw an across axis for steps (0 to 10) and an up axis for seconds.
  2. Plot the six cuts at 10, 7, 4, 3, 2 and 1 steps.
  3. Lay a ruler along the points and draw the line back to zero steps. Read off the base.
  4. Check it in the Cut Card, and look at your swimmer’s own last three times on the same paper.

Open Find the base: run it, or print the seat sheets →

Say it at dinner · a base plus equal steps

The same idea, with the world taken away

A list of numbers goes up by the same step each time. If you know two of them and how far apart they are, how do you find where the list starts?

Ask it, then let everyone say the answer in their own words. A child's rung on Spark & Anvil ends the same way, with the world gone and the numbers left.

Your child's ladder · on Spark & Anvil

The same idea at every age

  1. Ages 3–5Bead a Length and 3 more
  2. Ages 6–8Fives Round the Clock and 3 more
  3. Ages 9–14The Star and 9 more
  4. Ages 15–18The Points Curve and 3 more

Your child will meet this idea again at every age. The tools and courses here are the part for you.

Everything for a child who loves swimming →

Print the guidebook (all lessons + the table activity) →