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Grades 4–5 · Home Alone Ready · Badge 1

The shortcut you walk past

Name the shortcut on your route and walk past it, in any weather, late or not.

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Step 1 of 10

1Watch

The alley

Film

The alley

Rain. He is late. The shortcut saves four minutes. The film stops with him standing at the mouth of it, deciding.

22 seconds

It stops before he chooses. By the end of this lesson you will have chosen for him.

2The idea

What a shortcut actually is

Alleys, empty lots, the wooded path, the gap behind the shops. What they have in common is not that they are dark. Some of them are perfectly bright at four in the afternoon. What they have in common is that nobody is on them and nobody can see onto them.

Seeing daylight at the far end is not the same as somebody being able to see you. A place is safe because it has people in it who would notice. It is not safe because you can see the way out.

3The idea

Nobody takes a shortcut after weighing it up

They take it because they are late, or wet, or fed up. Nobody stands at the mouth of an alley and thinks it through. So the decision does not get made at the alley. It gets made here, now, while nothing is happening.

Being late is a small problem. It costs you a raised eyebrow and a message. Every problem the shortcut solves is that size. Every problem it could cause is bigger. That is the whole sum, and you only have to do it once.

4The idea

Sam, at ten past four, in the rain

Sam has no coat. The alley saves four minutes. He says, out loud, that’s the shortcut, and walks the long way. He gets home at twenty-two minutes past instead of eighteen minutes past, and wetter. That is the entire cost.

Notice what changed and what did not. The alley was exactly the same as on a dry day. Only Sam’s reason for wanting it changed. A reason is not information. The alley does not get safer because you are wet.

5Decide

It is 4pm, dry, and you are on time.

Right. Seeing the far end is not the same as somebody being able to see you. Nothing overlooks that alley. Being on time and in daylight does not change that.

Have another think. The alley is quicker for exactly one reason: nobody is on it. That is the same reason it is a no. Daylight does not put people in it.

Pick one to carry on.

6Try it

Take the shortcut and see what the film does

Interactive

The branching walk

At the mouth of the alley you choose. Take the shortcut and the film keeps going, gets quieter, and stops with nobody in frame and a question with no good answer. Take the pavement and you get home.

There is no jump-scare in it. That is on purpose. The problem with the alley is not what happens in it. It is that nobody would know.

7Again

Same alley. Now it is pouring and you have no coat.

Right, and well spotted. The alley did not change. Only your reason for wanting it changed, and a reason is not information. Rain is uncomfortable. It is not dangerous.

This is the trap. Compare it with the last one. Nothing about the alley moved. You did. Rain is uncomfortable. It is not dangerous. The alley is exactly as empty as it was in the sun.

Pick one to carry on.

8Say it

What you say as you walk past it

Say it out loud, like you are already walking

“That's the shortcut. Not today.”

Saying it makes the decision one you made, not one that happened to you. You will need it on the wet day.

9Find them

Which of these are shortcuts you would walk past?

Tap the ones that count.

Find all 3.

10Do it

Before you leave this page

Time your proper route once, gate to door, so you know how long it really takes. Then say out loud where the shortcut is, and that you are not taking it.

Tick it when you have done it.

Lesson done.

The shortcut is a no. Decide it now, not at the mouth of the alley.

Next lesson: Head up

Badge 1 · Getting Home

1.1The route you agreed 1.2The shortcut you walk past 1.3Head up 1.4The key ★Badge Challenge

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