# Lumen: University lectures for the kitchen table University lectures for the kitchen table. Aristotle through quantum physics, written for kindergarten through high school. - Goal: $1,000 - Duration: 21 days - Category: Publishing / Academic - Location: Valencia, Spain - Launch: Tuesday, 10:00 America/Chicago, 21 days. Not Monday. Not Friday. ## Story Lumen: University lectures for the kitchen table University lectures for the kitchen table. Aristotle through quantum physics, written for kindergarten through high school. THE EVENING University lectures for the kitchen table. Aristotle through quantum physics, written for kindergarten through high school. A university lecture is a real idea, spoken at undergraduate speed. A child at the table cannot hold it at that speed. A worksheet that pretends the idea was a cartoon cannot hold it either. Lumen rewrites the lecture into one sitting: a grey still that is a question, a short body, a check they must pass, and a reason to come back later instead of rereading. Written for kindergarten through high school. You pick an age. The idea stays. The language and the number of evenings change. This campaign prints the first founding packs. Cream paper. Grey pictures. A kitchen table, a parent in the next room, twenty minutes. WHAT YOU ARE BACKING A limited print of three courses we already teach from texts you may adapt: American Civic Year, a Leonardo sitting, and Write so a stranger can follow. Public domain and CC BY. We do not sell the lectures we are not allowed to sell. Each pack is a sitting you can hold: cover, lesson, practice, a check, an answer key. A4 and US letter. Designed for a tired printer. Higher pledges open Bring for a household — hunt talks, keep a shelf, paste words, write courses that stay on your household. The catalog on the site stays free. No account to browse. WHY $1,000 That is what it costs to print the first packs, pay Kickstarter, and keep a postage reserve if we fund at the goal and nothing extra. It is not a wish. It is the bill. If we stop at $1,000, the packs still mail. Stretch goals add PDFs first, paper second, and only when the print quote still fits. WHO IT IS FOR A parent who wants a real idea on Wednesday, not a login. A tutor with a table. A household that already prints. You remain the teacher. A certificate, if we issue one later, records completed work. It is not a diploma. RISKS AND CHALLENGES 1. Print-on-demand quotes move. We lock files after the campaign and print to order, so we do not sit on unsold paper. If a quote jumps, we say so in an update before we charge extras nobody agreed to. 2. Mailed packs: two to four weeks after we lock files for the US, longer abroad. Customs is not in our hands. 3. Household months start when you redeem the code, not on pledge day. Codes go out within seven days of the campaign ending. 4. We do not sell MIT OpenCourseWare. The catalog stays free. Founding packs are public-domain and CC BY courses only. 5. If we overfund the printed sitting, lead times slip. We will write that in an update the day we see it, with a new date. TIMELINE Campaign ends: We send a survey: address, sitting choice, household email. 7 days: Household codes for three-month and year backers. PDFs begin. 14 days: All digital rewards out. 4 weeks: Print files locked. First US sitting packs in the mail. 6–8 weeks: US and EU packs in hand. 8–12 weeks: Rest of world. ## Tiers ### $8 — A light on the table - Your name on the founding backers page - A thank-you sitting: one sample PDF in the founding typesetting ### $19 — Early bird · one sitting (early bird) — limit 50 - One founding course as a print-at-home PDF (you choose: Civics, Leonardo, or Write) - Cover, lesson, check, answer key — A4 and US letter - Name on the founding page ### $29 — The printed sitting - Everything in the early sitting - One 16-page cream pack, grey stills, printed and mailed - The PDF as well, so you can reprint ### $49 — Three months at the table (early bird) — limit 40 - All three founding course PDFs - Three months of Bring — hunt talks, a household shelf, paste words, write courses that stay on your household - Name in the print colophon ### $99 — The founding year — limit 25 - Twelve months of Bring (the household year is $224.99 after this campaign) - All three founding PDFs - One printed sitting, mailed - Founding household mark on the colophon ### $175 — Two chairs - Two founding years (keep one, gift one) - Two printed sittings - Family name on the founding page ### $350 — The table that teaches — limit 5 - Founding year - All founding PDFs - Five printed sittings — a term on paper - Your table named in the first print colophon - A 30-minute sitting with the maker to pick a course ## Add-ons - $22 Extra printed sitting — Same cream pack, a second title. - $12 Extra PDF course — Leonardo, Civics, or Write — whichever you did not pick. ## Shipping (on top of pledge) Printed sitting: US $6, CA $10, EU $12, UK $12, rest $16 Bundle: US $14, CA $22, EU $28, UK $24, rest $36 ## Stretch - $1,000 — Funded: The founding pack prints. Every backer is in the colophon. - $1,500 — Write so a stranger can follow: The writing course PDF unlocks for every $19+ backer. - $2,000 — Bridge to the math: The algebra bridge sitting PDF for every $19+ backer. - $2,500 — Leonardo at the table: The studio sitting PDF for every $19+ backer. - $3,500 — A second sitting in the mail: $29+ backers receive a second printed sitting. We only unlock this when print quotes still fit. - $5,000 — Spanish cover sheets: A Spanish-language cover and contents sheet for the founding pack, all backers. ## Giveaways (never “pledge to enter”) - Pre-launch, each Friday (Off Kickstarter — waitlist only): One founding sitting PDF. Join the campaign list. No purchase. We pick one address a week until we open. Never “pledge to enter.” - During the campaign (@lumenathome): Five extra PDFs after we close. Post the table you will use, tag @lumenathome. We pick five tables we want a still of. Not a raffle on Kickstarter. - First 24 hours (On the campaign): Early-bird $19 and $49 tiers. Scarcity is the prize. Fifty early sittings, forty three-month households. When they go, they go. - If we pass the goal (All qualifying backers): Unlocked PDFs. Stretch gifts go to everyone at $19+, not to a drawer. That is how you thank a room without a raffle. ## Video script [0:00] A university lecture is a real idea. It was not written for this table. [0:08] We rewrite it into one sitting. A grey still that is a question. A check they have to pass. Paper you can hold when the wifi dies. [0:28] Kindergarten through high school. The idea stays. The words change. [0:38] The catalog is already free. This campaign prints the first founding packs — civics, Leonardo, a writing sitting — from texts we may adapt. [0:55] We need a thousand dollars. That is the printer, the postage, the fees. Not a wish. [1:08] If you have a table, and a child who can hold a real idea, back the founding pack. University lectures for the kitchen table. ## Emails ### 10 days before — We are printing the first packs University lectures for the kitchen table. Aristotle through quantum physics, written for kindergarten through high school. We are putting Lumen on Kickstarter for $1,000. A founding print pack: cream paper, grey stills, three sittings you may actually teach. The catalog stays free. I will not open the campaign until forty households have told me they will back on day one. Reply with the word TABLE if that is you. @lumenathome ### 3 days before — Tuesday. Twenty-one days. A thousand dollars. Tuesday, ten in the morning, Chicago time. Early sitting $19 — fifty of them. Printed sitting $29, postage extra. Three months of Bring $49 — forty of them. Founding year $99 — twenty-five, then the year is $224.99 on the site. If you said TABLE, this is the reminder. I will send the link Tuesday at ten. Lumen ### Launch, minute zero — We are open The founding pack is live. If you can back in the next hour, do. Kickstarter shows a campaign that moves. A still page on hour two is a still page on day twenty. [link] Thank you for sitting with us. ### Launch + 24 hours — The first evening We are [X]% to a thousand dollars after one day. The $19 early sitting is the one that prints nothing and still funds the printer. If you were waiting to see if it was real: it is. [link] ### Day 8–10 — A still, a check, a pack Halfway. Here is a page from the pack — the grey still, then the check they must pass. If you already backed: thank you. If you know one other table, forward this. That is the whole remaining job. [link] ### 72 hours left — Three days Kickstarter is all-or-nothing. If we finish under $1,000, nobody is charged and the packs do not print. If you have been meaning to: this is the meaning. [link] ### 12 hours left — Tonight We close tonight. If you want a founding year, there are [N] left at $99. [link] ### After we fund — You printed this We funded. Survey in a separate mail: address, which sitting, household email if you pledged Bring. PDFs in two weeks. Paper after the printer. Thank you for the table. ## Social ### T-7 · X We are printing the first Lumen packs. Kickstarter, $1,000, twenty-one days. University lectures for the kitchen table. Aristotle through quantum physics, written for kindergarten through high school. If you have a table, reply TABLE. I am not opening a still campaign. ### Launch 10:00 · X We are open. University lectures for the kitchen table. Aristotle through quantum physics, written for kindergarten through high school. Founding print pack. $1,000. [link] ### Launch 10:15 · X thread 1/ A lecture is too fast for this table. A cartoon is too thin. 2/ We rewrite one idea, print it, and ask it again later. 3/ This campaign is the paper. Catalog stays free. 4/ $19 early sitting. $29 in the mail. $99 founding year, twenty-five of them. 5/ [link] ### Day 1 evening · X Hour twelve. [X] backers. The $19 sitting is the one that funds the printer without a stamp. [link] ### Day 3 · X A still from the pack. [image: /campaign/still.jpg] Look first. Then the paragraph. [link] ### Day 7 · X One week. If we are funded, tell one other table. If we are not, the $19 sitting is still the shortest path. [link] ### Day 14 · X Seven days left. Kickstarter does not charge if we miss. That is why the goal is a bill, not a wish. [link] ### Last 48h · X Two days. Founding year $99 — [N] left, then it is $224.99. [link] ### Last 4h · X We close tonight. [link] ### During · Instagram / Facebook Same photographs as X. Do not write “homeschool hack” or “not a school” as the caption. Write the evening: one sitting, cream paper, a check they must pass. Link in bio to the campaign page. ## Updates ### Hour 1, after the first pledges — We are moving Thank you. Here is what the pack actually looks like on a table. [product-sitting] I will write when we hit a third of the goal. ### $300 (30%) — A third Kickstarter notices a campaign that funds this fast. If you have one person left to tell, tell them now, not on day twenty. ### $1,000 — Funded The printer is a real bill now. Stretch next: the writing PDF at $1,500, for everyone at $19+. ### Each stretch — Unlocked: [name] You did not have to pledge more. It is on the table for everyone who already sat down. ### 72 hours left — Three days All-or-nothing. If you were waiting for a sign, this is a date. ## Run of show - T-14 days: Finish the 90-second video with your face. Upload to Kickstarter as a draft. Ask three people to read the page. - T-10: Send email t-10. Start a private list of forty names. Do not launch without thirty confirmed. - T-7: X post. Homeschool groups: only where self-promo is allowed, and lead with a sitting, not a link. - T-3: Email t-3. Confirm the hour-one ten: text them, do not only email. - T-1: Sleep. Do not rewrite the blurb at midnight. - Tuesday 09:45: You and one other person ready to pledge in the first two minutes. - Tuesday 10:00: Launch. Pledge yourself at $29 so the bar moves. Text the hour-one ten. - 10:05: Email t-0. X post. Pin the campaign. - 10:15: X thread. Instagram. Waitlist. - 12:00: Reply to every backer comment yourself. Not a helper. - 18:00: Update if you have ten backers. Stay quiet if you do not — push private texts instead. - Day 2 09:00: Email t-1d with the real percentage. Never fake a number. - Each morning: One update or one still. Reply to comments before noon. - Last 72h: Email, X, and a short video of you at the table. No new tier. - Close: Thank-you update. Survey the next morning, not the same night. ## Press **Lumen prints a founding pack of university sittings for the kitchen table** University lectures for the kitchen table. Aristotle through quantum physics, written for kindergarten through high school. A $1,000 Kickstarter funds cream-paper lessons — civics, Leonardo, and a writing sitting. University lectures for the kitchen table. Aristotle through quantum physics, written for kindergarten through high school. The catalog is free. A household year is only for talks and books a family may adapt. ## Math Kickstarter takes 5%. Payment processing is about 3% plus $0.20 a pledge. Budget 10%. Net of $1,000 is about $900. Mix that clears the goal: 43 backers, $1109, print cost about $36. Forty-three backers at this mix clears $1,000 after fees and a little print. That is why the forty names matter.