Pharos Terminal, curriculum & Lesson Packets
Start with the subscription, add the full Reality Writes! course, or pick single Lesson Packets by subject. Grades 7–12. See all prices ›
Pharos Terminal
One year for each student: weekly Nexus Points, every Lesson Packet included with an active Pharos Terminal subscription, the parent tracker, and Reality Writes! Modules 1–2. Grades 7–12.
$399 first student, per year · $299 each additional · billed annually
Pharos Terminal
$399 per year · $299 each additional student
Annual student subscription. Grades 7–12.
See how it worksReality Writes!
The full 17-module course, from a real historical subject to a published novel, with the complete PDF. For 11th–12th graders, and advanced students no younger than 8th grade.
$495 · Pharos Terminal subscribers: $295
About the course ›
Reality Writes! A Project-Based Curriculum for Aspiring Writers
Reality Writes! is a self-paced curriculum that ends with a novel. 11th–12th graders, and advanced students no younger than 8th grade, choose a real historical subject, verify it, and write 18,000 to 25,000 words. They design the pages and publish on Amazon. It's self-paced. The finished product is the novel.
Lesson Packets by subject
$49 each, instant PDF download. Included with Pharos Terminal.
Real anniversaries and turning points, read through primary sources.
The Crossing: Trenton at 250
Your student reads the letters of December 1776 and decides for themselves how a beaten army turned the war. Five sessions, grades 7–12, ready to teach.
How local power actually works, from petitions to permits.
Who Decides? Power, Petition and a Permit in Mason County
Power comes from the people, and the people may petition. A data-center campus on the Ohio River shows how that works in West Virginia today.
Elections and campaigns, taught strictly nonpartisan.
WV 2026 Election Lesson Pack
Four lessons on West Virginia’s 2026 general election. Grades 7–12, strictly nonpartisan. Sent by email.
Get the lesson pack ›Prices, paychecks and jobs, with the real numbers.
The Paycheck Puzzle: Prices, Jobs and Your First Budget
Prices rose faster than pay this September. Your student reads the official data, works out what it means for a West Virginia family, and builds a real first budget.
Great books read beside the history that shaped them.
The Worth of a Worker: Of Mice and Men
Steinbeck's novella of two ranch hands and a shared dream, read beside this fall's court fight over what farmworkers are paid. Five seminars over two to three weeks.
The Wounded and the Words: A Farewell to Arms
Hemingway's 1929 novel of a wounded American volunteer, read beside how the wounded are written about today. Five seminars over three to four weeks.
Science and engineering stories from today’s world, with the discoveries behind them.
Power Up: The Space Station's Last Solar Arrays
Two spacewalks, eight roll-out arrays and one $20 experiment. Your student measures the physics that keeps the station alive.
Get outside: observe, count and record in the field.
Counting Fire: The Geminids at Watoga
A family field night in West Virginia's first International Dark Sky Park, plus the real science of counting meteors. Two prep sessions, one night outside, two sessions of analysis.
Skilled trades that are hiring, and what the work takes.
Built Here: Trades That Are Hiring
A West Virginia steel mill and a Weirton battery plant are hiring now. Your student reads the real pay and job numbers, maps a path into a trade, and practices two skills every trade uses.
Test real claims with real data.
Twenty Jobs or Six Hundred: Testing a Headline With Real Data
Does a job's exposure to AI predict whether it will grow in West Virginia? Your student tests the question on 20 familiar jobs, then on all 601, and learns why the answer changed.
The latest packets, before they get a subject row.
Pharos History Through Fiction: Through the Fading Darkness, 18-Week Colonial History Course
An 18-week colonial American history course for grades 7–12, built around a novel of the 1774 Virginia frontier. Full course, no subscription needed. One family license.
Rivers to Ridges: The West Virginia Cipher Road Trip
A family weekend across West Virginia: four stops, about 285 miles and one message to decode, from the 1774 battlefield where the Kanawha meets the Ohio to the amber water of Blackwater Falls.
Books by Zac Northup
Novels and short fiction by Zac Northup, writer, historian and researcher. Sold on Amazon.