Supertechmom Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 HI !! I'm pulling together a diy computer class next year for my son. He wants to build websites, make video games and make programs to control the house appliances/lights/. (yea he's 12 but rather advanced LOL!) He's done word processing, microsoft office, and typing, and computer basics ( how to turn it on, cpu, save files, maneuver around etc) Where to start? I've looked at online classes and those are out of our price budget. If the tech school would take him (too young) we could enroll him in tech for the amount of some of the classes I've seen online. :001_huh:So we are looking at getting good quality computer books. But what to start with and where and ???? Hubby and I both took basic in high school when computers where still on the BIG floppy and all they could do was spell out your name in x and o LOL! And take a whopping 20 minutes to do that. Wasn't sure if Basic was even a language still in use today. Hubby can rip a computer apart, solder the motherboard and put one back together, mess with jumps, start up and other hardware things. My claim to computer fame is I can make fire and ice in Adobe photoshop back when photoshop was only handled by photo industry and no one really knew just what the limits were.Now you can scrapbook in photoshop :lol: Any computer gurus who might could point us in a direction to go? College level texts are fine as well as technical manuals though I was hoping for some easier material like we've seen at BAM. He can read and work through them though he won't have much teacher support if he runs into a problem. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 (edited) I'm facing the same problem here with a 12yo, except for the fact that both DH and I are computer engineers. DS 12 will start with Alice programming, then move on to 2D game programming. If we have the money, he will also do Mindstorms Robotics. There are no clubs around, so I need to equip ourselves from scratch. Then with a short foray into Scratch (after Alice, Scratch should be easy) he can learn to program his Mindstorms without going through the Mindstorm interface. If he ever get that far, I'll equip him with X10 gadgets to control the house. ETA: 1. Alice is available for free, and I would recommend a book. I've chosen "Learning to Program with Alice" but I have yet to receive it. 2. Then I have "2D Game Building for Teens" which requires a software that's licensed at 100$ per programmer. It also suggests other softwares that are not cheap, but free substitutes do exist. 3. Scratch is free. I have "Scratch Programming for Teens", it's pretty simplistic. I'm using it with my 9yo DD Edited March 11, 2010 by CleoQc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supertechmom Posted March 11, 2010 Author Share Posted March 11, 2010 Alice programming, then move on to 2D game programming.If he ever get that far, I'll equip him with X10 gadgets to control the house. ETA: 1. Alice is available for free, and I would recommend a book. I've chosen "Learning to Program with Alice" but I have yet to receive it. 2. Then I have "2D Game Building for Teens" which requires a software that's licensed at 100$ per programmer. It also suggests other softwares that are not cheap, but free substitutes do exist. 3. Scratch is free. I have "Scratch Programming for Teens", it's pretty simplistic. I'm using it with my 9yo DD Oh! Hadn't heard of Alice. I'll look that up and check into that. We were looking at C++, Java, Javascript, darkbasic, and AIML. Any thoughts on that as a computer engineer? But we don't know a thing about those languages or what's needed to achieve the end goal. Through Homeschool buyers co-op, we've been able to download the following for free from Microsoft: Gamestudio, Robotics developer, visual c++ , plus some other programs. But we don't know anything about those programs either. LOL! Lots of googling on my part to be done. Where's the on top of it know all guidance counselor guru?????:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 http://www.homeschoolprogramming.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 We were looking at C++, Java, Javascript, darkbasic, and AIML. Gamestudio, Robotics developer, visual c++ They're all good and necessary (nowadays) for a job, but I wouldn't start a 12yo on them. Those languages will be obsolete within a few years anyway. There's always something new that comes up. It's the nature of the game with computers... I'd rather have my kids develop the logic, the concepts without getting bogged down with the details. Then they can tackle more difficult languages, once they've developped a love of it. At least with Alice and Scratch, they don't get bogged down with syntax.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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