jayb842 Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 My ds will be a 5th grader next year. I want to add computer programming to our curriculum next year. This mom is lost where to start. He is doing Lego mind storm and loving it. What else should I add? He wants to be an engineer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 All 5th graders should be able to handle Scratch, especially if he's used to Mindstorm graphical programming language. Scratch is free, btw. Other free resources: Java Python Both have lots of resources on the Net. If you're on a Windows computer, you might want to take a look at http://www.homeschoolprogramming.com/ They sell self-learning curriculum for Visual Basic, and C# (oh, I see they added Java too) They're definitely within reach for a 5th grader, with no outside help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 there are two self-teaching books about Scratch i have used. My 9 yo is currently using Super Scratch Adventure - its a graphic novel which teaches Scratch Programming. My 9 yo did the first project completely on his own (we had done a little scratch together a year and a half ago). The other book is the Scratch Programming for Teens, which my 16 yo used this past summer. it was really easy for him, i think a 10 yo would not really have any trouble with it if he is a strong reader and somewhat motivated, but the Super Scratch book is more fun, of course. Scratch is free and aimed at kids, so its an easy place to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anabelneri Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 My 4th grader is using Scratch right now. She's actually reading Loren Ipsum right now to build some basic knowledge (she's a reading kind of girl), and then we'll be doing the lessons on learnscratch.org There's a variety of good stuff out there, but some stuff is more developmentally appropriate for older kids (depending on the child, of course). I've started pinning things that come across my radar here; maybe you'll find something useful. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dereksurfs Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 I highly recommend Game Maker's Apprentice which we did when ds11 was 10. This is copied from another thread in which I answered the same basic question: I'm teaching my son to program in Java currently. There are many great resources available from free to reasonably priced. Computer Science like many of the sciences is best learned by interacting with it, hence the lab portion (programming). Python and Java are really popular programming languages to start with, though Java is more powerful. In the beginning simply learning logic flow and patterns are a great place to start. Seeing how the pieces fit together is very helpful. That is why programs like Scratch and Game Maker are taking off as educational tools. Game Maker's Apprentice is the first book I started my son with when he was 10. He finished the book and built all the games using the Game Maker tool. Next we did this very practical tutorial series which I recommend your son trying. Its entitled Java for the Absolute Beginner: After that we went on to this fantastic free educational tool called Greenfoot. This is a powerful tool for both teaching programming fundamentals and making some cool games. It's used by quite a few college and university CS departments in teaching programming. Java is used: http://www.greenfoot.org/overview http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/mik/category/joy-of-code/page/2/ There are too many beginning programming courses and additional tutorials available to list. But here are a few more: http://www.artofprob...rse_id=cs:intro http://www.khanacade...omputer-science http://see.stanford....aa-866adcae1111 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2bee Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Hello World! is a book on programming in Python for kids, written by a kid and his dad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSinNH Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 there are two self-teaching books about Scratch i have used. My 9 yo is currently using Super Scratch Adventure - its a graphic novel which teaches Scratch Programming. My 9 yo did the first project completely on his own (we had done a little scratch together a year and a half ago). The other book is the Scratch Programming for Teens, which my 16 yo used this past summer. it was really easy for him, i think a 10 yo would not really have any trouble with it if he is a strong reader and somewhat motivated, but the Super Scratch book is more fun, of course. Scratch is free and aimed at kids, so its an easy place to start. My 4th grader is using Scratch right now. She's actually reading Loren Ipsum right now to build some basic knowledge (she's a reading kind of girl), and then we'll be doing the lessons on learnscratch.org There's a variety of good stuff out there, but some stuff is more developmentally appropriate for older kids (depending on the child, of course). I've started pinning things that come across my radar here; maybe you'll find something useful. :) I highly recommend Game Maker's Apprentice which we did when ds11 was 10. This is copied from another thread in which I answered the same basic question: I'm teaching my son to program in Java currently. There are many great resources available from free to reasonably priced. Computer Science like many of the sciences is best learned by interacting with it, hence the lab portion (programming). Python and Java are really popular programming languages to start with, though Java is more powerful. In the beginning simply learning logic flow and patterns are a great place to start. Seeing how the pieces fit together is very helpful. That is why programs like Scratch and Game Maker are taking off as educational tools. Game Maker's Apprentice is the first book I started my son with when he was 10. He finished the book and built all the games using the Game Maker tool. Next we did this very practical tutorial series which I recommend your son trying. Its entitled Java for the Absolute Beginner: After that we went on to this fantastic free educational tool called Greenfoot. This is a powerful tool for both teaching programming fundamentals and making some cool games. It's used by quite a few college and university CS departments in teaching programming. Java is used: http://www.greenfoot.org/overview http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/mik/category/joy-of-code/page/2/ There are too many beginning programming courses and additional tutorials available to list. But here are a few more: http://www.artofprob...rse_id=cs:intro http://www.khanacade...omputer-science http://see.stanford....aa-866adcae1111 Thanks for the great ideas! Just ordered some of these books from the library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Hello World! is a book on programming in Python for kids, written by a kid and his dad. I agree with the above and would add Python for the Absolute Beginner by Michael Dawson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I came searching for some information on this topic and wondered if I could tag on with a few more questions. I'm thinking it's time for dd10 to learn some of this stuff (and how to type, but that's another subject of course). If we ever move to Denver, her grandfather is an expert in this year, but that may or may not happen, so we'll have to venture on our own. Do the books recommended above apply to her also? Then there is my son who is 6.5. He loves anything to do with computers, and I think he'd be really excited to learn some basics also. Since the above were mentioned for 10 year olds, is there something better suited for a 6.5 year old? My husband could definitely do it with him, and though he doesn't know programming, he's pretty computer savvy. I'd love any thoughts or suggestions anyone might have. And if you have a super great typing program, I'd love that also. One thing - we are fully on Mac computers, and I know that matters a lot of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I'm thinking it's time for dd10 to learn some of this stuff (and how to type, but that's another subject of course). If we ever move to Denver, her grandfather is an expert in this year, but that may or may not happen, so we'll have to venture on our own. Do the books recommended above apply to her also? Then there is my son who is 6.5 Computer programming is gender neutral :) Scratch would be a good starter for both your children. After they are bored with Scratch they can move on to Python or Java. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Hello World! is a book on programming in Python for kids, written by a kid and his dad. My kids like this book. My DS will learn Java next Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishMum Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 We love Scratch, and I here is my review of Super Scratch Programming Adventure! It is suitable for boys and girls. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dahliarw Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 My dh has been doing some programming stuff with my oldest. He uses the resources (usually online) that are linked to on code.org. I'm not sure exactly what, I'd have to ask him, but ds loves it. (my dh is a programmer himself). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunnyDays Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 All 5th graders should be able to handle Scratch, especially if he's used to Mindstorm graphical programming language. Scratch is free, btw. Other free resources: Java Python Both have lots of resources on the Net. If you're on a Windows computer, you might want to take a look at http://www.homeschoolprogramming.com/ They sell self-learning curriculum for Visual Basic, and C# (oh, I see they added Java too) They're definitely within reach for a 5th grader, with no outside help. DS is doing Kid Coder (the homeschool programming.com link above) and really enjoys it. He's doing Visual Basic and will soon move to the second VB level, game programming. He also did Scratch for quite a while and it definitely sparked a desire to do more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 My ds will be a 5th grader next year. I want to add computer programming to our curriculum next year. This mom is lost where to start. He is doing Lego mind storm and loving it. What else should I add? He wants to be an engineer. I am listening in, appreciating the suggestions. Just wanted to mention that Sonlight sent out an e-mail this week about selling KidCoder now, and they have an awesome video about why kids should learn code. DS10 now wants to work somewhere he can ride his RipStik. :lol: http://www.sonlight.com/homeschool-programming.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Computer programming is gender neutral :) Scratch would be a good starter for both your children. After they are bored with Scratch they can move on to Python or Java. Sorry, of course they are. I was typing quickly and wasn't really thinking about what I was asking. Mostly I think I just wanted more assurances :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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