Matryoshka Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Anyone know where the best place to take this online is? Or is there some guided self-study option? She could probably self-study (heck, the teacher at school has been a block of wood who actually told the kids she refused to answer - or even clarify - any questions they had!) but I think she could use help with pacing and deadlines to keep her on track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttichen Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 My kids self-studied using the textbook Big Java, Barron's, and materials from the College Board. Dh is a computer engineer, though, so he was helping them. It's a pretty easy exam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 My kids self-studied using the textbook Big Java, Barron's, and materials from the College Board. Dh is a computer engineer, though, so he was helping them. It's a pretty easy exam. My dh is a computer engineer too, so he'd be able to help her. I'm guessing the exam will be fairly easy for her, too - she took the school's honors intro programming freshman year, and this year is taking a class called honors Java programming, so she's already had a good amount of Java as well. Did your kids take any more programming after the AP? If she stayed in school, they have a class called Data Structures that is post-AP, but I'm not sure where she'd go next if she comes home... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 DS followed rabbit trails in computers til he covered basic computer stuff (Word, Excel, etc), HTML, CSS, Java Script, PHP, and MYSQL. He basically found something he wanted to do, bought a book or looked online for the info he needed and did it (project based learning :001_smile: ) He didn't take the AP test (viewed it as worthless because even a 5 on the AP test wouldn't get him out of the class) but tested out of the required computer programming class at USAFA and went on to major in Computer Science. What is Data Structures? Where does she want to go with this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttichen Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 My dh taught them some image processing and this past summer he had ds23 who is a comp sci grad student teach them web design. This year ds17 is doing some android programming for a science fair project he's working on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 DS followed rabbit trails in computers til he covered basic computer stuff (Word, Excel, etc), HTML, CSS, Java Script, PHP, and MYSQL. He basically found something he wanted to do, bought a book or looked online for the info he needed and did it (project based learning :001_smile: ) It would be great if dd had that kind of personality. It seems a lot of boys just get into programming this way. My two girls who like this kind of thing are not that way - not sure if it's some kind of gender thing or just a different personality. If she just dabbles on her own, other things end up happening instead and it gets shoved aside. A syllabus with a goal at the end (not just 'finish the book or that program') gets done, and done well. What is Data Structures? Where does she want to go with this? The Data Structures class has the AP class listed as a pre-req, so I'm assuming it's more advanced topics in Java. From what I can tell, the AP class actually doesn't go that far. I think she may end up going into programming or something CompSci related. She does really like it, and is good at it. The teacher at the school is awful and basically gives no instruction (but since dd gets regular, graded assignments she gets it done, and for the most part quite easily). She has the 3rd highest grade in the class (not just in her class, but among all the sections), and regularly helps out other kids in the class. Now, that doesn't include the few real programming wizzes at the school, but they don't take the class, they're all the self-taught programming geeks and hang out after school and do competitions - she's not as interested in that. But she's also one of the programmers for the Robotics team (and the only girl) - she says she likes programming for a purpose rather than just for the sake of it. She has also mucked around programming mods for Sims on her own. She mentions that a lot of the wizzes can code fast but write arcane stuff that they don't comment and if it needs editing it's hard to figure out what it's doing. In the real world, other people have to be able to figure your code out. In Robotics, she goes back and comments their code so it's more useful to the group. She's also taking 3D animation and design as an elective this spring. She also does a lot of image manipulation online for fun (like fancy sigs for forum sites). Annoyingly, the school wants her to take the intro Imaging class before she can take the second one, and I'm pretty much sure 100% of the intro class would be stuff she knows inside and out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 You may want to look at Coursera for more advanced courses with an actual schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 You may want to look at Coursera for more advanced courses with an actual schedule. Oo - that's probably a good idea for her senior year (assuming she comes home - I'm getting whiplash figuring out which direction she wants to go). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 DS18 has been taking the AP Computer Science course this year from NDCDE. It has been a really good class so far - good materials and challenging programs. The teacher has been great - responds very quickly to emails, answers her own phone, is happy to do video sessions in the chat room. It's an online class (uses BlueJ) and DS really enjoys it. Like the previous poster mentioned, DS18 probbaly won't get out of any college classes even if he gets a 5 on the AP exam - he is just taking it for his own pleasure. He plans to study computer science in college next fall and thought this would be a good class to get his feet wet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 DS18 has been taking the AP Computer Science course this year from NDCDE. It has been a really good class so far - good materials and challenging programs. The teacher has been great - responds very quickly to emails, answers her own phone, is happy to do video sessions in the chat room. It's an online class (uses BlueJ) and DS really enjoys it. Like the previous poster mentioned, DS18 probbaly won't get out of any college classes even if he gets a 5 on the AP exam - he is just taking it for his own pleasure. He plans to study computer science in college next fall and thought this would be a good class to get his feet wet. Thanks for the recommendation! Too bad it's double the money if you don't live in ND.... but even at that it's comparable to other courses I've seen. Good to know where there's a good teacher/class setup - online classes can be so uneven! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliums Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Here is a free online course: https://users-mooc.amplify.com/ It is fairly new. We haven't used it so I do not know any details but there are some videos on youtube to get a feel for it. It uses Blue Pelican for the text. Coursera and udacity have data structure classes. We haven't used those either, but were looking into them for next year. Younger son is currently in AP CS at the high school and older son took it last year there. As an aside... After taking AP CS at the high school, students here could enroll in Data Structures at the local university through the PSEO option. Last year the U changed the policy though and they now require students to take Discrete Structures first. Completing calculus is recommended for that class, although it isn't a strict prerequisite. My kids' AP CS teacher said the high school students who went into Discrete Structures struggled, even with a strong math back ground. Previously student even in precalculus had been successful in Data Structures though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Here is a free online course: https://users-mooc.amplify.com/ It is fairly new. We haven't used it so I do not know any details but there are some videos on youtube to get a feel for it. It uses Blue Pelican for the text. Coursera and udacity have data structure classes. We haven't used those either, but were looking into them for next year. Younger son is currently in AP CS at the high school and older son took it last year there. As an aside... After taking AP CS at the high school, students here could enroll in Data Structures at the local university through the PSEO option. Last year the U changed the policy though and they now require students to take Discrete Structures first. Completing calculus is recommended for that class, although it isn't a strict prerequisite. My kids' AP CS teacher said the high school students who went into Discrete Structures struggled, even with a strong math back ground. Previously student even in precalculus had been successful in Data Structures though. The Mooc looks like just the thing - hope they'll offer it next year again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Dd2 is taking programming through eimacs.com My dh and ds (both computer geeks) have lots of opinions about how programming should be taught, but after three older kids we know that dh can't really commit to do the job himself. Dh and ds1 found eimacs.com and we are all thrilled with the course. Now, dd isn't doing the AP course, but if her class is an indicator of what the AP class is like, the AP class is outstanding! (eimacs is expensive, but for our needs it is well worth the money.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhudson Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 My ds is doing the AP Comp Sci book from Barrons but there is also a class through PA Homeschoolers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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