RosieCotton Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Happy Summer to all of you who are there!!!! Sticker Shock. Just checked the coding classes at our local private college thru ID TECH -- $899-1200 for a one week class. Don't get me wrong the descriptions sound amazing, just too much for us. So please help -- Coding classes are on the schedule for this summer and into the fall term for my 11 YO and 9YO. Would love my 7YO to do some basic things too. No experience to date. Where do we start?? I've enrolled in the Coursera free course on basic programming and I'm checking that out now - first program deals with scratch. (Some vocab might be over the 11YO head but I could help define it along the way I guess if he needs it.) I had a code.org account set up for each child in Jan and looked at the first fun lessons of Course 2-4 just now. Oldest could probably whip those out in 2 weeks if I just let him go. These lessons look fun and I'm thinking about starting there. I took Code Academy classes in Javascript 2 summers ago, did the whole course twice and I didn't feel it explained why I was doing things very well. Not sure how well that would work for a child but I know lots of people rave about it. I've taken HTML and CSS classes on Lynda. Again I'm not sure the audience is geared for kids there. I found this list but I don't know which ones are good, or better than others, and we don't want to waste our time. https://mommypoppins.com/coding-kids-free-websites-teach-learn-programming Any direction or help would be MUCH APPRECIATED! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdrinca Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Is your goal to get the children thinking like a coder, or to learn a specific language? My oldest two have gone through as much of Code.org as they could stomach. At some point, it becomes very geometry focused - lots of angle measurements and tricky loops. Scratch has been too wide-open for my coding kids. They do well if they have a prompt, like following steps to design a game and then tweaking the code after to make their own. Right now, they mostly enjoy using programs (most listed on the link you provided) and playing around with the logic of coding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneezyone Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 My kids are playing with Bitsbox for fun this summer. It's like tinker crate for coding, under $30/mo and it builds on itself. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 My son is taking a Udemy class to learn Python. It was $19.99 and he can go at his own pace. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosieCotton Posted June 9, 2017 Author Share Posted June 9, 2017 Is your goal to get the children thinking like a coder, or to learn a specific language? Well, right know I guess the goal is both. I've got a great friend who is very skilled, and he recommends JavaScript to learn first when it comes time for that. So I'm looking into that. But the first step I would think is to think in code. Thanks for your thoughts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosieCotton Posted June 9, 2017 Author Share Posted June 9, 2017 My son is taking a Udemy class to learn Python. It was $19.99 and he can go at his own pace. Thanks for this suggestion. Maybe we could give one a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Well, right know I guess the goal is both. I've got a great friend who is very skilled, and he recommends JavaScript to learn first when it comes time for that. So I'm looking into that. But the first step I would think is to think in code. Thanks for your thoughts! Khan Academy has a free Javascript course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloha2U Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 We're curious about Youth Digital. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 If it makes you feel better, many of these camps have a lot of "fluff" and students don't always learn very much. I recommend Python as a first language. If you are up for teaching it, you can use Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner by Michael Dawson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexi Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 We're curious about Youth Digital. I saw them at a convention recently and I purchased the 3D Game Design course for my son. He LOVES it! He has been working on it for weeks and has built an impressive game world so far. His siblings like to watch as well so they're learning too. I know it's not their coding class but we are really enjoying their program. I got it 40% off at convention so it was worth it to try. My son wants to do a coding course through them after he finished the game design. He's 9. It's been completely independent and he's learned a ton. He's going slowly through the lessons but he's understanding them very well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 (edited) Here is a link to some info about the Boy Scout Programming merit badge. There is a clickable list of languages, including some rather simple ones. http://boyslife.org/merit-badges/programming-merit-badge/ BSA publishes a merit badge pamphlet that might be useful fo background info, price about $5. You might be able to find a PDF of it online. Edited June 11, 2017 by Alessandra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milknhoney Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 My son started with code.org and he loved it. Start with Hour of Code, then move on from there. Recently he enrolled in a Khan Academy course (javascript I think?) and it is perfect for him. He tried Code Academy after code.org, but it was a little too challenging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgrabuskie Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 We are using Bitsbox, DS8 almost 9. He likes it. It is structured and builds upon itself, he can go at his own pace. I believe it is Javascript. I would like to check out Udemy for Python, since for his birthday he is getting a Cozmo and it can be programmed with Python. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purpleowl Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 I just saw pythonroom.com - has anyone tried that? Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 My 13 year old son has been enjoying www.w3schools.com - it's free. My dad is a programmer and got him started with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 (edited) I'm looking at classes at CodeHS. For $75/month (which is totally worth it to me because this is a huge area of interest for my kids and a language I do not speak), you have access to all their courses, which are staffed by tutors who grade your student's work and provide help and feedback. They have a six year, grades 7-12 plan that includes: Web Design, Computing Ideas, Intro to CS in JavaScript, Intro to CS in Python, AP Computer Science Principles, and AP Computer Science in Java. This might be good for your older kiddo. Edited June 30, 2017 by Alte Veste Academy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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