TOS Review: Homeschool Programmer

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Ben is in computer heaven!

Sometimes I think this child came out of the womb with a mouse in his hand. He loves all things computer. This year, he’s been learning a lot about using Microsoft Office–Word and Power Point especially. When he found out that we were going to review programming software, he literally shouted for joy!

So please allow me to introduce you to his new favorite pass-time–Homeschool Programming.

Homeschool Programming is written by homeschoolers, for homeschoolers. That’s always a plus, isn’t it? We were given the KidCoder Series, first edition, written for grades 4-8. The second edition was recently released. It begins with a Windows Programming curriculum, to be used over one semester and then goes to Game Programming for the second semester. We finished the Windows curriculum, and are a few lessons into the Game curriculum. There is also a TeenCoder Series for highschoolers.

You do not need to know anything about computer programming to complete this course, they truly do begin at the beginning. The history of computers was fun and interesting to both Ben and me. He laughed at the pictures of those monstrosities that were the first computers. The course is also written so that it can be completed independently by your student. Ben was not able to do this. He is at the lowest age recommendation for the course, however. If you have a 7th or 8th-grader, I’m sure they could do it independently. Expect to help a lot your 4th or 5th grader though, unless they are super smart or have some prior experience. Whatever you student’s age, they do need to have experience using a computer, including operating Windows, saving files, using a keyboard and mouse, etc.

Here’s a quick synopsis of what the course covers:

Brief introduction to computer hardware, software, and programming history

Introduction to the Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 Express development environment
Managing different types of data such as numbers and text
Learning how to make decisions about program flow
Obtaining and validating user input
Working with numbers and math operations
Working with strings (text)
Learning how to debug (find errors in) your code
Learning how to write loops to execute sections of code many times
Working with arrays (sets of data)
Learning how to publish your programs to other computers
Putting it all together — write a simple graphical game!

In the end, your student will have spent a year getting a good foundation in programming that can only lead to much experimentation with their own ideas.

You can watch a demonstration video here. You can also purchase instructional videos. I did not receive these, so I can’t comment to their effectiveness, but if you’re going to be working with students at the younger end of the range, I’m guessing they would be helpful. I believe they would help us and I may go ahead and purchase them for Ben to complete the Game course.

The cost of the Textbook Kit is $120. The additional videos are $45 for the set. The videos are definitely supplemental in nature; they do not replace the textbooks!

Overall, we have loved this program. We will definitely continue with the Game course. It’ll be a few years before Ben is old enough for the TeenCoder curriculum, but he’s already begging for it!

Read what other members of the TOS Crew thought about Homeschool Programming.

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are those of myself and/or my son.

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