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.
- 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!
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!
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.