KidCoder by Homeschooling Programming Inc.

KidCoder by Homeschool Programming, Inc., comes with 2 text books and optional instructional DVD’s. This is part of their year pack, first semester covers Windows Programming and the second semester covers Game Programming.  The recommended grade levels for this is grades 4-8. Kid Coder is a curriculum that teaches kids how to do Windows Programming using Visual Basic programming language. 
The second book builds on the first in that the students code several different games while learning game programming techniques.  They begin with drawing shapes on the screen and then progress to displaying and animating images and playing music and creating sound effects.
When you receive the program, you need to install Visual Basic 2010 Express which is included as a link in the text book and the course CD which is in the back of the text book (this is different than the optional instructional video cd).  Once that is installed, the course CD basically walks you through the course files that need to be uploaded.  The chapters in the text book include the history and/or an explanation of the concept being learned.  It gives step by step instructions for writing a program using the concept learned in the chapter.  At the end, the students are given an opportunity to slightly change the program.  For example one chapter teaches how to write a simple calculator program using addition and subtraction and from there, the students can build off of the calculator program and create one that figures out the average of numbers.

What I like about this curriculum is that my 6th and 8th grader could do it alone without very much guidance.  It was easy to follow the text book and then implement it on the computer.   The DVD’s are an additional visual aide of the text book.  It basically repeated what was in the text book but visually with pictures, graphics and sound.  They are not necessary to complete the course and we didn’t use them but they would be a great addition especially for students that need a visual guide in addition to the text book.   My very motivated 8th grader was excited about the curriculum and went through the whole first semester in a matter of weeks doing several chapters in a day.  He started this not knowing anything about computer programming and only knowing basic computer skills. He finished the first book being able to write simple programs, a simple pong type game, and learned more about the history of programming as well.  My 4th grader could do the chapters but needed more guidance along the way but she wasn’t as interested in programming as my older ones.

Overall Kid Coder is an excellent curriculum for any student interested and wanting to learn more about computer programming and game programming!  Homeschool Programming also has a curriculum for grades 9-12 called Teen Coder which I know for sure we will be looking into!!

http://homeschoolprogramming.com/ and it is $120 for the year pack (both the Windows Programming and the Game Programming Textbook Kit) and $30.00 for the additional Instructional Videos.

Reviewer Biography
Tia Warmack is a homeschooling mom to 3, a 14 year old boy, 12 year old girl, and 10 year old girl.  Tia has been homeschooling her children for about 10 years.   “I love the flexibility that homeschooling allows and the ability to learn in everyday simple situations!”

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