Coding For Homeschool – All You Need To Know

Try to think about learning coding at home the same way you think about learning French or Japanese at home. It is just like learning a new language, but you use a computer. Frankly, thanks to the availability of home computers and the Internet. It has never been easier for children to learn how to code. Before you add coding for homeschool curriculum, here are a few things to consider.

 

Do Not Force Coding On Your Kids

It is very important that coding never be forced on your kids. They need to learn at their own rate and only continue if they are happy to do so. If you force your child to learn coding, then they will grow to hate it. They might stay as far away from it as possible.

If you and your child are going through coding lessons and you feel some resistance to the lessons, then allow your child to quit. In truth, coding isn’t a very child friendly activity. There are some kids who love it, but most kids don’t. You need to allow your child to quit. Most do not like being sat at a computer for extended periods of time. Allow your child to quit and re-introduce coding when your child is a teen. Most teenagers are quite happy to sit at a computer for hours. It is more amenable to learning coding (especially if they had a positive experience with coding at an early age).

Take Online Coding Classes

 

If you want, you can become very involved in your kid’s coding education. You can learn alongside your kid, or you can learn in advance. Then help your kid using courses (while safe in the knowledge you understand what is going on with the course). Alternatively, you can find online coding classes for kids where there are two options.

There are self-learning courses that often include games and such. Or, there are teacher-involved courses. They are often pre-recorded where the teacher gives lessons and then learns. The pre-recorded lessons are not as fun or engaging, but they are a little more structured, which some older kids may prefer.

Do Not Teach Visual Basic or Pseudo Coding Languages

You may think that your child will do better with Visual Basic or some other (easier) version of coding, but that is not the case at all. Whether you are teaching your kid an easy coding language or a hard one, they are all better than the starter or pseudo languages. You may think that teaching a kid something like Dreams, a platform where you can code your own games, is a good thing, but it has no long-term value.

Try to pick a language that you think your child will be able to use in his or her future life. Don’t consider how difficult or beginner friendly the code is because it is only a temporary concern. Very soon, your child won’t be a beginner and a language’s beginner friendliness will not matter.

Don’t Try to Keep Kids Entertained

You have to let coding speak for itself. There are online coding courses that have games and fancy graphics to try to keep kids interested, and that is fine, but that alone shouldn’t determine which course you choose. For example, there are some parents who start their kids out with Minecraft coding because they think their kids love and enjoyment of Minecraft will keep them interested.

But, the kids end up loving the game and resenting the fact that they are coding for the game when they could be playing the game. The same is true if you try to reward your kid solving problems or completing courses. You are redirecting what should be a fun and turning the focus towards the treat, the reward, or whatever entertainment tool you are using. Don’t let lessons get boring, but also, don’t try too hard to entertain your kid.

Let the coding activity be its own fun!