If you’ve got a kid or teen who’s interested in learning to code, take a visit to CodeWizardsHQ. They offer a range of coding classes (as well as some camps during the summer) targeted at kids in elementary, middle, and high school.
Elementary school kids get started with Scratch but can advance to programming in Python and creating dynamic websites with CSS. Middle schoolers start with an introduction to Python and can eventually learn about databases and APIs. High schoolers also start with Python, then databases and APIs, and then things like object relational mapping and MVC framework, which I’ll admit I have no clue about myself. For kids who already have some experience, there are placement tests that will allow them to skip ahead to the class that makes the most sense for them.
CodeWizardsHQ invited us to try out a class, so I signed my daughter up for the middle school Intro to Programming with Python class, which she just completed last week. She has played around with some coding in Scratch before, which uses a drag-and-drop interface to arrange various blocks to chain together functions, adjust variables, and so on, but she had not done anything involving typing out code.
Most of CodeWizardsHQ’s classes are 12 weeks, with one class meeting per week, and cost $447. Scheduling options include early afternoons, which may work well for kids who are homeschooled, or later in the day for kids who have regular daytime school schedules, plus a few weekend options. There are also options for 6-week classes, with two class meetings a week, so it covers the same content but just in a shorter overall time. During the summer, there are also accelerated courses, meeting four times a week for three weeks instead—that’s what my daughter did, which was a good daily routine to have in the middle of summer. (Speaking of camps, there are also summer camp options—there are weeklong camps and 2-day weekend camps, though most of those are already finished for this season.)
Classes are held online over video (though my daughter did inform me that all the students had their cameras off, microphones on). Each class, the teacher would first go over the previous class assignment to work through questions, and then they would have a slideshow that they would work through together with the new lesson, and there was a short quiz and a coding assignment paired with each lesson. Kids log into a CodeWizardsHQ interface for coding, and classes are recorded so you can go back and rewatch them if needed, as well as get access to the slides shown during the class.
My daughter really enjoyed the class. After working on her assignments each day, she would run the program for us to show us how it worked. The projects drew from a pre-built library of functions and images which she would use to build something to the desired result. She learned to display images and then move them around, detect and count mouse clicks, accept inputs and then create some sort of output, and control a figure on the screen with the arrow keys.
From what I could tell, there was usually a particular solution for each day’s assignment since they were mostly small, discrete tasks, there was still some room for creativity. One of the projects was a Mad Libs–style program that asked for various words and then assembled a short, silly “news” blurb. Another asked for your height and returned a result about whether you could ride the rollercoasters at a theme park, and if you said you were over 10 feet tall she commented whether you needed to find a park for non-humans.
There were a couple of assignments where my daughter had some trouble figuring out why things weren’t working, and I was able to take a look with her and spot a typo in the code or a mixup in some coordinates, but for the most part she worked on her own, just holing up with the Chromebook for a while. She liked to enter some code, run the program, then tweak it a little and see how it changed.
I would get an email the day after each class showing her progress, offering a recap of what was covered that day, showing her scores for the quiz and homework assignment, and her overall grade for the class. There’s also a parent interface where you can see If you didn’t score perfectly on an assignment, you could redo it and resubmit. For quizzes, there was a way to retake them but there were some restrictions—you had to wait at least 24 hours before retaking it, and also had to score a certain percentage on a homework assignment as well. My kid loves getting things right, so she took advantage of those opportunities to try again when she didn’t get a perfect score. (Of course, she was probably also drawn to the chance to earn achievements, which you can get by doing things like logging in every day, turning in assignments, and participating in the class forum.)
Overall, I was pleased with our experience with CodeWizardsHQ. My daughter has expressed interest in taking more classes in the future, and it was particularly great to have a class for her to take this summer that fit into our various other family schedules. The next slate of intro classes starts next week, so there’s still some time to sign up if you’re interested!
For more information or to register your kid for a class, visit the CodeWizardsHQ website!
Disclosure: GeekDad was provided with the introductory class in exchange for coverage.
