Teaching kids how to code has become such an important part of our everyday lives. Not only do our children WANT to learn, but it’s pretty obvious that many of their future opportunities will require this important skill.
That’s why I was happy to learn about Hour of Code and signed my children up immediately for a lesson to see what these classes were truly about.
I wasn’t always a blogger. Prior to this gig, I was a business consultant doing front end and back end design for Fortune 100 companies. I’ve built out websites for brands like JPMorgan, Vanguard and Merrill Lynch all while sitting under the pretty umbrellas of either Accenture of Ernst or Young (now Cap Gemini Ernst and Young).
It was AGES ago. I would be absolutely useless if I stepped foot in one of those offices today. 10 years makes a world of a difference and makes me archaic, but technology is just as important as it was yesterday as it is today IF NOT MORE. Getting our children ready for that reality is critical. Teaching kids how to code falls under that umbrella.
I’m not saying we’re all going to raise little Silicone Valley babies. I’m just saying they should all understand logic and the concept of coding just in case it’s something that they want to do in the future. Programming makes the world go ’round. There’s literally nothing that functions in the world today that didn’t happen without a little code.
Thank goodness there is this incredible movement to get children interested in programming. And the tools that are available online are F-R-E-E.
Yesterday, I took the kids to my local Apple store for an hour long coding class. I asked the team when the next class would be because I was ABSOLUTELY going to sign up for ALL of them and sadly the free class only takes place once a year. WAAAAHHHHH!
But guess what? My kids’ school does the Hour of Code each week during their computer class! Amazing! If your child’s school doesn’t participate, that’s ok!
There’s a website to use at HOME and it’s completely guided so parents don’t really need to be involved. It’s grade level appropriate and done for students who have ZERO experience. Trust me, your children will walk away feeling successful, accomplished, and thirsty for more.
The kids LOVE this stuff! They can work with Frozen, Star Wars, Minecraft and more… All their favorites are up for grabs. By teaching kids that they can have full control over programs through programming, it gives them power! Intellectual power. Feed that beast!!!
Logic = coding = magic. Open their minds and get them thinking in a different way early on. Get started! Teach your kids to code and see how their world can change.
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