Teaching Kids to Code

Reed and I have begun the journey to creating with software this week. Astonishingly, it's hard to get him to put the tool we've chosen down. While I struggle that it's yet more time on the iPad, it's also amazing to see his mind work through the logic and puzzles, and get excited to solve them.

As an aside, he's always loved puzzles and lego. I never made the jump to number and logic puzzles.

For perspective, we made a deal. I'd buy this software to learn and he'd work together with me two hours a week. I hoped that by doing it together, it would be more fun. And, by making the commitment ahead of time it's a "contract" we'll keep with each other.

We chose codeSpark. I took a gamble on the annual plan because it's a few months free but they also have a $109 lifetime special until the end of April 2021.

In our first week, we've spent over three hours learning and bonding over the experience.

That's a big investment, so let me tell you (briefly) why we chose codeSpark:

1. It was the one the kids picked.
2. It doesn't require the child be able to read; even for kids that read well (like my oldest), reading is an effort for them. Being able to put their full brain into the logic development, rather than splitting their energy between reading/comprehension AND coding is better.
3. It's won quite a few awards.
4. Up to three kids can use the same account.
5. It works on iPads and Macs.
6. They put the children's safety and privacy right up front. Some features are disabled until they communicate directly with parents.

In that interaction to turn on project sharing, support was awesome. Very personable. In fact, very much like a company focused on helping children. So I look forward to digging in more.

You can get started with a 7-day free trial. The annual plan gets you four months free (which I couldn't resist).

I'm going to keep track of our progress and continue to share. Stay tuned.