computer Learning

Ara: the Star Engineer

November 15, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Allow me to introduce Ara, the Star Engineer. This little book focuses on Ara, who has a problem she wants to solve. She is a young lady who loves numbers and has a helpful sidekick robot but together they don’t know quite enough to find a solution to Ara’s problem. Enter in Innovation Plex. This story walks us through Ara, and the different people she meets, that help her solve her problem.

From the Back Cover:

Ara loves numbers – big numbers. She wants to program her droid DeeDee to count all the stars, but she’s not sure how. In this upbeat adventure, Ara visits Innovation Plex to enlist the help of four tech trailblazers – inspiring real-life engineers of Google. With her new friends, Ara discovers an algorithm for success that can solve BIG problems and be lots of fun: courage, creativity, code and collaboration.

What do you get?

A cute book geared toward girls that inspires them to think in terms of STEM and working with computers. Innovation Plex is part of google and is host to some of the brightest engineers. Ara turns to four women to help her solve her problem. Each woman specializes in a different area so they can help Ara when she faces each new problem.

Bright, colourful images fill the pages, bringing the story to life. Each of the four focus words is highlighted. In the image below we see COURAGE. Creativity, code and collaboration are done in a similar manner. I liked that each time we met a new character her name and position were highlighted.

As you read you will notice different words are printed in bold. Many of these words will found in the glossary at the close of the book. These are words that introduce important concepts to readers from 5-9 years old. The illustrations by Ipek Konak are spot on, giving voice to the working environment for these four engineers as well as to the joy of thinking and problem-solving.

My Thoughts

I thought this book was well done and applaud the authors for not dumbing it down. Too many books don’t use language that is varied or specific enough to not only entertain children, but to educate them as well. This book succeeds in doing both. It would be so easy to expand this book to include various ages…from researching the helpers, to learn more about coding and computer language, to adding in a STEM project or two to put the learning into a hands-on format. Brightly coloured images with an excellent storyline following Ara through the various stages of completing her project. Well done.

Ara, the Star Engineer.
Komal Singh et al
Illustrator: Ipek Konak
Page Two Books
40 pages, Hardcover (though I received a trade paperback)
STEM, engineering, girls
ages 5-9

Reviewed for Raincoast Books.
NOTE: there is a website to go along with Ara, Star Engineer. You can find it here. It has a fair number of printables to expand the ideas found in this lovely picture book.

Review: Code for Teens

July 16, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Coding is such an important part of the world today. My 13 year old son has a keen interest in learning to code. Last year he took an engineering course, and through that learned how vital knowing how to use electronics and how to code really is in today’s world. He’s been learning some coding with Minecraft but is just itching to take his knowledge farther, enter in Code for Teens: The Awesome Beginner’s Guide to Programming (Volume 1). This program is brought to us by Moritz team at Code for Teens.

What do you get?

Originally we were supposed to get a physical book to use, but since we live in Canada we ended up with a PDF. This makes it very travelable as we can put it on any device and read as we go.

This File is 116 pages, with 10 chapters, along with a glossary, answer key, a section for parents, and introduction. Each chapter includes a quiz, key concepts list, drills and a review of the chapter preceeding it.

In case you are curious, you can see a sample chapter here.

Chapters include the following:
1: Hello World!
2: Time to Operate
3: Comment on the String Section:
4: Have Some Functions
5: Shall I Compare?
6: Logically Operational
7: Projects Galore
8; Hip Hip Array!
9: Loop a Round
10: Make a Hangman Game

I loved how in the introduction the authors take the time to talk about how important learning to code is. Software engineering (computer coding) is “one of the fastest growing industries in the world. ….Perhaps it
should be mentioned that programmers are in extremely high demand, and this leads to excellent pay, comfortable work environments, flexible hours, greater job satisfaction, long-term career security,” etc. But really…the answer is simple: Superpowers.

And so we learn how coding well is a superpower that leads to better jobs in the future. Learning JavaScript is important because “it is the most common programming language of them all and is used in over 90% of all websites! JavaScript makes websites move and respond to what a user touches and types. And it’s also a useful tool for games and mobile apps! With more and more businesses going online and people browsing on their phones, JavaScript is becoming more valuable every year.” With these words my lad felt even more inspired!

How did we use it?

Code for Teens is designed to be a self-paced course. The alternating reading and text gives students an immediate chance to practice what they are learning. The repetition helps them with areas they struggle in, and the practicum helps them retain that knowledge well. The lad loved to hear that there would be more than one way to answer any problem given, as it gave him the confidence to experiment.

The lad worked through one lesson per week. Opening up the PDF file in a browser tab, working through the learning portion, then doing the quizzes and drills on a separate days. We aren’t in a rush to get through the book as it’s summer and other learning comes first.. like learning how to paint, spackle, cut down trees, ministry work (like VBS, foodbank), visiting friends etc. The lad doesn’t fight sitting down to do work through his lessons three days per week. He has repeatedly told me how much he enjoys going through this book and all the things he likes about it.

It’s good you know?

Our Thoughts:

My son predominately used this on his own. I only helped when he was getting set up, and for grading his tests. Other than initially struggling with the NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION over every page, this JavaScript computer training program is working really well for the lad.

Since he was the one using it, I will let him make his own comments

Likes:

I like how he walks through everything and repeats it several times. That way if I didn’t understand it the first time, the next time I will and everything else just becomes review so I understand it better and remember.

I like the DIY bits where you need to figure out your own how to do something using what you’ve been taught.

Wants:

Challenges to take the code you have been taught and figure out how to make it shorter or easier to write. I did this! See this example.

Let number = 0;
number ++;
Number %3;
Up arrow, enter

Rather than writing it out like 4 % 3; enter. 5 % 3; enter etc.

Dislikes:

The parent section was really boring.

His recommendation:

If you want to learn JavaScript, buy this book, as it has worked really well for me so far.

Code For Teens: The Awesome Beginner’s Guide to Programming (Volume 1)
Code for Teens.
Coding, JavaScript, teens,
Code For Teens, programming, computer programming,

Geared for teens. Great for adults as well.
Pricing information found here

Code for Teens has been reviewed by 65 members of the crew of a variety of ages. Please click below to read what their comments are.

Code for teens can also be found on facebook.

Review: CodeWizardsHQ

May 2, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

I wanted to share with you about a coding class from CodeWizardsHQ that my son recently completed. This online coding class had my son intrigued and wanting to do more. The ability to code is an extremely important skill that today’s youth will need for the jobs of tomorrow. Coding is required in so many positions today, the need for skilled computer savvy people is growing exponentially. CodeWizardsHQ also offers homeschool computer programs as well as online coding classes for all students.

CodeWizardsHQ set up an introductory Class for members of the Homeschool Review Crew. They had a number of timeslots we could pick from in order to see how their training program works. I have to admit…. my son wanted it to be much longer. He didn’t get to complete everything he wanted to due to the limitations of the one hour class and the very new to coding people who were part of his group.

I thought I would walk you through some of the technical stuff and let my son tell you about his experience later on. First a bit about the program from CodeWizardsHQ themselves.

What do you get?

As I mentioned earlier, we received a one hour online class to test out their program. This consisted of getting an email from David and Kevin walking us through the important aspects of the program. An introductory video was used to point out the benefits of using their program to teach coding (teacher support, classroom setting, learning from each other, feedback given), the exponential growth in the need for good coding skills, and how their program work. Regretfully I was unable to attend, but Kevin nicely sent me a PDF of the slides used in the presentation so I didn’t really miss it! Wasn’t that sweet of him?

My son took the class because we could only have one person on and listening well at a time. This review will be filled with overheard comments concluding with my son’s overall impression of the class.

At the start of the class, based on what I overheard, the instructor took a moment to learn a few things about each of the students. I heard my son say “I don’t know what I want to learn, but by what I have seen its an important skill to know” as well as the fact that he has done some coding in the past.

A quick complaint I heard was “I wish some of the people not talking would turn off their audio as I hear people talking in the background.” I mentioned to my son that is a hard issue to control and that CodeWizardsHQ had asked people to meet in a quiet area.

We weren’t initially aware that we would need to have two screens open so it took us a bit of time to get that part figured out. Once we did, the rest of the class moved smoothly. They use the Go Meeting program to conduct the teaching part of the program.

There is another open page with the students private dashboard. We received a special code that helped us open this page. I assume each person received their own code. The class we took was an introductory one.

At the top of the dashboard are the controls to learn the programming. The join class button takes you to the Go Meeting app. Editor is where items are edited, progress lets you see the changes you have made.

As you move to the editor page you will see a page like this. At times this page will just have a column of grey on the one side with words/names. And if you click on one of those words you will see either an image pop up or a bunch of code.

My son was taught with some pre-existing elements, examples follow.

By the end my son had officially made a checkerboard of conversation and images.

Comments overheard: “I now understand why learning in a classroom takes so much longer now”. “Some of the students are slow, so I have to wait, I can change anything I want while I wait.”

Instructor quality?

Good.

Sound?

Instructor good, everyone else horrible.

Ease of use?

“I found it very easy to use. I know a couple of students didn’t get the first thing done”

Do you like it?

Yes. Would have been nice if everyone could have figured it out.

Would you want to take a 12 week course?

Yes I would.

Anything you would change?

“”What they need to do is have two instructors. One to keep the advanced students going and one to help the ones who have fallen behind.”

“I would have liked them to spend some time explaining what html does rather than just how to change it.”
“Didn’t teach about elements, opening and closing brackets. Would have been better to start completely from scratch.”

“All we were taught was how to change part of an element and how to copy and paste an element.”

“One of the things I liked is that if you made a mistake with your HTML , such as you forgot to make a opening bracket or a closing bracket or if you added them something in that shouldn’t be there, it would pop up in red text if it needed to be changed.”

My lad thoroughly enjoyed being part of this class and would happily take a courses from CodeWizardsHQ if he had a chance to do so.

CodeWizards offers several classes, each 12 weeks long. One hour live class each week which comes with 24/7 access to the code writing platform, email support, one-to-one assistance as needed, weekly progress updates recorded classes along with the necessary web space to complete projects and an online student community. A certificate is issued for each completed courses.

CodeWizardHQ
I received a one hour introductory class into HTML coding.

Their normal classes run for 12 weeks and at the end of them you will get a certificate of completion.
Online, Coding Classes for Kids,
Three Levels to work through, Certificate upon Completion, Along with Internship.
For Class Pricing.
CodeWizardsHQ is not a homeschool curriculum company, but they are open to providing classes during the day for homeschooled students. Learn More Here.

60 members of the Homeschool Review Crew took this class, CLICK HERE to read them.

Facebook along with the Facebook group for parents who are interested in coding for their children
Twitter.
Pinterest.
YouTube.

Want to Learn Coding? 10 free sites.

April 20, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

My 12 year old has developed a keen interest in coding. He thinks it’s fascinating that by taking letters and numbers he can create something. And if you stop and think about it, it is rather fascinating isn’t it? He’s been wanting to learn coding so I’ve been checking out some coding options that are available on line for free. Afterall, the demand for coding skills is skyrocketing. This skill is in demand for developers as well as for almost any career path. Students today need the right technical skills in order to succeed.

Here is what I found.

CodeAcademy is the one I think EVERYONE knows. CodeAcademy has a free as well as paid options. Choose what suits your budget best. Below are just a few of the courses they have available, as you can see PRO has it benefits.

Coursera offers a variety of computer programming courses. These courses are from universities from around the world.

I have to admit to being surprised by Khan Academy, I knew they did math, and recently science. I didn’t know they also did coding! I saw courses for java, html, sql, css and more. Definitely worth checking out.

FreeCodeCamp sounds very intriguing. Learning to code while helping out non-profits. Sounds like an interesting combination don’t you think? Main page says free so that’s a good thing eh?

college and university coding classes provided for free by agupieware. a program that consists of about 15 courses: 3 introductory classes, 7 core classes and 5 electives.

Udemy offers a wide variety of computer programming courses for the beginner. Writing programs, java and more..

I have to admit, I don’t know enough of coding to sort this out, but I can see it being a fine edge to those who know some and want to have the fun of getting better at their skills. Codewars is just like it sounds.

Dash is a fun and free online course that teaches you the basics of web development through projects you can do in your browser. Html, css, java.

The Odin Project looks like a neat site with projects to do, learning to be done. Even with a chat group.

with Bento you can learn lots of computer stuff. Be a self-taught web developer!

Code Avengers is the last site I found. They seem to have three tracks available. I haven’t looked into them indepth, but enough to know they teach a variety of coding skills and it’s worth checking out. I know they have a seven day free trial, but the options beyond that I haven’t explored at this point.

I know there are a lot more sites out there. You need to be mindful if they are free or not, the last one I’m really not entirely sure about. If using them with your children I’d suggest (as with anything) checking them out first.

There are Paid options for students to learn as well. My son really enjoyed his course with Digital Savvy. And in a couple of weeks I’ll be putting up a review for CodeWizardsHQ.

Technology in the Classroom

August 15, 2017 By Annette1 12 Comments

I have to admit, I really struggled with this topic. I think school supplies and I think.. oh yay.. talking about pencils, papers and glue. BIG YIP! How in the world can I make THAT topic exciting? Should I talk about how I organize them? Should I talk about the differences in pencils when it comes to doing art? Hmm…

I sat and pondered. Thinking about what school supplies would I prefer to not live without.
Then it hit me.

My cell phone! My Laptop! The Tablets! Seriously…this tech I would not want to be without.

If I combine them with my boy and his questions, and me and my ingenuity… we have a workable solution for our homeschooling needs.

YES we still need paper, printers, pencils, pens, erasers, glue and what not…but in the end.. what we really would have a hard time living without for our schooling purposes is the internet and how it comes through in the cell phone, laptop and tablet.

These three items make our schooling so much easier.

Let me walk you through how these items are vital in our homeschool.

Value added to curriculum purchased.

Take for instance the Inventors Lapbook that we are currently working on.

It is so much easier to explain what swimming fins are (the Franklin invented) if I can just quickly pull them up.

You see, no curriculum can put EVERYTHING into their product. It would make them too bulky, you’d have to ask permission to use images, and would become far to cumbersome and no one person can determine what will catch the fancy of every student using their materials. It’s impossible. But with technology at my fingertips…when the lad asks a question not covered in the curricula, I can look it up.

Broadening Excursions

For instance, if we are out for a walk and the lad asks me a question about water striders and if they hibernate or just have eggs over the winter, to pull up the question and discover the answer (means I don’t either have to remember the question or write it down). Just so you know… they do indeed hibernate.

Or when we went to Fort York last year and there was no guides at some of the stops, we could google ideas brought forth …like the differences in the cannons displayed, how they were moved around and what not.

Ease of Research
When my lad researched ants over the past couple of weeks he watched a TON of youtube videos on his tablet. Watching them over and over again until he got the information he wanted. Then he could look up how-tos on putting together a formicarium for his ants. Then it came spilling out in conversation on walks, at supper and just as we did things together. So much learning, so readily available. Pulling up related articles, finding new information, learning how to write reports….it’s all right there, so handy to use.

A Casual Way to Learn Spelling
My lad is developing an interest in learning to spell better. He now sees a need for it. So When he doesn’t know how to spell a word he will speak it into his tablet and voila! The right word comes up, or he can use the spell check on the tablet. Overtime his spelling is improving and it’s great to see.

Teaching honesty and integrity
Last year I had my son learn to write reports. He initially thought it was okay to just copy and paste without giving proper accreditation. This gave us the opportunity to discuss plagarism and citing sources and how it’s honest to say where you got the information from and who said it. You can’t call someone else’s work your own. This was a big eye-opener for my lad and helped him understand why other people did it.

Purchasing Items Needed
“Mom! I need xyz for this project. Where can I find it?”
I live in small town Ontario, with the bigger city not too far away, but sometimes finding unique items is a bit of a challenge. That’s where technology comes into play, being able to find thin copper sheeting, larger quantities of LED lights and so forth. It’s great! Teaches a lad patience while he waits for supplies to come in and saves aggravation in trying to find supplies. 🙂

Is technology important in your schoolroom? How do you use it?

Check out the posts of others by going here.
Here are a few to get you started:
Rebecca – Our Life ~ Home and School – I blog about our homeschool journey and life at home.

Rebekah – There Will Be a $5 Charge For Whining
– I want to
share with you how I’ve kept most of my sanity and give you mostly
practical advice.

Sabrina – Kids, Crunch, and Christ – Encouragement and resources to help moms live with joy from a crunchy homeschooling mom of five!!

Sheila – troutwife
– We have a busy life, are involved in church and 4-H, enjoy
science and each other, and keep learning new things all the time! I so
totally don’t have it all together! 🙂

Stephanie – Swinging On Small Hinges – homeschool mama to 2 spunky girls

Susan – My Happy Homeschool
– Welcome to My Happy Homeschool! My heart’s
desire is to encourage the homeschool mom to live out God’s calling and
stay the course.

Yvie – Gypsy Road
– Yvie is a road-schooling mother of two boys. Her blog centers on
Charlotte Mason and unit study style learning based on the adventures
her family has taken together!

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

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Review: Secrets and Sequences

May 20, 2017 By Annette1 2 Comments

Do you want a painless way to interest your students or children in coding? Secret Coders has come out with a series of graphic novels to intrigue and entertain. Mystery mixed with coding. It’s a good thing eh? Last year I reviewed another Secret Coders book, and today I have Secrets and Sequences to share with you. Learn coding through reading a graphic novel! Neat Idea eh?

Hopper and the gang have a mystery to solve. What’s going on with Professor Bee, who is one-zero and still.. where is Hopper’s Dad? Will they get closer to figuring this out?

As the gang works through the mystery they make new friends (who would have thought!) but danger does make for strange bed fellows. 🙂 They learn how to code better (even Josh) and before you know it, they have worked out more of the mystery’s answers! WOOT WOOT!!!

They learn to work together all the better, though sometimes it’s not so easy.

I love how the graphics are simple and not hard on the eyes like the graphic novels of old. These are clearly legible, with simple colours that don’t detract from the storyline.

This graphic novel does what many do well… leave you hanging so you want to get the next book so you can solve the mystery. Will they be able to see it through? Will the gang solve the code?

Do I recommend it?
For sure. It’s an easy read that introduces coding to your students AND if they decide they are interested, they can visit the secret coders website and learn more! Pretty cool that! 🙂

Title: Secrets and Sequences
Author: Gene Luen Yan
Illustrator: Mike Holmes
Series: Secret Coders
Publisher: First Second Books
Pages: 112
Age: 8-12 years
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

Where can you find it?
Amazon.ca – Secret Coders: Secrets & Sequences

Amazon.com – Secret Coders: Secrets & Sequences

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

Review: Compuscholar, Inc.

April 10, 2017 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

In this day and age of technology at our fingertips, solid computer skills are an essential part of learning, and the new Digital Savvy course from CompuScholar, Inc. provides excellent instruction in fundamental computing topics.

My son has been using the computer for quite some time now, but there is so much that he doesn’t understand about them, so when the chance came up for him to learn more about them, I totally jumped on it. 🙂 Digital Savvy is teaching him so much about computers, it’s neat to see his understanding deepen.

How does this online program work?
After you log into this online computer skills class you come to the main screen which outlines what the student will be learning. The main title is clickable and will lead you to the lessons for the week.

Twenty five lessons plus supplemental lessons. Each lesson is clearly delineated with options for doing video and/or a written lesson, along with a quiz. Five lesson in one week. Making it easy to complete one chapter per week, the lessons are short enough you can do two or more a day, along with the application part and the weekly test.

Twenty three chapters of lessons, along with one mid-term project and one final project.

Fundamentals of Computer Hardware
Fundamentals of Computer Software
Operating Systems
Computer Files
Computer Maintenance and troubleshooting
Computer Networks
Search Engines
Computer Security
Word processing
Spreadsheet programs
Presentation programs
Database technology
Project management and teamwork
Digital Images
Internet Communications
Social Media
More Social Media
Creating Web Pages
Web Links, Images and Animation
Programming Concepts
Digital Logic
Careers and Professional Skills

One of the things I like is that the lessons aren’t all just learn this, learn that, here’s a test. At the end of the week that have a practical component to help bring all the parts of the lesson together. It helps cement the weeks lessons.

The quiz and tests are handled the same way, with multiple choice questions.
They clear show if you have the answer correct or not.

Marking is a breeze, the program doing it all for you, with the exception of the practical component (which encourages parental involvement eh?) 🙂 Checking them over means I can say to the lad… that lesson 3…I think redoing that one might be a good idea eh? (and have a sheepish boy go …I didn’t like that one, but okay).

So far this computer science course is proving to be helpful to my lad, giving him a way to use computer language as he talks with his dad (who knows so much about computers it makes my head spin). 🙂 It is so great to find a program that will continue the connection between a dad and his lad, and if my son has any questions he can turn to his dad for advice, I do have to admit though, he hasn’t needed much help at this point (beyond how to do the practical application and the one lesson redo).

Marking projects is easy to do. You simply go into your account as teacher, and mark the project using a rubric.

You will find in the teachers area that there are all sorts of helps, professional development courses. If you look under common administrative features it will bring up videos on Grading students project, Using the Gradebook, Adding sibling accounts and more.

My Thoughts:
Other than when my lad complains about needing to read the student text (because he missed something in the test and needs to correct it) I don’t hear a lot of “Do I have to do this?” I have a lad eager to complete the material and who talks about what he is learning. That to me is a sign of elective that is enjoyed. It’s been a great way for him to do some computer learning. We’ll be finishing this course.

He has commented that he would like the chapter lessons to note which lessons he has completed. He wishes the check marks would change colour when that days lesson is completed.

My son’s comments:
“I like that they have video lessons. The lessons are interesting and relatively fast to do. I try to not have to read the student text book though.”

Product: Digital Savvy
Vendor: CompuScholar, Inc. (formerly Homeschool Programming)
Ages: Grades 6-12
Type: On-line Product

We reviewed three courses:
Digital Savvy
Web Design
Java Programming

100 reviewers have been using CompuScholar, Inc. products. Read reviews here or click below.

http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/digital-savvy-web-design-java-programming-compuscholarinc-reviews/

Social Media Links:
Homeschool Programming
Facebook – www.facebook.com/HomeschoolProgramming
Twitter – https://twitter.com/HSProgramming @hsprogramming

CompuScholar, Inc
https://www.facebook.com/CompuScholar
https://twitter.com/CompuScholar @compuscholar

Hashtags: #hsreviews #computerprogrammingforkids #codingforkids #computerskills

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

computer Learning

Ara: the Star Engineer

From the Back Cover:

What do you get?

My Thoughts

Review: Code for Teens

What do you get?

How did we use it?

Our Thoughts:

Review: CodeWizardsHQ

What do you get?

Instructor quality?

Sound?

Ease of use?

Do you like it?

Would you want to take a 12 week course?

Anything you would change?

Want to Learn Coding? 10 free sites.

Technology in the Classroom

Review: Secrets and Sequences

Review: Compuscholar, Inc.

Amazon Affiliate information

Tinker Crate Affiliate

computer Learning

From the Back Cover:

What do you get?

My Thoughts

What do you get?

How did we use it?

Our Thoughts:

What do you get?

Instructor quality?

Sound?

Ease of use?

Do you like it?

Would you want to take a 12 week course?

Anything you would change?

Want to Stay Informed?

Thank you!

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