Helping Kids with Coding For Dummies

Chapter 17

Ten Do’s and Don’ts for Selecting a Kids Coding Curriculum

Selecting a coding curriculum is a critical task. If you’re a parent who is homeschooling your child, you have quite a few options available for coding curricula. If you’re a parent of a school-faring kiddo, you may not actually select a curriculum, but instead simply try to assist your child in working with whatever material she’s exploring in class.

Coaches and teachers in camps and schools may have some flexibility in selecting a curriculum, especially those working in independent settings. Coaches and teachers instructing for larger public schools, however, may be required to use specific curriculum prescribed by their school districts and state departments of education. This is also true of instructors teaching in online settings. Whatever your circumstances, this chapter can help you find and implement a coding curriculum that is engaging and provides just the right level of difficulty for your young coders!

DO Find the Right Entry Level

So many options are available for coding curricula — so where do you start? Countries including The United Kingdom, Estonia, Australia, France, and others have committed to coding by making it an integral part of their national school curriculum for K-12 students. Most of these countries are developing their own curriculum, getting their students started as young as Kindergarten!

Getting started in elementary grades

In the early grades, many countries focus curricula ...