I am the main computer user in our (one computer) household. As my children get older, I realize their need to not only use the computer, but to learn about computers as well. Motherboard Books has some great resources to help make this easier – and fun! We have been working through the lessons in Logo Adventures thanks to this review opportunity.
Logo Adventures is targeted at 8-12 year olds with little to no experience beyond basic use. This has been a great starting point for my children. We initially started out with the four oldest children working together, with me directing each lesson time. My 7 year old son just isn’t quite ready for this and doesn’t have enough interest to want to learn (yet — I think that will change in a year or two). The pacing of the lessons was perfect for the middle girls (9 and 10) but they were not near as interested as their big sister (12). I let the others “drop out” of our little class (for now, we’ll pick back up when big sister is finished) and let the eldest continue at her pace.
My daughter has really surprised me (and herself) with how much she has enjoyed this course. There are 26 lessons, intended for a whole (school) year at a lesson a week. Once allowed to work at her own pace, she has sometimes completed more than a lesson a week and other times slowed down as she needed. Sometimes she will spend only 30-40 minutes a lesson while others are closer to 90. Her lengthy times are due to both playing and experimenting beyond the lesson and other times needing more time to really understand what she is needing to do. Her slower reading has probably contributed as well. She has not needed much from me – just an admiring audience most of the time.
Beginning with the simplest commands, the lessons take your learner gently through many fun projects in learning programming. I’ve looked ahead of where my daughter is currently and am looking forward to the later lessons. These lessons involve animating their design with suggestions for creating a digital e-card to send. My daughter is really enjoying the creative side of these lessons. I nearly burst her bubble when I shared recently how much math this is. This has been such a fun experience for her, she hadn’t realized the application of math and thinking skills. For this alone, I give Motherboard Books the highest praise!
Logo Adventures is written to the learner, younger learners might still need help, but olders generally won’t. The directions are easy to follow and if you get stuck, the answers are right in the back of the book. I’ve not shared that info with my children, I want them to work at it and figure it out. If I still don’t “get it” even after a peek at the answers, the author, Phyllis Wheeler is just an e-mail away. She is a homeschool mom, too. She created the courses she offers when she couldn’t find what she was looking for. I love it when homeschool moms use their talents and gifts – and share with the rest of us.
When you order the Logo Adventures curriculum ($129.99), you are getting the spiral bound book (approx. 120 pages) and the disk of MicroWorlds EX (the Logo language that many programmers begin with). Should you already have MicroWorlds EX (or the previous MicroWorlds 2.0) the book alone is $29.99 We are a Mac family and have been thrilled to find Logo Adventures to be completely compatible with our OS (we currently have 10.8.4 – should work with 10.4 and higher).
For learners at this same age (8-12 years old) there is also Let’s Make a Webpage. This is intended as a shorter term project and (unfortunately) is not Mac compatible. This was also reviewed by the Crew. Check out reviews for either curricula. For older learners, Motherboard Books has Computer Science Pure & Simple. Be sure to visit their website for complete information and samples.
