51–60 of 66 posts
My programming origin was trs-80 and basic, and for the last 20 years C, TCL, python and csh|bash|awk|sed.
After showing my children how a Caesar cipher works(on paper), I left them an encoded message. They decoded it and then left me a message in return :-) While this isn't programming, encryption is a solid CS topic.
We've covered the binary numeral system and logic circuit diagrams(again on paper) and various simple programs on the command line like: output a message 1K times in different patterns. The engagement comes with asking them questions like "what do you want the message to say?" and "what do you think it will look like if we add another space? or another tab?".
We've tried some online resources like hourofcode.com, scratch.mit.edu, tour.golang.org, codecombat.com. Minecraft command blocks allowed them to try code written by other people, that was pretty cool.
As others have mentioned, it was all spontaneous and organic. It felt more like playing then learning, like "check this out" or "here, let me show you something".
All the topics and online resources were short lived. My children(11yrs, 7yrs) are being exposed to logic and programming in a piecewise approach.
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While I agree, you don't want to stifle your kids childhood; these are not mutually exclusive. You teach your kids how to read, how to do math, history of the world - Computer science will soon be no different. Might as well get ahead and teach them during learning time.
> Computer science will soon be no different What makes you think that? It's a very specialized field. It's not going to be something parents are casually teaching to their kids.
This has been an interesting topic for my wife and I. Our kids have very limited screen time, and do not have access to a computer / smart phone / iPad on a regular basis. Recently, though, my 1st grade son, the oldest, found the book "Coding Projects in Python" ( https://www.dk.com/us/9781465461889-coding-projects-in-pytho... ), and read through it for about a week before asking if he could use my computer to try so…
The kids these days learn everything, but they don't learn to focus.
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They aren't asking for parenting advice here. Kids need more than just playing outside, hence the whole school thing.
I like how you went right ahead and contradicted your advice - kids don't need school either, lots of kids thrive on "education otherwise" (a UK expression covering unschool, homeschool, home ed, etc.).
My son is 12 and a half. I have recently handed him a copy of "Learn you a Haskell..." and a laptop running ghci. He has been making his way through the first couple of chapters with only a little help from me, and seems to be understanding everything that's come up so far.
I can't tell if this is a joke or real.
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I like how you went right ahead and contradicted your advice - kids don't need school either, lots of kids thrive on "education otherwise" (a UK expression covering unschool, homeschool, home ed, etc.).
All versions of learning, not just playing outside. Didn't think this was very hard to understand. Then again I went to school...
Adding an implied ad hominem remark doesn't alter the fact you immediately contradicted your own advice.
If you meant "structured education of some form" and instead specified "school" I don't really see it's obvious the generality was intended.
Indeed the likelihood arises now -- given your implicit suggestion that people who don't attend formal schooling are somehow deficient -- that in fact you only considered school when you made your initial remark.
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All versions of learning, not just playing outside. Didn't think this was very hard to understand. Then again I went to school...
The substantive point was that you said they didn't need parenting advice and then gave parenting advice in the next sentence. Adding an implied ad hominem remark doesn't alter the fact you immediately contradicted your own advice. If you meant "structured education of some form" and instead specified "school" I don't really see it's obvious the generality was intended. Indeed the likelihood arises now -- given your…