Scratch is a programming environment designed to allow kids as young as 8 years old to create impressive computer games, stories, and animations. It is so fun kids don’t even realize they are learning important programming concepts at the same time. Add that with the fact that it is the programming language used most by 6th to 9th graders and you will see why we recommend most students use Scratch as their first programming experience. Drag-and-Drop Programming Creating a program in [...]

Do schools encourage creativity? They may try, but are they are not very effective. Here is a better question – can schools come up with a way to measure creative progress? Is there such a thing as “imagining and creating at a 6th grade level” as there is for “reading and writing at a 6th grade level”? If there was, it would probably have an inverse relationship to the reading scale – you are more creative in kindergarten than in high [...]

Ensuring each lesson is fun isn’t an afterthought or a nice bonus – it is a vital component for success. If your student isn’t having fun, they are not going to be motivated to learn. For a short period of time she may be able to stick it out (especially if her parents make her), but in the long run she will drop out before reaching her full potential. The goal of Breakout Mentors is to generate a sustained interest in [...]

Parents do not want to rush their kids into something that might be too hard for their age and turn them off for years to come. So how do you know when your kids are ready? First, I want to ease your mind that no age is too young IF the material matches their ability. You don’t want to have a 6 year old struggling to program a computer to play chess. But you could teach her to make a turtle [...]