There are many options for kids learning to code, Breakout Mentors is the most personalized and designed for long-term growth. Discover how your son or daughter will advance through consistent challenges from an impressive college instructor.
Each student is carefully matched with an exciting mentor who will customize the project-based learning. Our curriculum, constantly improved since 2011, is the perfect blend of structure and open-ended projects for independence and grit.
Hold a 90 minute session with the same mentor each week, fit conveniently into your schedule. Students keep advancing year-round at the perfect pace and are proud of the fun games and projects they create.
Hear From a Student
Cupertino Kids Learning to Code
In Cupertino there are currently 4 kids working one-on-one with an exciting Stanford University mentor. Overall we have 115 students across the Bay Area, including many for multiple years — there is truly no limit to how far students can go!
The weekly session time and location will fit conveniently into your schedule, taken into account when pairing your son or daughter with the perfect mentor. The majority of sessions are held online, but you can also travel to the college campus for an empowering learning experience. In-home may be available for an extra-charge.
Beginner Kids Coding
The first kids coding experience is pivotal as beginners will quickly decide if they are interested in continuing. They need to be challenged at the perfect pace, with the support necessary to overcome challenges. It requires structure to learn the fundamentals, but enough flexibility to have fun bringing their own creative ideas to life.
Most Breakout Mentors 8 to 11 year-old beginners start with the drag-and-drop coding language Scratch. Kids are able to make fun games right away while mastering the fundamentals. Many older kids are interested in immediately jumping into a language with typed code, like Python or Java. We start with a series of small projects to establish the basics. Students quickly progress to making games like Pong, Breakout, and Space Invaders with their own creative features.
Regardless of the programming language, Breakout Mentors goes beyond tutoring – our mentors constantly adjust the difficulty to be just right. Kids are able to advance at their own pace, always challenged and having fun.
What parents say…
My son just received notification that he has been placed in AP Computer Science – Data Structures, the top class at his school. We are thrilled. Thanks to Breakout Mentors for all of their expert mentoring and prep work. It all paid off!
Father of 14 year old boy in Santa Clara
The mentor focuses on teaching my son to think, not just follow. Software conventions, and reasons behind them, are developed with an understanding of their purpose, not just ‘do it this way because I said so’ mentality. In addition, the mentor encourages my son to check documentation for answers and find solutions that make sense for the project. My son feels proud of the work he completes and is motivated to work on his projects independently between sessions!
Our high school son just completed his four week internship at Cisco. He worked as a programmer developing internal tools in Java alongside college level interns. We had no idea what he was capable of doing before the internship so everybody was slightly apprehensive. After first two or three days of his internship, it became obvious that his boss had to find new projects for him. What was originally planned got completed in about a week! He was able to contribute valuable ideas and inventive programming tricks to the older intern programmers. Everybody he worked with had only praise for him. Besides working with Breakout Mentors for the past 2 to 3 years, our son has completed no other formal programming course work!
What students say…
