Learn how our team of mentors can help your child love to code while building rock solid fundamentals
Breakout Mentors offers the ultimate personalized San Francisco Bay Area kids coding education. Established in 2011 by a Stanford Engineering graduate, discover how your child can cultivate resilience and autonomy, all while having fun.
Our students learn through crafting projects and games, steering clear of traditional textbooks and templated tutorials. Every student is paired with an exciting mentor who tailors the project-based curriculum, continuously deepening their understanding of the coding logic. Schedule a consistent 90-minute session weekly with the same mentor, either virtually or face-to-face at Stanford or UC Berkeley, at a time that suits you best.
bayarea@breakoutmentors.com
650-669-8789
Hours:
Open 24 hours
Kids Programming Offerings in the San Francisco Bay Area
Breakout Mentors is highly personalized for each student, whether just starting to code in elementary or middle school, or with years of experience in high school. While we offer several tracks and varied coding curricula, we ensure that each student is challenged at their own pace, avoiding a generic one-size-fits-all approach. We use many kids coding languages like Scratch, Python, Java, HTML & JavaScript, and more.
Our Coding Fundamentals Track is for beginners. Most 9 to 11 year-olds with little previous experience start with Scratch drag-and-drop coding. However, many children these days are interested in jumping straight to typing the code in Python. So for these kids and most middle school students, we will do this track in Python. The language isn’t as important as learning the logic: understanding the flow of the code with loops, conditionals, variables, and functions. The mentor assists with the many skills necessary beyond the individual concepts, like planning ahead and troubleshooting unexpected issues. All while making exciting projects and creative game design.
Once students have established solid coding fundamentals, we cover more challenging and powerful concepts in our Computer Science Track. They learn by game development and creating projects, continuously advancing their understanding of object-oriented programming, basic data structures, recursion, and more. This is usually in Python or Java, including preparing ahead of entering AP Computer Science.
Our most advanced students are in our USACO Competitive Programming Academy or Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Academy. These tracks are designed for high school students who have surpassed their school’s standard curriculum and are eager to tackle real-world applications. We also have several extremely sharp middle school students in these tracks as well.
For girls who would like a female role model, we also have the Girls Coding Academy.
Our San Francisco Bay Area Kids Coding Mentors
Breakout Mentors works with students all over the country and even internationally through online coding classes for kids. Yet we know how powerful it is for kids and high schoolers learning to code to work with role models from their own community. That’s why our students in the San Francisco Bay Area have the option to work with mentors at Stanford or UC Berkeley studying Computer Science. Here are a few of the mentors:
What We Do
Learn about the online tutoring personalized for you
Exciting Coding For
Kids Ages 8-14
Your child will develop an interest and rock solid foundation in the language of the future through engaging project-based 1-on-1 learning with vetted experts from top colleges including Stanford and UC Berkeley. Over 90% of our students keep coding long-term. Click here to learn how.
Challenging STEM
in High School
Move past introductory coding classes to advance quickly with a custom curriculum building on your child’s previous experience. Differentiate yourself for STEM college applications with USACO competitive programming accolades and real-world AI projects. Click here to learn how.
Choose your FREE gift
Parent of an elementary
or middle schooler?
Get our FREE 33 page guide Unlocking Your Child’s Coding Potential: The Parent’s Ultimate Guide to help your child love to code while building rock solid fundamentals.
Parent of a
high school student?
Get our FREE 44 page guide Unlocking Advanced Coding: The Ultimate Guide for High Schoolers Seeking Distinction to learn how sharp students can differentiate themselves.
Students and Parents in the San Francisco Bay Area
Over the years Breakout Mentors has helped many kids and teenagers in the San Francisco Bay Area learn to code. All across the Silicon Valley including in the following cities:
What Customers Say
Breakout Mentors was exactly what I was looking for. We started 2 years ago when my daughter was 11 and now she is an expert Scratch coder which translated easily into learning Python! Her mentors don’t tell her what to do, they help her figure it out. They push her to make her projects better and more complex. They treat her like a peer and do things like white boarding sessions and have passionate discussions about programming logic during her sessions. Both of her mentors have been women, which has been amazing. And an added benefit is she loves going to the CAL engineering library every week, wants to be an engineer and attend MIT! It’s ignited her passion about STEM subjects and she is so driven now. This program is truly amazing. I can’t say enough good things about it.
Mother of 13 year old girl in Berkeley
Our son who has a strong aptitude for math – we knew that he would love the challenges that coding could provide, but struggled to find a program that engaged and inspired him. 2 years ago when I reached out to Breakout Mentors, I knew that we finally found the right place. They paired our son with an amazing mentor – a student at UC Berkeley – and the two have been working together ever since. His mentor has challenged and inspired our son immensely. They started with text based games in basic Python syntax and logic, then our son developed games from scratch, explored CodingBat and other computer science tutoring websites, worked on object-oriented programming and classes, and is now working on APIs, data visualization and graphing. We cannot rave enough about Breakout Mentors. My only wish is that we found them sooner!
Both our sons have mentors and we’re very happy with the personalized approach for each. The younger is learning Scratch and older Java. Both boys were interested in coding for a while and did several summer camps, but we were aimed to continue learning during the school year. We also needed help channeling their interest into a more focused direction with goals and milestones. Breakout Mentors has exceeded our expectations, providing engaging instruction that challenges them. The boys take pride in their projects and continue to have fun!
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these online courses self-paced or live?
All the Breakout Mentors offerings are live courses. There is a talented and exciting mentor guiding your student the whole time, engaging in dialog throughout the sessions. Usually these are one-on-one 90 minute sessions through monthly packages, but we also offer small group workshops.
Do you have a free trial?
At Breakout Mentors the first session is risk free with a satisfaction guarantee. If you don’t feel it is a fit, we will issue a 100% refund. We put a lot of effort into determining the mentor who is the right long-term fit, so want families who are committed to continuing if we deliver a great experience. That’s how we differ from some of our competitors — we don’t advertise a free trial, only to have one teacher do the trial class, then switch to someone else!
Which computer programming languages do you teach in the San Francisco Bay Area?
Breakout Mentors can work in almost any programming language and we are always open to special requests. We have had students use Scratch, Python, Java, Code.org drag-and-drop, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, C++, C, Unity, Godot engine, iOS Swift, and probably some more I’m forgetting!
However, the majority of our students want our recommendation for the best programming language for them, which is often Python. It is important we stick with one rather than bounce around, since the language isn’t as important as learning the logic: understanding the flow of the code with loops, conditionals, variables, and functions. The mentor assists with the many skills necessary beyond the individual programming concepts, like planning ahead in game design and troubleshooting when things go wrong.
My child doesn’t have any experience. Are these courses good for beginners?
Yes, absolutely! We work with many complete beginners who may benefit from a one-on-one mentor as their first coding experience. Some kids learn at a different pace, others want the personal connection, and plenty just want to make sure the initial experience is amazing. Our goal is to adjust the curriculum to the student’s age, skill level, and interests, we have perfected our approach and curriculum for the last decade!
What are the credentials of your San Francisco Bay Area coding mentors?
The secret to our success is our team of 50+ talented mentors. We hire Computer Science students at top colleges like Stanford and UC Berkeley. Each mentor goes through a rigorous vetting process to ensure they are the right fun and engaging personality match for working with kids. Our hiring process emphasizes innate tutoring instincts and then new mentors are put through our thorough training to make them even better. We know you’ll be wowed by your mentor, which is why we make the first session risk free!
Our Founder | Brian Skinner
Upon entering Stanford as a freshman, I had minimal exposure to coding, but I quickly found I loved it. For over a decade, our dedicated team of expert mentors has helped thousands of students embark on their coding education journeys at a young age. We don’t just offer a brief overview; we provide in-depth learning that spans months and even years. This approach fosters a genuine love for coding in our students, setting them ahead of their peers.
We are excited to help your child too, whether they’re taking their first coding steps in elementary school or are already advanced in high school.
Imagine a world where:
- The tedious task of sifting through countless summer coding camps and classes is a thing of the past, as you have a reliable mentor to steer you and your child in the right direction.
- Your child returns from a middle or high school Computer Science class, confidently proclaiming its simplicity, becoming the go-to person for their peers.
- You proudly share with other parents your child’s remarkable coding accomplishments outside the regular classroom setting.
- You’re assured that you’ve equipped your child with the essential skills to thrive in a future dominated by coding and AI, irrespective of their chosen profession.
Our mission is to help your child on a lasting journey to master the coding fundamentals and craft projects they’re genuinely proud of.
Are you ready to start your San Francisco Bay Area kids coding journey?