Breakout Mentors was exactly what we were looking for when our 11 year old son asked to learn programming. He connected quickly with his mentor, who has taught him things beyond our knowledge. After his last session, he tried to explain to me some aspect of the programming he just learned and then said ‘I feel so proud of myself.’ We are proud of him too and thankful for Breakout Mentors.
Father of 6th grade boy in San Mateo
Breakout Mentors did a wonderful job matching my daughter with a mentor – she is perfect! My daughter told me that she learned more from one session than her last 3 summer camps combined. She was so excited! Thank you – this is exactly what we were looking for!
We just passed our second anniversary with Breakout Mentors. Our 12-year-old son has had two mentors and they’ve both been terrific: enthusiastic, knowledgeable, professional, and patient. They’ve been great about building a curriculum on the fly around his interests and keeping him engaged and learning. Highly recommended.
My son was interested in coding from a very young age. We have tons of books at home, however, only Breakout Mentors actually helped my son to build on his interest and develop some skills. The lessons are fun and introduce serious coding concepts in a way kids can grasp. My son started with making games in Scratch. Moving from little projects to bigger and more complex ones, he has learned the fundamentals and now is moving to Java. He shows me his work after each lesson since he is very proud of his accomplishments and can’t wait to show them off.
Learning to code helps my son satisfy his curiosity in a way that is creative and fun. The mentor has a collaborative teaching style, giving my son plenty of choice about what project to tackle, and then guiding him through the steps. He answers my son’s questions, and checks in frequently to make sure he understands. With the one-on-one format, the mentor can introduce new concepts at a pace that keeps my son challenged and engaged. At the end of each session, my son is always so excited to show me what he has achieved. A happy kid that is learning, creating, and building confidence – it doesn’t get any better!
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!
The sessions are going really well, the mentor seems to be a good fit. Our son just progressed to USACO (competition programming USA Computing Olympiad) platinum level yesterday. We are glad that we have found Breakout Mentors!
The first session went great! My son said he learned more in the hour and a half than in an entire week at summer camp. I think the mentor is a perfect fit. He’s even a hip hop dancer like my son!
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!
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!
The weekly 90-minute sessions introduce coding concepts in a way kids can grasp. My son started with programming basic games in Scratch. Moving from little projects to bigger and more complex ones, he is now designing more interactive games within the Scratch environment. The mentor keeps me in the loop about my son’s progress on a regular basis. Overall, we are very happy with Breakout Mentors and look forward to more fun programming in the future.
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. I get a monthly update on her progress directly from her mentor. Both of her mentors have been women, which has been amazing. Now she 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.
The mentor has done a great job, both in teaching my son and building a relationship with him. They are very comfortable with each other, which I think has played a significant role in my son’s enthusiasm towards the weekly session. The move to Unity for 3D gaming has produced a significant leap in his independence and his ability to use the skills taught to him using Python and C++.
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!
My son loves video games and says he wants to create them when he’s older. We’ve sent him to many summer camps to learn beginner coding. Though he enjoyed them, he basically played video games all day. With Breakout Mentors he is finally actually learning, rather than just playing. I know the mentor is channeling my son’s excitement about computer games in a productive way. My son always looks forward to meeting his mentor.
Thank you for the great mentor fit. It was a slow start because my son was so quiet and uncommunicative. The mentor quickly saw through this and continued working with him. Now my son really looks forward to his sessions and really enjoys his mentor. I am amazed at how much he is learning and creating!
We have been very happy with Breakout Mentors. Our son loves being on the computer and it was great to turn that time from mindless gaming to learning how to make his own games. His mentor is a great and motivational teacher. We were lucky to find Breakout Mentors!
My daughter has always loved her computer class at school – I just don’t think she truly understood what beginner programming was all about. The mentor has done a fantastic job of breaking down any barriers to learning for her. Computer programming is a fun, creative, artistic outlet for her and she obviously feels very comfortable working with her mentor.
