Do you have kids who are interested in gaming? Or maybe they are more into apps on the iPad or smartphone. Have you ever heard the words “I bet I could do that!” or “I wish I could learn how to program apps!”? I’m thinking that chances are, if you have a teenage boy, you’ve probably heard similar words at least once! And, if so, I may have just the thing to share with you today . . .
Enter the Teen Coder programming series from Homeschool Programming, Inc.
About Teen Coder
TeenCoder: Java Programming is our first semester course in the TeenCoder Java series. This course introduces 9th-12th grade students to the Java programming language, a highly popular technology with many applications! Students will learn to create graphical and console applications using object-oriented design concepts.
Topics Covered in this Course
- Introduction to the Java programming language
- Creating graphical applications
- Using dialog controls
- Java data types and variables
- User input and flow control
- Math functions and string operations
- Java debugging and exception handling
- Object-oriented programming concepts
- Classes, inheritance, and polymorphism
- Collections, sorting, and recursion
TeenCoder: Android Programming is our second semester course in the TeenCoder Java Series. Students will use their Java knowledge and free Android Developers Tools for Eclipse to write their own mobile applications!
No Android hardware or service is required to complete this course! All activities can be performed in a free software emulator running on the student’s computer.
Topics Covered in This Course:
Introduction to the Android Development Tools
- Understanding and editing XML files
- Creating and switching between screens
- Managing Android screen layouts
- Using graphical Android UI widgets
- Saving data to internal storage and SD cards
- Debugging using the emulator
- Displaying images and loading image resources
- Progress, date/time, and alert dialogs
- Menus and notifications
- SMS messaging and networking concepts
- Creating home app widets
- Using Location (GPS) services
- Publishing to the Android Market
Together, these two courses are a full high school credit. The Java Programming course can even be used to study for the AP Computer Science A exam!
Find Out More
These courses can be purchased from Homeschool Programming, Inc. Courses are purchased individually. Prices are $75 for course only, or $90 for course and video. If you’re interested in purchasing BOTH courses, they provide a combo rate of $130 for the courses only or $155 for the courses plus video.
Quite honestly, my oldest son has been way too caught up in a trip to Walt Disney World to think about using this course. Hopefully, when we get out of vacation mode and back into the swing of school, he’ll want to pick this up. I hope to come back and update this post with his thoughts. Maybe I can even get him to share! Wouldn’t that be fun? Who knows? You may find his app(s) available in the iTunes Store one day!
My friends on the Mosaic Reviews team have reviewed these two courses, as well as various other courses available for teens AND kids. Be sure to check out their thoughts here.