CodeWizardsHQ is an online coding school for kids focused on offering the most fun and effective live, online coding classes for kids and teens ages 8-18. The classes are teacher-led, student-centered, and project-based. Unlike self-paced and video courses, CodeWizardsHQ has a structured and progressive curriculum with separate tracks tailored to elementary, middle, and high school students. 

In response to current events, many schools have closed and kids are at home. Administrators and teachers are working around the clock to provide students with an education while also navigating their home life. To help both students and teachers during this trying time and to provide learning opportunities for students to be productively engaged, CodeWizardsHQ has temporarily lowered prices, added new daytime classes, and created personalized schedules that work for each family’s current situation.

“Due to the growing number of school closings due to COVID-19 around the world, CodeWizardsHQ recognizes the critical need for students to have access to virtual education,” said Jey Iyempandi, founder and CEO of CodeWizardsHQ. “It is our responsibility as a company to support continued learning on a global level.”

For current students, the classes are continuing uninterrupted and extra support is being given by offering free bonus classes and extra office hours during regular school hours that serve to reinforce coding skills. 

For prospective students, CodewizardsHQ is offering various choices:

Kids, who are exploring online learning and coding, now have access to 1-hour coding concept classes in Python, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and Scratch. CodeWizardsHQ is also opening 1-week mini-courses that run M-Th during school hours that explore topics that include: Thinking like a programmer, Data Types and Variables, and Functions and Conditionals. 

To provide a complete and comprehensive learning experience, our full courses are now available at an accelerated pace. This means classes are completed in only three weeks instead of twelve.

Students can even take an online coding class with friends from school. For groups of four to six students interested in taking a full course in three weeks, we are offering a custom schedule option with special group pricing. Classes are available early in the day, mid-day or afternoons. This is a great opportunity for teachers, parent groups, and/or organizations that want to provide a fun and engaging programming education to groups of kids instead of individual students. 

These online coding courses are available for Elementary, Middle, and High School students.

To find more information about these classes and to sign up, visit www.codewizardshq.com

About CodeWizardsHQ

CodeWizardsHQ is the leading online coding school for kids and teens ages 8-18. They deliver the most fun and effective live, online coding classes which are designed to give students the programming knowledge, skills, and confidence to thrive in a digital world. For more information, visit codewizardshq.com

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Many people have asked me about the story of CodeWizardsHQ. My answer is simple, it grew out of love and the desire to make a world of opportunities available to my daughter. I wanted my little girl to follow her dreams and she wanted to learn how to code. The journey wasn’t easy, but now, four years later, we have evolved in incredibly significant ways. 

In order to meet the ever-changing landscape of computer science, our course offerings have expanded from a single track into classes for Elementary, Middle School, High School, and Advanced Placement Computer Science to serve ages 8-18. These provide a robust curriculum that offers a structured and comprehensive coding education complete with a hands-on coding experience through a non-profit internship.

Our student body has also evolved and we now serve a more diverse body of students. CodeWizardsHQ has transcended the local sector and has moved toward global markets. CWHQ now has students around the globe, as far as Australia and Korea. 

Many times, I wonder if parents know how CodeWizardsHQ compares to other companies. Did you know that CodeWizardsHQ’s student completion rate is 93%? The highest in the USA! This is the result of our student-centered, project-based approach. Our commitment to student satisfaction has brought about significant improvements over the last four years in our platform, curriculum, and student-teacher communication. These upgrades have maximized student success, which is reflected in our stellar reviews. Thank you to those that have taken the time to do this! 

Our new courses not only enhance the scope of what students will learn but provide a springboard to future success. Our one-of-a-kind platform and the services our vetted and experienced teachers provide, from office hours to personal emails for students to reach them, speaks to our commitment to student success. We have been and will continue to provide your child with the fun and rewarding learning experience that we’d want for our own children.

At the end of the day, like you, I am foremost a parent. When my head finally hits the pillow, I think about my kids, their schedule, their needs, and their happiness. I know this is what parenting is all about. My hope is that our program at CodeWizardsHQ can give you one less thing to worry about in your child’s academic success.

With that, I invite you to explore our new website! Please take a look at these new features and give us your feedback.

 Get the Official Press Release: CodeWizardsHQ Completes Rebrand & Expands Curriculum to Serve Ages 8-18 [Download PDF]

The post CodeWizardHQ’s Future Ready New Look and Website appeared first on CodeWizardsHQ.

Most parents believe their child should have some exposure to code.

At the same time, most students aren’t code literate. Why?

In our facebook group for code-interested parents, we asked them why?

And the #1 reason is fitting coding into their child’s schedule.

Here is the good news!

Learning to code doesn’t have to be a big commitment. Your child can get started with just 1-hour per week. If the student is interested, they will find the time to keep going.

Because CodeWizardsHQ is a live, instructor-led online class, there is built-in accountability. Students make the time and actually learn to write real-code.

Does your child have 1-hour per week over the next 12 weeks to learn this useful, 21st century skill?

If yes, check out our upcoming class times and start dates.

The post How to Expose Your Child to Real World Coding in 1-Hour Per Week? appeared first on CodeWizardsHQ.

Your child’s schedule is packed.

Activities are lined-up back to back. There is no time left to consider anything else.

However, you want your child to learn coding. Your child is also reasonably interested in trying it.

The big hurdle is finding time in the schedule.

We know this problem.

That is why we have worked hard to design a coding program that fits into your child’s schedule.

Here is how we did it.

1. Bite-sized, instructor-led weekly classes

We took the vast and complex subject of coding and broke it into bite-sized weekly units. We carefully calibrated each unit to be very manageable along with a student’s school workload.

We trained our instructors to present coding concepts in a clear, understandable way. We kept class sizes small (6-8 students per instructor) to provide space and time for your child to interact with the instructor and ask questions.

Our main goal is to not overwhelm your child. We know they are juggling a lot of other things.

2. Less than 3 hours time commitment per week

Our students spend 1-hour a week on class-time. Plus, another 2 hours doing practice projects. We believe a total of 3 hours per week is the optimal amount of time to learn coding while balancing coursework and other extra-curricular activities.

Our practice projects are fun, engaging extensions of the coding concept taught in class. Most of the time they practice coding during the time they were playing video games or watching YouTube videos.

Through our private community support and weekend office hours (both complimentary), students get the help they need so they aren’t stuck spending hours trying to figure something out on their own.

3. We eliminated drive time

A 1-hour extracurricular activity for your child becomes a 2-hour time commitment for you. Driving and waiting locks-up productive time for both you and your child.

Instead, imagine your child walking into her room 5 minutes before class starts and logging into an online classroom where an instructor is waiting to teach her while you continue doing your home activities.

It’s new. It’s convenient. And it’s effective. Once you have tried it for your child, you wouldn’t have it any other way. That is why our existing parents love us. See our reviews.

4. 6 different class-time options

Most school activities are offered with one class time option only. Any extracurricular activity shouldn’t conflict with those.

That is why we provide 6-different class time options so you can pick the one that works for your child’s schedule. We offer several weekday evening and weekend classes.

Because this is a live class, we offer time slots when other activities are typically not available. For example, we offer classes on weekday late evenings, Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings. You are sure to find a class-time that works.

Start risk-free with our 4-session money back guarantee.

Sometimes, it is hard to know if something is workable, until you give it a try. With our 4-session no questions asked money back guarantee, we make it risk-free for you.

Go ahead and enroll your child in our coding program. See if your child is able to handle coding along with everything else. If yes, great. If no, just cancel and revisit at a later time.

See all our class time options.

The post AT LAST – A Coding Program That Fits Your Child’s Schedule appeared first on CodeWizardsHQ.

Last year, millions of kids started learning to code.

…Hour-Of-Code
…Coding Clubs
…Hackathons
…Online Tutorials
…Summer Camps etc.

But with these one-off coding activities, very few actually end up successfully learning to code.

Why?

The answer lies in this concept of consistent and spaced repetition.

It is the idea that revisiting what we learn, in periodic intervals, is the key to long-term retention.

It is the idea that for us to retain what we learn, consistent and spaced repetition is mandatory.

Look at this graph below:

“Forgetting Curves” from article Spaced Repetition: The Most Effective Way to Learn, by Josette Akresh-Gonzales, published in NEJM Knowledge+

1. If you learn something once, your chance of remembering it after 60-days is less than 5%.
2. If you revisit your learning even once, your chance of remembering jumps up to 50%.
3. If you revisit three times, your chance of remembering jumps to 90%. And that is what we want.

Whatever a child learns during a one-off coding event is all forgotten soon after. For example, if a child attends a summer coding camp, the odds are that he or she will forget 95% of the material by the time winter-break comes around.

If you really want your child to learn to code, you should consider a year-round coding program.

Remember, a year-round coding program doesn’t have to be a significant time commitment. Spending just a couple of hours a week consistently is all that is required.

For example, our students spend a total of less than 3 hours / week coding – 1 hour in their weekly class and about 2 hours with their practice project. This gives them the needed repetition while being doable with a school workload.

The fact that our students attend classes at a set time with a live instructor means that it is already scheduled in their calendars. As a result, students are consistent in learning to code.

This consistent and spaced repetition built into the CodeWizardsHQ program, is why our students are so successful at learning to code.

As you evaluate extra-curricular activities for your child this school year, consider coding as a year-round activity and not relegate it to a one-time thing.

Our fall classes are starting soon. Check out our class timings.

We have 6 NEW class timings to fit into your child’s schedule. Because we have only 6-8 students/class, the popular dates and times fill up quickly. Enroll soon to get your pick of date and time.

The post Here is Why You Should Consider A Year-Round Coding Program appeared first on CodeWizardsHQ.

Only 1 more week of school left.

The reality, that kids are going to be home all-the-time, is starting to set in.

You might be trying to finalize and commit to summer activities for your children.

If you are on our mailing list, it is likely that you are considering coding camps.

And if you are considering coding camps, then you want to read this before enrolling them in one.

What typically happens is this…

When parents see their child has an interest in coding or believe that coding is something their child should know, they enroll her in a summer coding camp.

The child enjoys the 1-week camp. Things move on.

When winter break comes around, to the dismay of parents, the child has completely forgotten everything he or she has learned. The child doesn’t remember what a variable is. When someone asks him or her, “Can you code?” the answer is either “Not quite” or “Kind of”.

The #1 downside of summer coding camps is this: students forget everything they have learned in 6-9 months. They have to start from the beginning, again.

And the reason: lack of continuous learning.

We acquire meaningful skills when we learn them over time; when there is spaced repetition; when we get back to it over and over; when we continuously repeat the learning – doing cycle.

We don’t expect our child to learn piano or swimming in one summer. But for some reason, we expect them to learn to code in one summer.

Before you enroll them in a summer coding camp, ask yourself this question – What is your plan *after* the camp is over.

Unless your goal is to just keep them occupied while you can go to work, summer coding camp by itself isn’t enough. You need a continuous learning program for them to acquire this skill.

That is one reason we built CodeWizardsHQ as a structured program that students take over time until they have mastered coding. See our coding camps for kids.

If your child is starting out, he or she will enroll in the “Introduction to Programming” course.

We would teach them fundamental programming concepts like variables, loops, arrays, functions etc, all the while building super-fun projects.

The goal of our introductory course is to build a passion for coding. Many parents enroll their child in the program to see if their child would enjoy learning to code. By the end of the course, both the student and parent would know the answer.

Upon completion of the first course, they would go on to learn HTML/CSS and JavaScript in fall. They continue to build on what they learned during the summer. There is no abrupt ending.

With 1/week class once school starts, they get back to coding at a regular weekly interval. That continuous learning is crucial to making these skills stick.

This, we believe, is the only way to learn meaningful coding skills that your child will be able to use later on in the real world.

If you are looking for your child to learn coding in a way that sticks, I encourage you to find out more about our coding program and online summer camps.

The post #1 Thing to Consider Before Enrolling in a Summer Coding Camp appeared first on CodeWizardsHQ.

If you have been looking for a good coding program for your child, you might be wondering what to look for.

Here are the most important things to look for if your child is to learn meaningful coding skills over time, while enjoying the whole process.

1. Instructor-Led

Coding is a hard subject to learn by themselves, unless your child is exceptionally motivated and disciplined. All the self-paced video courses help with the initial few steps, but as soon as your child gets stuck, there is no one to help. And that is when most students get frustrated and give up. If the classes are taught by an experienced instructor, they can help answer your child’s question, get them unstuck and keep them moving forward.

2. Structured Program

When it comes to children’s coding education, there are lots of loose collection of courses available. As a parent, it is hard to know which courses are right for your child and what comes first and what comes second. What your child needs is a structured program that is organized appropriately. Completion of the program should provide them with a full suite of skills and a certification. Having several intermediate milestones help the student celebrate the wins along the way.

3. Project-Based, Hands-On Learning

Kids learn best when they are learning to accomplish an end-goal that they are excited about. This is true in any subject, but more so in coding. Instead of being taught coding concepts (e.g. Image tags), children learn best when they are building things (e.g. Travel webpage). Wrapping coding concepts in fun engaging projects is the proven way to keep your child motivated.

4. Progress Updates

One of the big downsides of school clubs or volunteer programs is the lack of accountability. You need a coding program that keeps you updated on what your child is learning and how they are doing. Through interesting quizzes and practice projects, the program needs to measure comprehension of the core concepts so the you know that your child is mastering the concepts and not just attending classes.

5. Year-Round

Many students have attended summer coding camp for kids only to forget everything within a few weeks of starting school. To learn meaningful coding skills that stick, you need continuous exposure provided by a year round program. With a commitment as little as 3 hours a week, your child can be learning to code year around. Within a year or two, they have learnt practical skills that they can take with them to college and career.

We encourage you to review our coding program and see if that fits your needs.

The post What to Look for in an Educational Coding Program? appeared first on CodeWizardsHQ.

A little while ago, I spent 2 full-days at the Ann Richards school for young women leaders introducing real coding to 7th grade students. What an amazing opportunity to contribute back to the community.

Ann Richards School (ARS) is a one-of-a-kind school. It’s a public all-girls school of choice that serves grades 6 – 12 for the Austin Independent School District. 100% of the students are accepted to college. More than 60% of the students are the first generation college bound. Students wouldn’t have these opportunities available to them, if not for ARS.

Below are some pictures from the workshop.

A couple of weeks after the event, I got a plethora of hand-written thank you notes. I was speechless that those kids took the time to make this and mail it to me.

Awesome kids and excellent teachers. Great experience for me. Thank you Ms. Roy and Ms. Goka for the opportunity.

The post Coding Workshop at Ann Richards School appeared first on CodeWizardsHQ.

Teaching programming to kids may seem very intimidating, especially when there are so many coding websites for kids that encourage and introduce coding to kids.

Recently, there was an amazing article about how many parents want to teach programming to kids. But unlike reading to your children or teaching them to count, preparing children to code can feel daunting and unnatural.

The article goes on to explain ways in which parents can prepare themselves and spend time with their children and teach programming to kids. It is not as daunting as it first seems.

You can get the full article here.

But, we realize it is hard. You need a lot of time, a willingness to learn coding and the patience to teach it. Some parents might not have the luxury of that. In that case, explore if CodeWizardsHQ’s might be a solution for your needs.

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