Simply Coding (A Homeschool Crew Review)

 Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

 

For the past few weeks, members of our family have been reviewing Coding for Kids Annual Membership from Simply Coding.  

 Simply Coding cofounders Seth and Joe were both very amazed that all throughout both their high school and college experience, they were not presented with a formal opportunity to learn computer sciences, a skill they both needed for their career field. Both realized that there was a need for children to be given the opportunity to learn these skills in a technology growing world. The result was the creation of a series of computer courses designed for students ages 11 to 18 to provide access to these much demanded skills.

The website's name, Simply Coding, is a bit deceptive.  There's much more available on the website than just coding course. Simply Coding offers a wide variety of courses, from learning about designing websites, designing Minecraft mods, learning about photography and videography,  and mastering programs such as Excel and Powerpoint. 

An annual membership gives the student unlimited access to the website's full pathway of homeschool computer coding courses for one year!  The Single student annual membership is priced at $149 and a family membership is offered for $229, however, the company does offer sales and discounts (currently the website is running a special for 33% off the Single Student membership for $99 and family membership for $179).   Simply Coding also offers a 10 day trial to the full website prior to annual payment so that parents can test drive the courses to see if they are the right fit for their children and live chat support is available 9am-6pm CT on Monday-Friday with email support available for evening and weekend hours.

Our Experiences

Sadly, I found the lessons for Minecraft Mods extremely confusing for Garrett, who couldn't make heads or tails of the lessons.  I'm sure this is because it's Garrett and when Garrett gets frustrated, Garrett shuts down. We tried to get through the first few lessons and had to stop because we weren't getting anywhere with it and resulted in Garrett shutting down as soon as we mentioned it was time for computer work.

So for the review, we switched strategies (and kids).  Instead, we decided to try Ashleigh on the program with the Digital Photography 1 course.  This course we found much less confusing as the course is video based and pretty straight forward.  The course consists of a video component teaching the material, followed by a short multiple choice quiz after each section that the student has to complete to move on. 

We did run into one small snag that doesn't have anything to do with the program, which has slowed us down in our progress though.  The photography course requires students to submit their photographs in order to progress to the next module.  I recently had to purchase a new computer and did not realize this particular laptop does not have a SD card slot to allow Ashleigh to upload her photographs that she takes to the course to unlock the next set of lessons.  I had to purchase an adapter to allow us to use the USB port, but sadly, we are in a holding pattern waiting for Amazon to ship it so that we can get her photographs into the computer to upload. Minus that, we are enjoying the photography course and are finding that Ashleigh is learning quite a bit about using the computer.

I also decided to check out the Adobe Photoshop 1 course. I currently use Lightroom to edit my photography, and while I have Photoshop, I tend to not use it because, I honestly don't know how to use it.  Through the course, I've learned how to use layers, which is something I had never tried previously.  I was able to download a photo that I took back in March from my facebook account and use it to do some fun stuff with it. 

Here is the original photo that I took on a spring visit to the Mojave National Preserve.

After learning how to use layers and other tools in Photoshop, this is what I ended up with. 

Overall, I think the Simply Coding courses are well done and I plan on giving Garrett a bit of a breather and then introduce him to another course on the website, such as the two Scratch courses available. 

To find out more information about the many courses available from Simply Coding, be sure to visit their website.  You can also find them on the following social media platforms:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplycoding/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SimplycodingOrg/featured

Be sure to click the banner below to read the reviews of other Crew members and see what courses they used with their families.