Give your child a gift: familiarity with how computers work from a young age.
Kids can sharpen their minds
Kids as young as
second grade can And you can do it too! |
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Buy Logo Adventures, as a package or separately! |
So, where does your youngster get a good foundation?
At your school if it's offered
At home, using our curriculum, Logo Adventures.
Logo Adventures leads into my Computer Science Pure and Simple curriculum. It's an answer to a request from many homeschoolers for something fun for their younger children.
Both Logo Adventures and Computer Science Pure and Simple use MicroWorlds Logo software, which was developed just for kids at MIT.
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Buy Logo Adventures, as a package or separately! |
The kids command a tiny robot turtle carrying a pen and a bucket. They tell it where to go on the page, giving commands like forward 50 (go forward 50 turtle steps). The turtle draws lines as commanded and dumps colors. For animations, the turtle assumes a variety of shapes.
Not only is Logo great for teaching reasoning to young kids, but it has all the bells and whistles of a robust programming language, including parallel processing. So it's a natural for teaching game programming. Skills learned on it transfer easily to other languages. In fact there are many computer professionals out there who got started by learning Logo. To find one, just ask around! My curriculum uses Logo as formulated in MicroWorlds software.
Logo Adventures is planned for learning
once a week for one hour.
Here's what's in Logo Adventures:
13 drawing lessons covering:
Simple lines and squares
Stop signs and E's
Clocks,
Tessellations: figures that fit together like floor tiles
Drawings and collages too.
13 animations lessons covering:
A silly story about a giant scared by a small person
A simple board game, "Yellow Brick Road"
A crowded park scene
A bouncing ball that draws a clown face
An animated birthday card, full of shooting stars
There is also a troubleshooting appendix and an answer key.
See the Table of Contents.
See a sample chapter.
See student work from Logo Adventures!
You can look at our Gallery of Greats--great student projects. Be sure to come back! Click here.
setsh [skater1 skater2 skater3]
seth 90 repeat 100 [fd 1 wait .01]
The second component of the Logo Adventures curriculum is the disk for MicroWorlds. This is provided by a Canadian company, LCSI, that worked closely with Logo's creators at MIT, and even now sells to top-quality schools around the world.
MicroWorlds 2.0 works on PC through Windows XP.
MicroWorlds EX works on Windows XP and Vista, also on Macintosh OS X and higher.
What about tech support?
I have tutorials to get you started (click here for my Product Support page).
Check the appendix on troubleshooting in the back of the book.
Look at my FAQ on the Product Support Page.
If all that fails, email me with your question at .
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Buy Logo Adventures, as a package or separately! |
I told you I had been in the same position as you, worried that my kids would fall behind in computer skills. I was homeschooling and teaching in a homeschool coop.
But I had something to offer in this field! I am a mechanical engineer who has taken a number of programming courses over the years. I worked as a programmer one summer in college. I decided to offer a computer course at our co-op for grades 5 and up, since I had the skills. (I am also a writer, and that helps too!)
The first thing I did was look for a computer curriculum to use. Homeschoolers these days can find curriculum on all kinds of great subjects. But there wasn't one! I would have to invent one! Since I had to go to all the trouble to figure out what to teach, I decided to record what we were doing and share it with others who might also be stuck looking for the same thing.
I found assistance through the co-op from several computer professionals. These professionals contributed to my computer class that became Computer Science Pure and Simple Book 1:
Virginia Sparks, BS in Computer Science
Laura Breidenbach, professional Web site developer
But where to start? I chose to start with the Logo computer language, because my daughter had worked with it in school and had loved it.
I already had a Logo-based manuscript by Don Sleeth, a Canadian programmer, and permission to modify it.
Over the course of the year we knit all this together to teach the class, which met once a week for an hour and a quarter, with homework. I recorded what we were doing as a set of self-study lessons with answer key. In class we tested the lessons and made some modifications based on what worked and what didn't.
The following year, I took the same classes forward, and we learned a lot more programming, Web site construction, and spreadsheets. That year of study became Book 2.
In 2005-2006 I again taught a co-op computer class--this time to kids aged 8 through 12. The result is Logo Adventures, is now available as an e-book; after Sept. 12, 2006, as a physical book.
| Robin Khoury, reviewing Logo
Adventures at
HelpForHomeschoolMoms.com: I am horrible at math and generally steer clear of anything that has to do with numbers and sequences and stuff like that. But I had a ball doing lesson one of Logo Adventures with Zach (age 9). I am going to keep going just for fun! I highly recommend Logo Adventures by Phyllis Wheeler of Motherboard Books. |
| Check out the blog of Keri in Florida, whose son is using Logo Adventures! |
| Nora Huggins of Indialantic, Florida: My son has so enjoyed Logo Adventures. I cannot get him to stop on most days. He is eating it up with much success. I love the fact that he can do this on his own since he is 11 years old. Thanks again for making learning fun! |
| Debbie of
Wilmington, Delaware: We are using both Computer Science Pure and Simple and Logo Adventures . Both my children love them! Thank you for the great books and all that you do. |
| Ellliott Robinson,
age 17, reviewer for www.HomeschoolChristian.com: Geared towards younger children, Logo Adventures is the perfect way to get your eight- to twelve-year-old into the world of programming. Easy-to-read text, fun programs, and lots of review make this a great curriculum. Read the full review. |
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Tracy Quebral of Amherst, NY: "My son truly loved
your curriculum, and honestly, it is his favorite subject by far! Something tells me we'll have to upgrade our computer before too long if he keeps it up! LOL I want to THANK YOU for taking the time to write these wonderful books! I have and will continue to recommend your wonderful program to homeschoolers, because it’s fantastic! " |
Jeanette H.:
"About a month ago I was praying for something new and
exciting for my fifth grader who is homeschooling for
the first time this year. I was struggling to make
"school" fun so as to ease the transition from his
previous school. I wanted him to feel like we have
neat things "happening" here too. Seriously, in a
dream I recalled my college Logo programming experiences
and I woke up wondering, "Whatever happened to the Logo
language? Kids would love Logo." (The only
time I had ever seen it used was while student teaching
in a school in "...Now that we own Microworlds and your easy-to-read and follow lessons, I think I have found the answer to my prayers. It is really a blessing as my son is so quick with electronics, as most children are, but has always struggled in school. We do not own or encourage video games so it is great to hear him saying, "Well now I can write my own, Mom!" |
From
Homeschooling from the Heart: "From the
very first lesson, we found this program to be well
organized and easy-to-understand. ... My
(12-year-old) son was able to work through the lessons
with very little help from me. ... My son
completed several lessons in one week. ... My son
LOVED learning Logo! In fact, even if he didn't do
any of the other lessons in the book, the exposure to
MicroWorlds and the Logo language makes this book worth
the price. ...
"I can't say enough about the MicroWorlds component -
if your child is even remotely interested in
programming/video games, this is the best way to give
them a feel for what it is like to develop their own
programs. The lessons for all of the topics are
presented so well that most students can work through
the course independently. I eagerly look forward
to reviewing future products from Motherboard Books!"--
Cindy Prechtel, Editor, Homeschool Reviews for
You (from
HomeschoolingFromTheHeart.com
) |
From
Eclectic Homeschool
Online :
" Computer Science Pure and Simple for Homeschoolers
is an excellent introduction to three of the most common
ways that people interact with computers: office skills,
computer programming, and website design...
Computer Science Pure and Simple for Homeschoolers
gets kids working immediately taking what they read and
applying it. The instructional detail is just right, not
over explaining and thereby confusing, nor skipping
steps that may be intuitive to more experienced computer
users.”-- Beverly Krueger for
Eclectic Homeschool Online, a not-for-profit online
magazine for homeschoolers (
http://eho.org
). |
From
Practical
Homeschooling Magazine 's
Issue Number 61
Fall/Winter 2004. |
30-day Money-Back Guarantee!You may return the book and disk for up to 30 days for a full refund if you are
dissatisfied. -- (Email before 30 days are up for your authorization.) |
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Buy Logo Adventures, as a package or separately! |
God bless you!
Sincerely,
P.S. It's never to late to get started on understanding what makes your computer work!
P.P.S. Aren't you curious how it works?
P.P.P.S. Find out and have some fun with your youngster, telling turtles what to do--they obey your every command!
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