Is Coding Right

For My Child?
Why every child should learn to code and
how it raises academic and career success.
Code Wizards HQ Guide

CONTENT

The BUZZ is everywhere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Coding Improves Student Performance In All Subjects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Coding Helps Kids See the Bigger Picture and It’s Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Coding Is a Safer Way To Take Risks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Coding Is Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

8 Reasons CodeWizardsHQ is the best way to teach Coding . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Coding is a Team Sport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Coding is the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

(The World Needs Finishers) Coding Teaches

Work Ethic and Perseverance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

From Consumers to Creators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Coding Builds a Global Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Assessment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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The BUZZ is everywhere

From celebrities and educators, people from choose. Many children are passionate about other
every walk of life are touting the benefits of things, and every job in the future isn’t going to
learning to code. Coding boot camps are popping feature side-by-side monitors displaying lines
up all over the place, offering adults the promise of javascript.
of a career transition into a lucrative field. A
growing number of online code academies are Like Steve Jobs said, coding teaches kids how to
offering self-guided courses. think. Learning to code teaches kids how to take a
big-picture problem, break it into smaller chunks,
Khan Academy is promoting its “Hour of Code”, form a plan, execute the plan, learn from your
and programs like Scratch are introducing the mistakes, fix them, complete the task, and have
basic concepts of coding to primary kids. What’s something to show for it. Problem solving and
up with all the hype? Is it just about filling millions project management play a part in everyone’s job
of jobs that economists fear will go unfilled at and in everyone’s life in general!
some point in the future? What if my child
doesn’t want to be a software engineer? Children’s brains are literally growing. They
Should she still learn to code? are rapidly developing new cells, new pathways,
and new abilities as children approach adulthood.
Learning to code is about more than filling Learning to code helps children’s brains develop
jobs. Coding can be a lucrative career path, but it pathways and neurons that will benefit them for
certainly isn’t a career path that everyone should the rest of their lives.

Everybody in this country should learn how to program a

computer, because it teaches you how to think. - Steve Jobs

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Code Wizards HQ Guide

Coding Improves Student

Performance In All Subjects
The principles and practices of coding help kids in every
academic area. Some connections, for instance math, are
more obvious, but coding skills touch on every academic
arena. Let’s start with the one most people think of--math.
Math involves precise logic. If I add this number to this
number, and then I divide the sum by this number, I get
this other number. Many aspects of coding are logic in its
purest form.

The coder is telling the computer, “If I do this, I want you

to do this and this. If the user clicks this button before
filling in these boxes, then show him an error message. If
the user scrolls down on this page, shrink the navigation in any random order and produce the same result.
menu while keeping it pinned to the top as they scroll.” Changes in the tempo of a song have an impact on the
In some cases, coding involves actual math, but in most listener, and must be carefully considered.
cases, coding is really just a series of “if-then” scenarios
tied to certain actions and conditions. Art is a project, and projects need processes that make
them successful. Learning to code teaches kids to learn
Many of us remember PEMDAS, one of the most popular the process and work the process to produce an outcome.
ways to remember the order in which to solve a multi-step What if you could produce a better looking website with
equation. Coding often behaves the same way, prioritizing less code. Wouldn’t that be a thing of beauty?
certain actions ahead of others, and making sure that the
correct order is maintained. Have you ever seen a coach’s whiteboard covered in
X’s and O’s? They mark the location of players. Sports is
So, coding obviously connects to math class, but what another great example of logic. If the opponent does this,
could it have to do with painting? Or athletics? Please you do this. If you’re dribbling the ball, and your player
don’t tell me that coding has something to do with sets a pick for you, you should dribble in the direction of
football? Well… actually it does. Let’s start with art. Art the pick, staying as close to your own player as possible
is a creative endeavor, and we often think of artists as in order to break free of the defender.
whimsical idealists, driven by emotion and an innate
sense of beauty and meaning. While these qualities are It’s logic--a series of conditional if-then statements. When
often present, art is more than putting a brush to paper. quarterbacks go to the NFL, they take an IQ test called
the Wonderlic. The test is designed to predict how quickly
Creating works of art, whether they be paintings, songs, and correctly quarterbacks will be able to assess the
or novels, still requires thought. The artist takes on a different scenarios presented by the defense and make
project intent on creating something great. Greatness logical decisions accordingly. So yes--teaching your little
usually isn’t an accident. It takes planning, research, quarterback to code will help him win games.
practice, and problem solving. The paint can’t be layered

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Coding Needs Teachers

Parents who choose to introduce their kids to often don’t have the
coding have many options to choose from. time or expertise
to lend a hand.
There are many self-guided code academies online, CodeWizardsHQ
leaving parents with a choice to make. Which offers a teacher-
platform will offer my child the best experience and guided model in
the highest chance of success learning to code? which pacing and
support are provided
Self-guided online code academies offer a difficult by real human coding
environment for kids to succeed. Many kids begin instructors.
the process, but few stick to it long enough to
become proficient at coding. When your child encounters challenges, a real
On-site coding camps are often focused on games teacher is providing support and encouragement.
and lack the differentiated focus required for kids Pacing is provided by a carefully planned
to really learn to code. Furthermore, they offer yet curriculum designed for kids and administered by
another location to cart kids to and from. instructors.

CodeWizardsHQ was created to fill a void in the The CodeWizardsHQ model has proven successful
code academy space. with kids. CodeWizardsHQ students stick with the
program and have real websites to show for their
CodeWizardsHQ provides a teacher-led model time and effort.
where student can learn from the safety and
convenience of their own home or any location While online learning has dramatically increased
they have access to a computer and internet. access to content, the teacher-guided school model
Coding instructors work online with groups of kids is still the gold standard for educating children and
to help them overcome difficulties and provide teens.
encouragement.
Children and teens are still developing their
Of the kids who begin online code academies, a executive function and problem solving skills, and
large number leave as soon as they encounter having a CodeWizardHQ teacher helping them stay
challenges that they can’t overcome, and parents on track make all the difference.

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Code Wizards HQ Guide

Coding Helps Kids See the

Bigger Picture and It’s Parts

Learning to code teaches kids to work the details with the

big picture in mind. There’s an old saying that goes: “He
missed the forest for the trees.” The saying means that
Coding Myth Busters
we often get so focused on the details that we lose site of
the big idea or overall mission. People are often divided
into “big picture” people and “details oriented” people, When it comes to coding, there are
but assigning such traits to people can make them several myths that even the most well-
think they’re fated to be one and not the other. Highly informed people believe is true. Here are
successful people must be both. the top 6 stereotypes, that just isn’t true.

As kids learn to code, they are developing the ability to

see the big picture while focusing on the details. The Myth 1: Coding is for math people.
overall project is the “big picture” while the “details” are
the small parts that must be executed with precision to “Math and programming have a
make the vision a reality. It is critical that all children learn somewhat misunderstood relationship.
to see the big picture, because the big picture gives the Many people think that you have to be
smaller tasks a purpose. Being able to form a high level good at math or make good grades in
vision empowers children to be mission driven and pursue math class before you can even begin
the things that really matter to them. to learn programming. But how much
math does a person need to know
Mission driven people are happier, more successful, in order to program? Not that much
and stand to make a lasting impact on the world and the actually.”
people around them. Coding teaches kids to start with a
big-picture goal and align their tasks to complete that goal Myth 2: Coding is for geniuses.
and produce something great that they can share with
others. “I’ve met a lot of people who believe that
“programming” is an abstract, scary piece
But don’t forget about the details. Every big project of dark magic—some kind of inaccessible
is made up of small parts. It’s okay to be enamoured ability. I’m a firm believer—and actual
by the forest, but kids still need to watch their step and proof—that you don’t have to be a child
navigate with a purpose. Learning to code teaches kids to genius or mathematical wizard to learn
work in the details to realize the goal. They must complete how to code.”
small tasks in a linear fashion, and as they do, the big
picture takes form. The big picture offers vision and
purpose, while the details enable kids to execute on that
purpose.

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 www.codewizardshq.com

Coding Is a Safer Way

To Take Risks

Taking risks is a tricky endeavor. On one side of the

coin, kids must take risks in order to learn, progress, and
accomplish goals. On the other side of the coin, taking
Coding Myth Busters
careless risks in dangerous environments can quickly turn Contd..
catastrophic. Running for student council is a good risk.
Sitting on the railing of a 4th floor balcony--not so much. Myth 3: Coding is for engineers.

One of the conundrums of parenting is determining which You can’t avoid it, you may not be doing this
risks to allow and which to prevent. How can parents teach for a living, as a professional programmer,
their children to continue taking good risks even when but this knowledge and this training of
they don’t result in success? One solution is to give them how to explore on your own, makes you
opportunities to try again. resourceful—that’s a skill you will need in
any field.
Coding is a safe, fun way to take risks. Coding is an
environment where kids can take chances, fail, correct, Myth 4: Coding is for left brained people.
and try again, without catastrophic consequences.
Empowering kids to take chances and work through mistakes “Our brain hemispheres are inextricably
trains them for life. As a child learns to code, he also learns connected. Both sides are co-dependent
that an error isn’t the end. It can be corrected. The website and each takes a part in most thought
can be unpublished, redone, or improved. It’s okay to start processes.”
with the wrong color scheme. It’s okay to embed a link that
doesn’t work, as long as you fix it. Myth 5: Coding is a lonely job.

Coding also teaches children to understand the value of “I think it’s the reverse. There’s an enormous
getting it right the first time. As kids take chances in this amount of negotiation required in software
safe environment, they develop a sense of the effort and engineering. If you don’t like working with
frustration of doing it over and over and over to get it right. people, you are going to hate programming.”
They naturally begin to realize that if they’re careful and get
details right the first time, they can progress toward their Myth 6: Coding is for nerdy boys.
ultimate vision faster and with less frustration.
“I love art, I love coding, and now I get to
While coding teaches that it’s okay to make mistakes, it make movies,” said Feinberg, who earned
also teaches that it’s really frustrating and time-consuming her B.A. in computer science at Harvard.
to keep making the same mistake. These two lessons can
be applied to nearly every aspect of life, from careers to
relationships.

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Code Wizards HQ Guide

Coding Is Art

Coding is a creative pursuit. The coder must consider how

they want their work to look, feel, and behave. It’s not just
about what it does. It’s also about how it’s done. Consider
a website for a florist. If the website is simply a white page
with black text that tells what the florist offers, where she’s
located, and what hours she works, it probably won’t
generate much business. The same site could carry the
visitor through a visual experience that tells the story of
the problem that the florist solves.

When websites and applications are being designed,

designers actually use the word “story” to help guide
development. They work hard to consider what the five different ways to do the exact same thing. Coders
visitor’s ideal experience would be on a site, and they consider their personal preferences, their strengths, and
carefully plan the site to create that experience. In a world how everything fits together.
where there are millions of websites, only the exceptional
ones stand out. Sometimes the way they choose to perform a task makes
a future task more challenging. In that instance, they must
Humans are natural storytellers, and coding helps them again think creatively about how to address the problem.
tell stories and carry people through them. Dancers often “Should I change my code from yesterday to make
tell stories with their movement. Writers tell stories as today’s work easier, or accept the difficulty of today’s
they morph words into images in the minds of readers. work so that I can leave yesterday’s as it is?” Coders are
Painters tell stories by selecting colors, brush strokes, constantly asking themselves that question. Coding isn’t
settings, and subjects to convey emotion. Coders tell a robotic task where there’s a right and wrong way to do
stories using visuals, words, and movement. something.

Coding also teaches kids to solve problems creatively. Coders are frequently choosing the best choice in the
In the world of code, there’s more than one way to absence of a right choice. Part of the beauty of coding is
accomplish a task. If it’s not working one way, try another. that a brush stroke can always be deleted or altered. The
Coding teaches kids to select the best tool for the job canvas can always evolve. The product improves and the
when there might not be a “right” tool. There could be coder improves. They make each other better.

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8 Reasons CodeWizardsHQ is
the best way to teach Coding

1
Real Teachers: Our weekly classes are led the program. It’s not just a drag-and-drop program
by friendly and knowledgeable instructors. Our to teach simple concepts. It’s real coding!
teachers interact with students to help them
overcome challenges that would otherwise
cause them to get frustrated and give up. Lack
of teacher-support is the #1 reason online self-
5 Developmental Curriculum: The cornerstone
of our program is a developmental curriculum.
Students don’t just play games, they master real
paced courses have very low completion rates. Our skills taught by trained instructors. With input from
teachers ensure that students are working on new educators and practitioners, we have designed our
challenges every week. Without teachers providing program to be engaging to kids, while also allowing
the right pacing, kids spend a lot of time on the them to learn programming concepts and coding
same level of difficulty, which leads to boredom and skills directly. Check out our full curriculum here.
quitting.

2 Consistent Schedule: CodeWizardsHQ classes

occur at the same time each week, providing
6 No Driving Required: We didn’t want coding
classes to be another after school activity for
you to taxi your kids to. Our classes don’t require
students with a consistent routine for learning to transportation as your child will login from the safety
code. One of the biggest reasons students don’t and convenience of your own home. Your child can
stick with self-guided coding websites is because attend the class from your home or from anywhere
they don’t have a schedule. When there is no they have access to a computer and internet.
scheduled time for learning coding, families have to

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remember to make time but quickly lose track due Resources, Community & Enrichment: Our
to busy schedules. instructors add content, activities and contests to
complement regular classes. We have a thriving

3 Structured Program: CodeWizardsHQ is a

comprehensive program that teaches kids how
to actually code. It’s not a one time camp or an
online private community where students learn by
interacting with each other. Students can use these
enrichment opportunities to explore topics beyond
isolated online course. Our program starts with the class content. We understand that kids learn by
basics and progresses towards building complex doing. That is why we bring plenty of ideas and
websites, apps and games. By the end of our inspiration on a regular basis for kids to apply what
program, students will have mastered a broad they have learned.
range of coding skills to bring their ideas to life.

4 Real Coding: Right from day 1, your child will start

with a real code editor. We designed the code editor
8 Resume-Building Projects: CodeWizardsHQ
students are completing projects with code that
can be showcased when applying for scholarships,
to have the power of the tools that professionals grants, jobs, internships, and schools. Having a
use while still making it accessible to kids. Students portfolio of work has become a real differentiator
will start with a basic website structure and add and makes a great impression in college
features and interactivity as they progress through applications. Please see our student showcase.

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Code Wizards HQ Guide

Coding is a Team Sport

product possible. They become aware of the fact that

the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts, and
they learn to value their contribution to the whole. There
are few things in school and in life that don’t require
interpersonal skills and teamwork.

Coding teaches strong communication skills. As children

learn to code, they must communicate their needs to
others in an effective way. They must also communicate
how they can help others to complete tasks. In a
collaborative environment, the best outcome is often
created by the team that learned to communicate most
effectively, so that they could leverage their strengths to
When you picture someone coding, you may envision a produce something great.
person sitting in front of side-by-side monitors, alone in a
dark room at 3:30am. While there are certainly people out Coding teaches kids to ask for help. Asking for help is
there that work in that environment, good coding takes one of the most important skills in life. In our culture, the
collaboration. As stated before, coding is creative. There act of asking for help is sometimes viewed as weak or
are many ways to accomplish a task and each one can even shameful. Independence can be overvalued, making
make things easier or more difficult in the future. kids believe that if they can’t do it on their own, they
shouldn’t even try. Coding teaches the opposite. Coding
Teams of coders rely on one another to avoid mistakes, teaches that if you can’t do it on your own, seek help.
learn best practices, acquire new skills, and help each When a child cannot figure out how to make the website
other overcome barriers. Just like different types of people behave the way she wants, she can master the problem
excel in different areas of business, different types of by finding people and resources that empower her to
people excel in different areas of coding. Visual artists solve the problem.
could be brilliant designers, but may fall short when it
comes to connecting the website to the database where Living a happy and successful life requires help, and
the information is stored. Database architects might be the willingness to ask for it. The highest performing
able to write conditional statements in their sleep, but the students are often the ones who seek the most guidance
user-experience of their website could be a disaster. from their teachers and collaborate the most with other
students. Success if rarely earned solo, and coding is a
As children learn to write code, they learn to specialize great way to learn that lesson.
and collaborate in order to produce the most outstanding

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Coding is the Future

In the future, coding skills won’t just apply to engineers,

and even today, coding skills empower every occupation.
At its core, coding is teaching a machine to obey a
human. What a fantastic thought! Do machines help
coffee shops keep track of their inventory? Do machines
help accountants spot losses? Do machines help nurses
administer medicine? Do machines help shirt makers
produce thousands of copies of the same design?
Imagine if a shirt company had to recreate a shirt design
for every shirt they printed. That shirt company wouldn’t
last long.

Computers are simply digital machines that can perform

more than one function. Code tells them what to do. You
may have heard the old saying, “but we’ll always need
garbage men!” sometimes proclaimed as a way to justify
the false notion that every child doesn’t need a quality
education.

News flash! We won’t always need garbage men. Do solves a problem are usually the people experiencing the
we still need oxen to pull plows? Do we still need to problem. Learning to code empowers kids to create
blast holes through mountains to carry people from solutions to their own problems regardless of what field
east to west? Nope. We invented tractors. We invented they are in.
airplanes. And today… tractors are driving themselves
using GPS, and commercial jets are flown by computers Even if your child will never write code that solves
except at landing and takeoff, and even that will soon be problems, learning to code will allow them to understand
automated. the automated world they live in. There is value to
understanding your environment, even if you didn’t create
Coding empowers musicians to build platforms to share it. Understanding your environment allows you to interact
their music. Coding empowers graphic designers to with it in a confident way, and helps you to adjust to
display their works to the world. It enables therapists to changes that you encounter.
work with clients in other countries. It enables farmers to
do their own taxes while their tractor harvests their crops. For people who know how coding works, the world of
the future won’t be an intimidating place that no one can
You may be thinking, “But don’t software engineers build understand. Instead, it will be an exciting place where
all of the things that do that?” That’s only partially true. As computers work for humans and free us to focus on the
the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention”. activities we value most.
The people best equipped to invent something that

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(The World Needs Finishers)

Coding Teaches Work Ethic and
Perseverance

Coding teaches kids to work hard to achieve a goal. small tasks, there will be an outcome. Early in the process
Learning to code presents challenges and struggles, but of learning to code, kids are presented with smaller
it does so in a progressive fashion. Children start out with projects with fewer tasks and faster payoff. Completing
simple tasks that are easy to comprehend and progress these tasks helps them to develop perseverance in
to more challenging tasks. As they acquire the skills to stages.
produce great things, they are empowered to set goals
and envision things they want to create. As kids write code to conquer smaller challenges, they
move on to larger and larger challenges. Without even
When kids set their mind on completing a project that realizing it, your child develops into someone who can
involves code, they are also taking on the series of small set a big goal and break it into smaller pieces, attacking
tasks and difficulties that will make up the project. Coding the pieces in a logical order and putting them together,
teaches them that if they work hard and complete these eventually achieving his or her goal.

From Consumers to Creators

“Screen time” is a common phrase in many households. consumers of digital content, kids are learning about
Parents work to limit how much time their children spend what others have created. They already have a strong
in front of a device. The majority of kids spend most of knowledge-base in consumer content that will equip them
their screen time consuming. YouTube is eating up a to imagine the things they can create with code.
massive piece of that consumption pie. While YouTube
and other sites do offer valuable content and learning, Creating things with code offers a new appreciation for
many of the best lessons are learned by doing. the time and effort that goes into making all the content
they consume. They develop the ability to imagine the
Learning to code is an opportunity to create something other side of that video or website, envisioning what the
during screen time. One of the aspects of coding that developer did to make the experience possible.
excites kids is that with code, they can create things
for other people to consume and interact with. As

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Coding Builds a Global

Perspective

Technology is connecting people from all parts of the Just as computers enable people all over the world
world in new ways. This process isn’t new. In the past, to interact, coding enables people to share their
ships connected continents. creations with the world. It would be extremely difficult
and expensive for your child to make 1000 paper
Later, telegraph machines enabled rapid books and mail them to children on another continent.
communication across long distances. What is new But what if she published the book on her own
is the rate of progress. Our connectivity is increasing website and posted a link on worldwide social media
at an alarming rate, but so is the democratization of platforms? That can literally be done for free!
access.
With access to the world, kids also learn that they can
When the “internet” was created, it was a way for solve global problems. Kids can create ways to inform
military computers to talk to each other across long others about issues they care about, build platforms
distances. Today, nearly anyone can have a that help people, and facilitate a global sense of
face-to-face conversation with anyone else in the community.
world at any moment.
Platforms enable people to connect with loved ones
Technology may not be universally available to across the world, send clean water where it’s most
everyone, but the idea that living in a connected world needed, and share ways to lower pollution and waste
is for the wealthy is nonsense. In fact, the United in communities. Empowering kids to create things with
States doesn’t even break into the top 10 in the world code equips them to change the world before they
for smartphone market penetration. even graduate from high school!

In fifteen years we’ll be teaching programming like reading and writing…

and wondering why we didn’t do it sooner.- Mark Zuckerberg

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Assessment

Below is a quick an easy way for you to assess your child’s interest and readiness to learn to code. Record your
response for each item:

1. My child demonstrates interest in computers, apps, 6. My child would benefit from learning to think logically.
and/or the internet.
Yes No
Yes No
7. My child enjoys sharing his or her work with others.
2. My child is interested in the way things work.
Yes No
Yes No
8. My child is likely to pursue a career that involves
3. My child likes to create new things. technology.

Yes No Yes No

4. My child plans to attend a University or other school of 9. My child learns by doing.

higher learning.
Yes No
Yes No
10. My child needs to improve his or her ability to
5. My child would benefit from improved project complete tasks in an orderly fashion.
management skills.
Yes No
Yes No

If you answered “Yes” to 6 or more questions, then learning to code is likely a good fit for your child.
Click here for CodeWizardsHQ’s upcoming classes and schedule.

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