This DVD (isn’t that a great name??) arrived in our mailbox one day while I was gone. By the time I had gotten home, my oldest son (age 12) had already opened it & watched it & was biting at the bit to get going. I made him wait until I had a block of time to sit down and watch him do it (I’m mean like that or so he says). I did not need to as he had this pretty much wrapped up by himself. I was just the “pause” button on the DVD remote for him (and spelling help as needed). Even my middle son (age 8) was able to do this DVD without too much help. Mom & big brother acted as “pause” button & spelling help.
The Nitty-Gritty
This DVD is designed by a middle school computer literacy teacher named Brian Richardson. He explains why he made this DVD & I have to agree with him. HTML coding is a great skill to have. Understanding the whys of html coding isn’t difficult & he proves here that children can get it and understand it quite easily.
There are seven sections to the DVD. Mr. Richardson “teaches” to two children along with all who are watching. He even shows what happens when you “mess up” & how the whole code stops working for things as small as “stop signs” otherwise known as the backslash.
The sections in the DVD cover:
- Ten Basic Lines of Code
- Sandwiches & Colors
- Make Subject Stand Out
- Stand Alone Tags
- Designing Backgrounds
- Fonts and Paragraphs
- Pictures
We did have trouble at one point as I run Google Chrome instead of Internet Explorer as my browser. This was easily fixed. However, later on with my eight year old we had trouble in IE & it worked in Google. I’m pretty sure it was probably my old laptop rather than the program itself.
One thing that I felt was wonderful is that Mr. Richardson donates proceeds to five different charities. They include:
- The Ronald McDonald House
- Children’s Miracle Network
- The Smile Train
- Miami Project to Cure Paralysis
- American Foundation for the Blind
You can see a one-minute clip of the video HERE or see some actual web pages designed by kids HERE. You can find more at their main website which Mr. Richardson built by hand typing in all the code. I think that’s a pretty good testimony to his skills.
Currently the DVD is on sale for 50% off (limited time). The cost is $19.99 plus $3.99 shipping & handling.
We really enjoyed this DVD here & the skills learned. Maine has a “computer skills” requirement & this helped to fulfill that. My oldest is waiting for the second DVD to come out and for that matter, so am I!
Edited to add...check out more reviews at the TOS Homeschool Crew blog!
This sounds cool.
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