Wednesday, September 30, 2020

REVIEW: Coding for Kids Annual Membership by Simply Coding

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.

My 12-year old son was very interested in trying his hand at coding, so we were excited to review the Coding for Kids Annual Membership by Simply Coding.


WHAT IS IT?:

Simply Coding offers the Coding for Kids Annual Membership that gives kids a year of access to a huge variety of online courses in a variety of useful topics. Kids can learn to code in courses that teach HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, and/or Java.  Students can even upload their programs and test them out!  They can create apps, games, and websites.Website

Kids can also access live mentor chat support from 9 AM – 6 PM CST on weekdays, and they can get email support in the evenings and on weekends, so help is just a few clicks away.

This subscription is targeted at students ages 11-18 and provides over 300 hours of self-directed instruction!  Special pricing is available through October 1st, making an individual annual membership just $99 (reg. $149) and a family membership just $179 (reg. $229).  You can even do a FREE 10-day trial prior to making any payment.

There’s even more included with this membership, but I’ll describe that more in detail below.


OUR EXPERIENCE:

We initially thought the coding courses were the only things available in this subscription, which was enough to peak my 12-year old son, Holden’s, interest.  But once we got access to the dashboard, we quickly realized that there were a whole lot more technology courses available besides the actual coding courses!  That was enough to get my husband and myself pretty excited, too! 

Here, you can see the variety of coding courses available for kids.  These were the courses we had expected to find.

Simply Coding Courses


But then we noticed those other tabs and realized there were 3 other categories of courses we could also access.  Here, you can see the variety of Simply Media courses available.

Simply Media Courses


The next tab showed us all of the Simply Tech Essentials courses we could access.

Simply Tech Essentials Courses


And finally, the last tab showed us all of the Simply Tech for Kids courses.

Simply Tech for Kids Courses


In total, there are 46 different courses you can take with your annual membership!  And there are so many interesting topics there that I feel like it’s appealing to the whole family, even the adults.

Holden was the first one to try out the site.  He jumped right into the JavaScript Game Design course.  This was totally new to him, as he has never tried any type of coding before but loves to play video games and was curious how it all worked. 

When he started the course, he went through an introduction and was instructed to download a program that he could use to code his game.  I have parental controls on his school laptop that restrict where he can go, so I had to jump in at this point to bypass our controls in order to download the program for him.  After that, he was off and running entirely on his own.

JavaScript Lesson


Each course gives a suggested pace to follow, and there are great instruction videos throughout the lessons.  The JavaScript Game Design Course had a total of 10 lessons with a 5-question quiz after every lesson and timed tests given at the halfway point and at the end of the course.  He had to upload his game at 3 different checkpoints, with the last being his final project. 

The course walked him through the coding process and taught him what it all meant and how to put it together.  When he uploaded his game at the end, he was able to test out how well it worked.  He created a simple “Pong” type game, but he noticed that when he tested his program, one side wasn’t scoring properly, so he was able to go back and figure out what he’d done wrong.  That was a great learning experience for him, and he got very animated as he told me all about how it had worked and how he’d been able to complete it by himself.  When I checked my email the next day, I got a parent message that let me know he had successfully completed his first game.

JavaScript Email


He was really interested in the course that taught mods for Minecraft, but he said he couldn’t do that one because he doesn’t have the Minecraft game.  Since most of the other courses were not yet unlocked, his only other coding option was the Intro to Websites course, which he began playing around with a bit next.

In the meantime, I couldn’t help my excitement about the other types of courses available for myself!  So I perused the other tech courses and had my eye on quite a few.  I decided to start with something practical.  Back before I had kids, I worked full-time in an office environment, and my company sent me for professional training on all the Microsoft Office courses.  I was then expected to keep up-to-date on them and be responsible for training all the other office staff on those programs, so I was very adept as using them.  However, that was a long time ago, and while I still use some of those programs at home from time to time, they have changed quite a bit after all these years.  I figured this was the perfect opportunity to tweak my knowledge of these programs and get myself up to speed again.  With that in mind, I began the Simply Tech Essentials courses called Microsoft Excel – Fundamentals.

This course contained 5 modules intended to be completed within 5 weeks.  Each module had a short instruction video lasting under 10 minutes, and then there was a short quiz after each lesson.  At the end, there was a final exam.  When you completed a quiz, it gave you your score, and you had the opportunity to repeat the quiz as many times as you wanted before moving on to the next module.  The program keeps track of your scores and your progress.  Course progress looks like this, shown as a percentage of the course you’re working on.

Course Progress


As a parent, you can also view achievements for each student on your account.  For some reason, though, Holden’s completed course showed up here, but mine never did, even though it shows 100% progress in the graphic above.  I never could figure out why that was, except that I couldn’t get the program to advance out of the congratulations screen at the end.  I suspect that’s why it never registered as completed on the parent dashboard.  It’s probably just a technical glitch.

Dashboard


Here is what a quiz question looks like within my Excel Fundamentals course.

Quiz - Excel Fundamentals


Here is how it shows your quiz results instantly.

Quiz Results - Excel Fundamentals


And when you’ve completed the course, here is how it congratulates you at the end!

Course Completion - Excel Fundamentals


Now that I’ve completed that course, I plan to move on to the advanced Excel course next.  After that, I am thrilled to learn more about how to use Adobe Photoshop.  I don’t have the full Photoshop Program, but I do have Adobe Photoshop Elements, so I’m hoping I can learn some tips and tricks that can be applied to the lighter version of the program, as well.  I use it for scrapbooking, so that will be purely for fun!

I told Holden that he should also explore the Keyboarding 4Kids course in the Simply Tech4Kids section, as well, to brush up on his keyboarding skills.  I think at some point, he would also enjoy learning how to set up a Kids’ YouTube Channel.  There are just so many possibilities with this membership!  My husband wants to brush up on some of his Microsoft Office skills, as well, so I’ll be adding him to our account as a student next.  Our membership allows for a total of 3 students.

The bottom line is that this membership has something for everyone in the family with so many courses to offer.  I think you’ll find it useful and very easy to navigate.

Check out what other Crew members have to say about this membership by clicking the banner below.

Saturday, September 26, 2020

Favorite Recipes for the Week of September 20th

TOP FAVORITE BREAKFAST:

Blueberry-Stuffed French Toast.  I was really surprised by the combination of flavors in this unusual baked French toast.  Rather than cooking this in a skillet as you would traditionally do, this goes in the oven stuffed with blueberries, and then you serve a hot homemade blueberry/orange syrup over the top.  I used jarred Dole mandarin oranges in this so I wouldn’t have to deal with peeling off the skin on each orange section, and it was the perfect taste and texture.  The combination of the mandarin oranges with the blueberries in the syrup was actually very refreshing!  I have made this before with regular oranges, and the texture and flavor was not as good.  Also, partially splitting and trying to stuff an extra thick slice of Italian bread is a real pain, so instead, I used a pre-packaged loaf of sliced Italian bread so all the slices were a uniform size.  They were about 1/2 in slices, so two of them together was perfect, and it left no need to partially slice it.  I just stacked two together before I dunked the top and bottom into the egg mixture.  I made plenty for meal prepping, and it reheated really well in my air fryer.  I kept the syrup in little tubs to heat in the microwave and add after re-crisping the French toast.  Each serving was just as good as the last over the course of 3 days.  It was delicious!  I served it with an over-medium egg and 2 slices of bacon for a total of 285 calories!


TOP FAVORITE LUNCH:

Apricot Turkey Sandwiches.  I don’t typically like any kind of sweet version of a meat dish.  To me, sweet and meat just don’t go together!  But I will just about anything once, and I’m so glad I did!  This sandwich was delightfully tasty!  It had a wonderful combo of flavors.  I really didn’t specifically taste the apricot preserves on this, and I used a reduced sugar version from Trader Joe’s.  I used high quality ingredients…the carved peppered turkey breast and the Jarlsberg brand light swiss cheese slices both came from Trader Joe’s.  The red onion was a nice touch.  Because I made these sandwiches in advance in my meal prepping, I made sure to sandwich the tomato in the center of the sandwich so it wasn’t in contact with the bread at all…I didn’t want it to get soggy.  I also waited to toast the bread until we were ready to eat it.  I just put the entire assembled sandwich in the air fryer for about 4 minutes, and it came out just right!  It was just enough to melt the cheese and toast the bread perfectly.  It was so good!  The combo of sweet and tangy (apricot and Dijon) went together well.  My husband and I both loved this sandwich and would definitely make it again!  I served it with baby carrots, baked potato chips, and a sugar-free Jello tub for a total of 443 calories.  I forgot to take a picture of this one, so here is the stock photo from the Taste of Home website.

Apricot Turkey Sandwiches


TOP FAVORITE DINNER:

Salmon with Peas a la Francaise.  I grilled some excellent salmon steaks from Sam’s Club.  They were so thick and moist!  I drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled them with some Nature’s Seasons.  We had some fabulous Aioli Garlic Mustard Sauce from Trader Joe’s with the salmon, which is our favorite way to eat it.  An employee recommended it for salmon years ago, and we’ve eaten it that way ever since!  I served this with a small buttered dinner roll and a serving of the Peas a la Francaise, which was a delicious variation with some pearl onions in it.  I used frozen pearl onions that I thawed, so I didn’t need to do the peeling and boiling as directed in the recipe.  This meal was a total of 366 calories.


I hope you enjoy this week’s featured recipes!  Have a great week.

Saturday, September 19, 2020

Favorite Recipes for the Week of September 13th

TOP FAVORITE BREAKFAST:

Baked Eggs with Cheddar & Bacon.  This is essentially an egg muffin.  It’s supposed to be baked in a 4 oz. ramekin, but since I don’t have any that can go in the oven, I just use a jumbo muffin pan whenever a recipe calls for those.  Easy substitute!  I served them with half a mini bagel with a tablespoon of whipped cream cheese, 2/3 cup of red grapes, and a 4.25 oz. orange juice box.  This made for a quick, easy breakfast that anyone in the house could grab and take on the go.  This complete breakfast was just 325 calories.


TOP FAVORITE LUNCH:

Makeover Curried Rice Soup.  If you like curried chicken, then you will like this soup that’s really more of a stew.  It is a comforting dish we usually enjoy in the winter.  I served it with a mini Naan bread for dipping.  I love the mini Naan bread from Aldi, as they are the perfect size for a single serving.  They go together so well.  The whole lunch was 418 calories.  I forgot to take a picture, so I’m including the stock photo from the Taste of Home website. 


TOP FAVORITE DINNER:

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce.  I served this with 1/2 cup cooked spaghetti, a salad with light dressing, and a small sweet Hawaiian roll on the side.  I like the Sam’s Choice sweet rolls from Walmart, as they are only 70 calories each and stay fresh and soft to go with meals all week long.  This spaghetti sauce was really good and a little different from the typical beef sauce.  This one is made with sweet Italian turkey sausage, and it was really tasty without being greasy, which I loved.  The whole meal was just 300 calories.  I was apparently bad at taking photos this week, so here is the stock photo from the Taste of Home website.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce


I have to share a personal victory.  On Friday, I weighed in at 126.8 lbs.!  My weight loss goal was to hit 128.0, so I not only surpassed by goal weight but even surpassed what I weighed when I went in for my shoulder surgery last November.  I’ve lost about 10 pounds using these recipes and doing some light cardio 5 days a week since early June.  I am very happy with my results and so elated to have reached my goal!  It definitely feels good to be somewhat back to my former self.  I’ll still have to tone up once my shoulder allows me to resume weight training in my workouts, but for now, this is a big win. 

 

That’s it for this week.  I hope you’ll give one of these recipes a try! 

Saturday, September 5, 2020

Favorite Recipes for the Week of September 6th

TOP FAVORITE BREAKFAST:

Baked Blueberry Peach Oatmeal.  This baked oatmeal dish is a long-time favorite of ours.  My boys love it, even though they don’t even like regular oatmeal!  For them, the downside of oatmeal is the texture, but this baked version is completely different.  The combination of blueberries and peaches adds just the right amount of sweetness, and we love to sprinkle ours with cinnamon on top for an extra pizazz.  I served this with an over-medium egg on the side, and it kept us full and satisfied.  We gobbled this up, so I totally missed taking a photo for you.  Here’s the stock photo from Taste of Home’s website. 

Baked Blueberry & Peach Oatmeal


TOP FAVORITE LUNCH:

Steak Flatbread Wrap.  This was a huge winner in my house!  Even my picky teenage daughter ate this and commented about it several times afterwards.  It was definitely a labor of love, though.  I’ve never made flatbread from scratch before.  It definitely took some time and attention, but it wasn’t hard.  My yeast wasn’t very fresh, but they still came out really well!  My daughter really loved the wrap itself…that it was like a tortilla but tasted like bread and was really soft.  And of course, the flank steak was amazing.  I served it with fresh red and green pepper strips on the side with a bit of light ranch dressing for dipping, but hubby and I ended up putting our ranch and peppers on the wrap itself, and it was *so* good that way.  That’s how it’s shown here in the picture.  Wonderful!


TOP FAVORITE DINNER:

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Healthy Oven Roasted Potatoes.  This pork tenderloin was marinated for 4 hours before grilling with indirect heat, and it was so juicy and flavorful!  It paired perfectly with these oven-roasted potatoes, which had my favorite combo of fresh rosemary from my garden, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  So good!

 


Those were our favorites this week.  I hope you find something yummy here to add to your family’s menu for this week!

Favorite Recipes for the Week of August 30th

TOP FAVORITE BREAKFAST:

2 over-medium Eggs, 2 pieces of fully cooked bacon, 1/2 cup strawberries, and a light English muffin.  This isn’t a recipe, obviously.  It’s just an old standard breakfast that’s hard to resist, and all for a total of 323 calories.


TOP FAVORITE LUNCH:

Presto Chicken Taco.  This is so easy to make, and it makes so much!  My whole family loves these tasty tacos, even my very picky teenage daughter.  The original recipe was meant for the stovetop, but I just throw everything into the electric pressure cooker for 20 minutes, and it’s ready in a flash.  I just drain off all the liquids when it’s done and store the meat for several days’ worth of lunches for the whole family.  I served one taco with some steamed broccoli (a FREE food on our nutrition plan), a quarter cup of Birdseye Southwest-Style Rice, and a medium D’Anjou pear, all for a total of 417 calories.  Toppings are extra, of course.


TOP FAVORITE DINNER:

BBQ Beef Sandwich with Home-Style Coleslaw.  Wouldn’t you know I forgot to snap a picture of this one?  Just the mere mention of beef, and my fellas devour whatever it is, so I often miss getting a photo in that case.  This slow-cooked beef was no exception!  I served 1 BBQ sandwich (using 1/3 cup of bbq) with 2/3 cup of the coleslaw for a total of 442 calories.  Having lived most of my life in VA, I like my bbq sandwich with the coleslaw served on top of the BBQ and drizzled with hot sauce.  Yum!  Here are stock photos from the Taste of Home website.

BBQ Beef Sandwiches Home-Style Coleslaw


That’s what I’ve got for you this week!  Enjoy!