I was so excited to be able to review the Java Programming (AP) course from CompuScholar, Inc.  You might know them by their former name, Homeschool Programming.

In this day and age, computer skills are such an important part of our lives and will be even more important in the lives of our kids!  My oldest is in 10th grade this year and he is a computer kid!  I had been looking into a couple different online computer courses prior to this review.  We chose the Java Programming course because I wanted an AP course (more later on that) that would challenge him and meet the requirements of a “modern language” for his transcript!

If you aren’t ready for Java, CompuScholar, Inc. also has other classes including the Digital Savvy course that seems to be a great place to start.

How long and How Much?

This course was a full year course (36 weeks) .  It is available as either a self-study or teacher-led course.  We reviewed the self-study version. There is an option for a teacher-led course, but we were doing this on our own so in essence, I became the “teacher.”   I was able to set up the student with his own login, while my login is where I could see all the scores/grades, and view and uploaded activities.

There are also 2 choices for payment.  You can either do a monthly fee or pay for the year.  As of this review, the self-study Java Programming course was $15/month or $120 for the year.  The teacher-led course was $35.00/moth or $300 for the year.

How Does it Work?

With the self-study version, students simply log in to their account and then work through the lessons at their own pace.  There are lesson videos, documents to read, and sometimes lesson activities that they have to complete.  There are also quizzes and tests that are automatically scored.

Is it an AP Course?

According to their website, the Java Programming course teaches the student what they need to know to pass the AP Computer Science A course.  The website has a link to their “authorized syllabus” as well as directions on how to submit your syllabus to the College Board.  This step is needed in order to label this course “AP” on the student’s transcript.

I wanted to see how hard it would be…so I did it!  And it worked!! I got a confirmation and a letter back within a day!  Because their syllabus has already been authorized, it was super easy!Of course this doesn’t mean that my son will get a passing grade on his AP test (he hasn’t done it yet) but at least he can show that he took an AP course and use it to get ready for his test!

Here’s a portion of my confirmation email about the course….

Conclusion:

The Java Programming course is not easy. If you have an experienced computer kid like mine, then you’ll probably do okay.  Also, if you have someone that your child can get help from, that helps also.  My dad is a computer guy, so I was able to have my son work with him together on this course.  I gave my dad the teacher notes for the lessons so he could read them and know how to help my son with his questions.  Personally, without that help, it would have been hard for us. I just didn’t have the time to actually learn it all myself.

If you don’t have someone to help, no fear…. CompuScholar, Inc. can help you!  You can always contact them with questions, or you can sign up for the teacher-led course and have full access to a teacher.  I would also say that the teacher-led version would give you more accountability if you feel that is needed!

Overall, we are happy and looking forward to finishing the course! Our goal is to have it done by the end of summer, because I have plans to purchase a Game Design course from CompuScholar, Inc. as well.

 

Digital Savvy, Web Design & Java Programming {CompuScholar,Inc Reviews}

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