Khan Academy Computer Programming

We started the school year off with our books and things packed up because our home is on the market. So, we’re trying Khan Academy. Since every math curriculum is different, I wanted to make sure my elementary kids started off with a sure foundation. I challenged them to do early math earlier this month. About a week ago, they completed it and were greeted by this video:

One of the things we like about Khan academy is that they have computer programming. The videos have enough information that my 5th and 10th graders have designed their own animations using javascript. My 5th grader spent today ONLY working on computer programming section and was able to create several animations. This is the final draft for one of his animations:

The keys to posting your Khan Academy scripts to your WordPress blog:

1) Install the Prossessing.js plugin to your WordPress site.

2) Use this code in the body of your post or page:

<script src=”https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/processing.js/1.4.8/processing.min.js”></script><canvas id=”canvas”></canvas><script>// <![CDATA[ var canvas = document.getElementById(“canvas”); var processing = new Processing(canvas, function(processing) { processing.size(400, 400); processing.background(0xFFF); var mouseIsPressed = false; processing.mousePressed = function () { mouseIsPressed = true; }; processing.mouseReleased = function () { mouseIsPressed = false; }; var keyIsPressed = false; processing.keyPressed = function () { keyIsPressed = true; }; processing.keyReleased = function () { keyIsPressed = false; }; function getImage(s) { var url = “https://www.kasandbox.org/programming-images/” + s + “.png”; processing.externals.sketch.imageCache.add(url); return processing.loadImage(url); } with (processing) { //Your code here } if (typeof draw !== ‘undefined’) processing.draw = draw; }); </script>

Make sure that there aren’t too many spaces between { and your code or it will fail! I forgot that when I was creating this post. It’s been a few weeks since I helped my oldest son post his first animation on his own blog. That one little mistake cost me some time. I’m embarrassed to say, it was probably an hour or two.

Have you tried using Khan Academy to homeschool your kids? If so, we’d love to hear your experiences, both good and bad. Please share below.