Dear Elliott and Real programming staff members,
I am writing to you to let you know what a difference Real programming has made for my son and our family. Our son Leonardo has had difficulty in school since the early years. While school helped with the literacy, his math skills suffered tremendously. One day my husband saw your advertisement in the newspaper about designing video games and learning math. The program sparked our interest. Leonardo certainly loved to play video games and designing them sounded great. Four courses later, I can?t believe the difference.
Leonardo?s confidence and self-esteem are greatly improved. He desperately needed to find a talent of his own that separated him from his sister. Real programming gave him that opportunity. He finally found something that she couldn?t do. It made such a difference to the dynamic of our family. I found they argued less and he became much less defensive about her success in school. One of the best moments happened recently. I saw my son discussing computer language and graphics programming with a colleague of mine who is taking college computer programming courses. His faced beamed as he realized that no one else knew what they were taking about. He felt very special. I am also very pleased that he is receiving exposure to computer programming which is not offered at school until Grade 11. He can decide sooner if this is a career path he wishes to explore.
The staff at Real programming has helped my son learn to believe in himself, to see in tangible ways, how much he can actually achieve. And the best part is I don?t get frustrated about him playing his video games because he is now more focused on the program design then just empty play. I?ve often heard him comment that he knows how this or that graphic is designed.
As a high school teacher of 22 years, I will often hear parents complain that their child isn?t focused, that they have a low attention span, and that they don?t like learning. Then I ask them how time at home is spent. Almost without fail, they complain about the hours spent at video games. I remind them that anyone who can spend hours at a video game, persevering until victory at that last level is achieved after countless attempts at problem solving, does not have an attention span problem. The staff and program designers at Real programming understand that learning needs to be fun. They have taken something kids love to do for hours at a time, and designed a fun, completely educational experience. A parent couldn?t ask for more.
If someone asked me, ?What can Real programming do for my child?? I?d have to answer:
? Improved self-esteem and confidence
? Improved math and keyboarding skills
? Development of computer programming skills
? Development of problem solving skills
? Improved family relationships
? Improved social skills
? And the list goes on...
If you want to give your child the best opportunity for success, then contact real programming IMMEDIATELY!
I promise?you won?t regret it. If A&E is time well spent, Real programming is time and money well spent.
Gillian Vivona
Elliott,
We as parents wanted to send you a note to thank you for the amazing program that you have created with ?Real Programming for Kids?. The quality of the instruction, the variety of the courses and the creativity of the content is something that we attribute to our son?s interest and success in the program and the success he has achieved in his normal school life.
We may not have told you this in the past but we originally enrolled our son in your program to help him improve his school work. When he was nine years old, our son was at a turning point in his life where he needed to improve in a number of areas in his school work and work ethic. As parents, we were concerned that if we did not take a proactive approach to getting him on the right track then it would be much more difficult as he progressed through school. We searched for the right assistance and decided to gamble on your ?Real Programming for Kids? program. We hoped that the idea of games programming at his age would help improve his mathematics and logic skills and be fun at the same time.
Five years later, my wife, myself and our son could not be more pleased. Not only has your program helped him with his mathematics, logic and general organization, but the ripple effect of improved skills in these areas has lead him to achieve at high levels in every other aspect of his school work.
Our son, you will be pleased to hear, just graduated from grade 8 as one of its most recognized and successful students. This is what we all had hoped for and we strongly believe that your program has contributed directly to our son?s success. He has developed into a confident and self-directed young man.
He has completed 8 courses using the Visual Basic, Java and C++ languages and is very excited about starting Java Multi-Player RPG and C++ 3D RPG in the fall. As a past programmer and computer science engineer myself, I cannot believe that our son is working with technologies that I did not touch until I was well into university. He is also very excited about dropping in one more time this summer to complete some aspects of his latest game and maps that he did not get a chance to complete in the last course. Thank you for being so accommodating to let him join one of your existing classes to get this done. He has been asking daily when he is scheduled to go.
Thank you again for the great work, amazing programs and outstanding experiences for our son.
Mr. and Mrs. Glen Lomond
August 8th, 2006
To Elliott and Chris,
My name is Austin Chamney, and I have been attending courses at Real Programming for Kids since I was thirteen years old. I started off programming the original Donkey Kong game with the beginner language Visual Basic. By the time I reached 18 years of age, I had attended eight courses at RP4K and programmed in three different languages in ranging difficulties. All of these courses inspired me to go off on my own and create games on my own free time. In total, I have made over 15 games, and I am planning on making several more in the future.
Not only did RP4K inspire me to make games on my own, it also inspired me to pursue a career in computer game development. I am currently enrolled at Carleton University for their computer game development course. So far, I have completed my first semester at Carleton, and thanks to RP4K, I am acing several of my courses. The course COMP 1405 is a java programming course, and I found that I had already learned almost every topic that was taught during the class. I had learned everything I needed to know in the two java courses I attended at RP4K. Another course, COMP 1501, was very easy for me because 50% of the final grade was determined by a game that you have to make. Since I had so much experience making games at RP4K, I was able to make a game quickly, and I achieved a high grade as well.
Next semester at Carleton, I have two more courses in which I will benefit from my knowledge I received from RP4K. These courses are C++ programming, which is the language I took the most courses in, and the continuation of Java programming. Hopefully I will ace these courses as well, and the several other programming courses that are soon to come.
I can definitely say that Real Programming for Kids has been one of the most influential courses of my life. It inspired me to choose my entire career path in game development, and taught me many different skills that will help me be employable.
I hope to talk to both of you at some point in the future. I would like to be able to inspire other kids to enjoy game development as much as I do. If any positions are open as an RP4K teacher in any locations in Ottawa or closer to the Toronto area, I would be happy to work for you.
Sincerely, Austin Chamney
