Teaching kids programming and robotics

[tomx]

I have been a software engineer for more than 12 years. I love programming and I found LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT (bought one for my 9 year old) is a great way to teach kids how to program. I am thinking to start a business to teach kinds programming and robotics in my spare time (e.g. weekends at the beginning). Not sure if there is demand and how much money I can make, but like to see what you guys think about this idea. Any input is welcome!

Tom

[Steve B]

My kid (age 12) was on the school's robotics team for a couple years (using the Lego system). One year they had a teacher that was helpful, the next year their teacher didn't know how to do anything and the kids had to learn it on their own. They went to the state competition each year.

I really don't know who would hire you however. These are public schools that wouldn't have the money and just got one of the teachers to be a sponsor of the group. Maybe some of the private schools would, or you could offer it to kids that are home schooled.

[Nomad]

My oldest son (14) loves to program at RoadBlox. I think there are a lot of kids interested, just like my friends and I were way back in the mid-80's. However, our high school offers programming (JAVA, C+, etc) and our local community college offers programming courses in the summer for kids as young as 9. Not sure what your competitive edge would be, but I think there is a definite interest. There will ALWAYS be budding techies out there! Good luck.

[vangogh]

I was thinking the same. I do think there would be an interest in what you're doing, but the money making aspects might be more difficult given this is stuff kids are learning in school. Maybe your first step could be to check with different schools in your are and see what they are and more importantly aren't teaching. Maybe your idea would work better as a business if you teach more advanced programming and robotics than what the schools teach. It would likely mean less of a demand, but I can see where parents would be willing to pay given what you're teaching could be very valuable financially in the lives of their children.

If you can talk to teachers at your kids schools and some others in the area it might help generate some ideas on how you can tweak your idea to make it a viable business. I suppose you could also start with a single class you teach over a few weekends. Worst case scenario is you'd give up some time over a few weekends to help a few kids learn something. Not bad for a worst case scenario and something get the feeling you'd enjoy doing.

[tomx]

Thank you guys for the input! I will definitely check the schools around to see if they already provide this kind of classes or not.

Tom

[vangogh]

Assuming the site you linked to is doing well I'd say they prove your idea can work and I don't see any reason to doubt they're doing well. Where are you located? Would you be in competition with this school? If not you can probably talk to them and use their setup as a model to get started on yours. If you would be in competition with them you can learn what you can from them and add some things they may not be covering.

Good to know at least that your idea can work.