I taught in person before moving fully online, so here is a straight comparison — including where online is worse.
Where online wins
- No travel. Two hours in traffic is two more lessons' worth of time.
- Replayable. A child who falls behind rewatches without the embarrassment of asking.
- They learn on the machine they actually own, so nothing "works at the centre but not at home".
- Considerably cheaper, with no premises to rent.
Where online genuinely loses
- Children who need constant prompting drift. There is no room full of peers pulling them along.
- Parents must help set the routine early on, especially under ten.
- No friend sitting beside them — for some children that is the whole motivation.
Five questions that decide it
- Has your child ever finished a tutorial video alone? If yes, online suits them.
- Is there a quiet corner at home? If not, a centre genuinely helps concentration.
- How long is the round trip? Over an hour deserves hard thought.
- Will they ask when confused? Shy children often ask more freely one-to-one than in a group.
- What is the monthly budget? Online is typically two to three times cheaper for the same content.
What works best in my experience
For most children I recommend a mix: video lessons for the core material, plus one-to-one live sessions when they get stuck.
Foundations can be absorbed at their own pace; the sticking points are personal and need someone looking at their code, which group teaching struggles to provide.
In a class of ten, a teacher gets a few minutes on each child's code. An hour one-to-one is better value than it first appears.
Ask any school these three things
- What happens if my child falls behind?
- How many things will they build themselves during the course?
- May I see real work from previous students?
The last is the most revealing and the easiest to check. Ours is all public at the student work page — every piece playable without signing up.
