Are y'all ready for another awesome review? Well, I have a really fun one for y'all today! STEM activities are not only beneficial and educational, but they are also a lot of fun. However, trying to incorporate them into your regular homeschool schedule is another story. That takes a lot of research and it is time-consuming. That is all we homeschooling moms need is another time-consuming task to add to our never-empty plate, right? NOT! The reality is we would like to add them in as seamlessly as possible. Our family was given the opportunity to use and review the STEM Activities, Full Year of Challenges with Close Reading from Tied 2 Teaching. They have taken the guesswork out of putting together STEM projects and even included Language Arts into it. Go grab your coffee or tea and join me so I can tell you all about this awesome resource!
What is Tied 2 Teaching
Tied 2 Teaching was founded by a homeschooling dad, who has been teaching for over 7 years. He has taught multiple subjects for grades 4 -8. He is very passionate about finding ways to integrate math, science, and literacy instruction.
What is S.T.E.M
Just in case you are wondering what STEM even means. I'm not ashamed to say that I had never heard of STEM before homeschooling. STEM is the acronym for Science Technology Engineering And Math. These are four components that make up a big portion of our lifestyle.What we Received
We received a pdf download of The STEM Activities, Full Year of Challenges with Close Reading. The set came with more than 60 challenge activities. There are 4 challenges per month and some bonus challenges. Each challenge includes a STEM activity, most have a theme to go along with holidays or events within that month, and questions that correspond with the assigned reading passage.
I saved the download to my google docs for easy access. I will highly advise you do this as well!
Included in the bundle are the following STEM challenges.
BONUS Building Block Challenge MEGA PACK
Pilgrim Shelter Challenge
BUILDING BLOCK CHALLENGES
ADDITIONAL STEM CHALLENGES
How we Used it
We used these as a fun opportunity to escape the '"typical" day to day schoolwork yet still incorporate learning. I even added some into our morning basket, in which I have a couple of videos on. So, we used these in several different ways in our home.
There was one project that my sons did one night with my husband.
They had to build a Lego Superhero. This was right up their alley! Legos and superheroes! I printed off the passage they read it, answered their questions and mapped out how they would build him.
They explained how each one of the aspects that make up STEM was used and they had a great time doing it.
There was one project that my sons did one night with my husband.
They had to build a Lego Superhero. This was right up their alley! Legos and superheroes! I printed off the passage they read it, answered their questions and mapped out how they would build him.
They explained how each one of the aspects that make up STEM was used and they had a great time doing it.
There was another one that my daughters worked on and they did it completely on their own. We were sitting around the house one weekend and they asked if I had anything fun they could do. This project was in observance of Valentine's Day, so they had to create a love bug. They went through the same steps as the boys.
Their little love bugs were so cute!
They even created a habitat for them.
Their little love bugs were so cute!
They even created a habitat for them.
This was a great way for them to practice teamwork! I printed out the material and they had to create and do the worksheets on their own. Great team building project!
There are projects for every season. A really fun one for the summer is the airplane kit. All of my kids love to fly kites and throw paper airplanes. We recently bought a new home so they have already asked, who am I kidding, begged to do the upcycle bird feeder challenge.
Our Final Thoughts
Overall we have enjoyed all of the projects we have done so far. My kids didn't even complain about the reading comprehension activities. In my opinion, this can be used with children 5-years of age or older. Of course, you will have to modify it a bit to fit your child's needs. That is one of the many things I like about these challenges they can be easily adjusted to fit your family. It was originally designed as a group project but can be done just as successful if an individual did it his or herself. We are a homeschooling family as you already know, however, these can be used in a school setting or co-op as well. These projects/challenges are versatile and fun for the entire family.
Click the banner below to take a look into what projects other families of the Review Crew enjoyed.
Connect with Tied 2 Teaching on Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tied2teaching/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/tied2teaching/
I hope you guys try one for yourself and don't be afraid to let me know how you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading I hope you have a great day.
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