Famous Inventors: A Techie Homeschool Mom Review

Since the internet and Youtube came on the scene, the possibilities in education have exploded.  When my son asks me about the difference between wasps and bees, I don't have to know for sure because I can just look up a description of both on the internet. Easy!  Online resources are such a huge part of our every day learning now that as parents and teachers, we must be willing and able to navigate them effectively.  My educational approach certainly features more offline work, but utilizing studies like this one are what you need to harmonize the two methods.  Today we are reviewing the Famous Inventors Online Unit Study from Techie Homeschool Mom where we learned about all different kinds of inventors and their inventions, while trying our hand at making our own.  

What We Received:
We received unlimited access (across any/all devices) to Techie Homeschool Mom's Famous Inventors Online Unit Study.  It is recommended for mid-elementary to middle school aged children that can read and navigate the internet, but younger students can participate with assistance.  As the title suggests, this study is all online and was built on the platform Teachable.  I have taken other courses on Teachable so the format was familiar with the self-paced approach.  Each slide and section is accessible at any time - much like a power point file, but it does allow you to track when you have completed a section and tracks a completion percentage.  It is super easy to use and stay organized within each study.  The study contains 10 sections, each section covering a single inventor.  Within each section, you will find text, videos, sometimes quizzes and various links that facilitate an exploration of the life and inventions of each inventor.  At the end of each section is a project for the kids to complete that relates to a particular inventor.  The inventors, along with the recommended project in this study covers include:

• Archimedes - Archimedes' Screw
• Galileo - Telescope
• Leonardo da Vinci - Parachute
• Alexander Graham Bell - Cup and String Phone
• James Watt - Model Steam Engine
• Charles Babbage - Binary Coding
• Nikola Tesla - Drawing Power Poles
• Johannes Gutenberg - Desktop Printing Press
• Wright Brothers - Paper Airplanes
• Steve Job - Computer Dissection 

How We Used It:

My son (8) and daughter (5) almost always want to see or try out whatever resource the other one is using so I had them both sit down and watch the videos together.  The quizzes were straightforward enough that they could do them together. The kids really enjoyed recognizing the first few inventors from other books and things they have learned other places.  We usually waited to do the projects until Mr. Butler got home because #1 he's really good at that kind of thing and #2 he loves that part of homeschooling!  

Project: Build a Telescope

Project: Computer Disection

What We Thought:

Everything was well-organized and easy to use.  The supplies and instructions for the projects were clear.  My kids LOVE doing projects with dad so they had a great time.  From an educational and lesson planning perspective, just knowing that Techie Homeschool Mom exists opens up some great options for the future.  We are always looking for a simpler way to introduce our students to content without it requiring even more work on the parents part.  While there is heavy involvement on the projects (namely because of my kids' young ages), everything else can be very hands-off.  Since a lot of the curriculum  and resources that we use require plenty of parent/teacher guidance, it is nice to supplement with a unit study like this where most of the preparation is already done.

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We loved this program and could see all of Techie Homeschool Mom's studies being a great resource when planning your curriculum.  Click below and read what other families had to say about some of the other unit studies!