This post has been sponsored by iD Tech, the opinions expressed are my own.
This school year has been anything but ordinary. Many of our spring and summer plans have been put on hold with the current state of affairs. While I am embracing slowing down, my kids are missing the interaction with their friends and other kids their age. When iD Tech approached me about their virtual camps, I was a little skeptical at first. That is because we did one of their incredible onsite camp sessions last year and I thought she would miss the in-person experience. I was wrong; she loved the Minecraft World Designer virtual camp! iD Tech is the world’s #1 STEM summer program for ages 7-17 offering a variety of courses.
Confidence
Even though my eight-year-old daughter has given presentations on Google slides and iMovie since she was in the first grade, she lacked confidence when it came to tasks she was not familiar with on the computer. She went into her virtual camp without ever playing Minecraft and was nervous speaking up on Zoom calls. By the second day of camp, I noticed how quickly she was able to catch on to designing a Minecraft world. She was also more confident on the computer and in her class sessions. She felt comfortable asking and answering questions, something she was hesitant to do in the past. Her increased confidence is credited to learning something new and her teacher and classmates cheering her on along the way.
Interactive
The interactive piece was what I was most concerned with when signing her up for a virtual camp. However, as I mentioned above, her teacher and classmates helped make this an incredibly interactive experience. They started off each day with a game (Pictionary-style or a rhyming game) that helped break the ice. The students then shared what they had worked on during independent time. I loved hearing how complementary they all were to each other’s builds. Then they would spend time learning new skills together.
iD Tech caters to all skill levels; in my daughter’s class she has an advanced Minecraft student, an intermediate student and a beginner like herself. The varied skill levels work because class sizes are limited to a maximum number of five children per camp class. Having a five-to-one ratio allows for individualized attention. The teacher was able to help the students one-by-one with ease regardless of the child’s Minecraft design skills. There are private lessons also available for those who would like to work on specific themes.
Additional Help
As we are distance learning, I see areas where my kids can benefit from a bigger challenge or other areas where they need more help. Every summer I try to fight the ‘summer slide’ (the slide backwards that many children make in reading and math skills over the summer) by mixing in educational learning with summer fun. The virtual camps at iD Tech allow us to maintain a schedule which helps me as a working mom. The weeklong courses include 2 hours of live teaching daily and 2 hours independent work. You can learn more about the variety of virtual camps and
courses at iD Tech (dedicated to skills such as 3D printing, game development with Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox) here. Use the code TREEHOUSE125 for $125 off the camp session
With love,
Shahla
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