Make Homeschool Fun with Skrafty Minecraft Classes and Server
Minecraft for Homework?!
The beauty of homeschooling is we can find ways to include our children’s passions in our learning. That means finding ways to include even their computer games in school. All 3 of my kids live and breathe Minecraft. It’s an open-ended computer game that in many ways works like virtual LEGOs. To build things, you can choose to have all materials infinitely accessible (creative mode) or you can choose to acquire the materials for yourself as if you were lost in the woods (survival mode). The open-ended nature of this game in particular lends itself easily to educational projects. Another component of the game allows you to play with other players connected to the same server. You can play or build things cooperatively with people located elsewhere in the world.
At our first homeschool convention, we met Skrafty and saw a vision of what we could do with Minecraft for school. Skrafty runs a virtual homeschool co-op with 2 parts. For free you can play in a protected space with moderated chat filters and parent moderators. For a small fee, you can also sign up to take classes that incorporate Minecraft into core subjects. You can find a full course load of classes within the Skrafty platform both self-paced as well as live.
This year we have used Skrafty Minecraft in our Language Arts work for my 2nd and 3rd graders.
Minecraft and Reading
This year one child built the stories they were reading. We discovered they were doing it after a couple of different family read-alouds, and later we changed out their comprehension questions for Minecraft builds, for a change of pace. Last summer’s read-aloud was Watership Down and they built the warren and had blocks to represent the different characters. After reading Charlotte’s Web as a family, they built the farm and barn with all the animals from the story. This spring we changed up their reading comprehension questions and had him build the stories instead of answering questions. I asked them each day what they were adding to their build from that day’s reading. They loved it!
Skrafty Minecraft and Writing
Another child loves to write. They will often sit at the computer and type out a creative story that is going in their head. They prefer to type out their story because it’s faster for them. Chatting with other players during role-playing games on Skrafty motivated them to learn to type and build their speed. Now they can type as fast as me already!
This year we added an IEW-themed writing class from Skrafty to their homeschool plan. Each week they sit for a live lecture in a virtual classroom with their teacher and classmates, and then complete a written assignment and submit it to the teacher using Google Docs. There is also an optional Minecraft project that goes along with the subject the class is writing about. The build can be used to motivate a student to do their writing and complement the topic of the week’s writing assignment, although my student chose not to do the builds: they just love to write! They like having classmates and seeing a teacher each week. I enjoyed that I could delegate one subject and watched her independence grow.
More about Skrafty
As we plan next year we will be using more of the Skrafty Minecraft classes in our plan. We are planning to include more IEW writing, grammar, Spanish, Literature, and maybe History and Science for next year. There are so many class options, that it is possible to have a full course load from Skrafty’s offerings. Our favorite membership level is the EDU subscription with Rank Up which gives you unlimited access to all self-paced classes, huge discounts on the Live classes, and extra in-game perks.
Live and self-paced classes are available at Skrafty so it’s a great time to check it out and join us.
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