How to Use Minecraft in Your Homeschool
As we explore different ways to learn and help our outside the box kids, making gaming part of school comes to mind. For students with Dysgraphia, the act of writing is a challenge so finding ways to share what they learn in ways other than the written word is vital. For Autistic students finding ways to motivate them with their interests is key to them wanting to participate. For both of these types of students, using Minecraft in our homeschool lessons is the answer!
We are a gaming and story loving family. Dad has always been a gamer and loves getting to share them with our kids. When he started playing MInecraft when it first came out he couldn’t wait to share it with the kids. Our oldest is only a few months older than the game itself!
What Makes Minecraft Good for Homeschooling?
Minecraft is what you call a “Sandbox” game. Just like the endless list of creative games kids come up with to play in the sandbox on the playground the same is how a player can play in Minecraft. There is an end of game monster, the Ender Dragon, you can work towards defeating. But the game doesn’t end with his defeat and you are not penalized if you never fight it.
Minecraft is a world building game where everything is cube shaped. The characters, the food, the clouds, the sun, everything! It has many of the same physics parameters of earth including gravity, weather and different biomes where specific creatures live. There are natural resources which you can mine and farm to help you live and survive.
There are two modes to Minecraft which allow you to play in two very different ways. Survival mode is what I have described so far. You have to find the resources you need within the game world and are limited by what is around you. Creative Mode gives you an endless supply of every resource at your fingertips so you can focus on creating whatever your imagination can think up. When you see pictures or videos of giant build projects or contraptions, it is likely done in creative mode.
The wide range of real world parallels in Minecraft allow for a variety of educational applications in both Survival and Creative Modes. Exploring the different biomes in Survival Mode can be a great lesson on the challenges and strengths of different real world biomes. Working together with friends to build a village from scratch can help students learn teamwork and perseverance as well as discuss planning and apply math concepts like area. Creative Mode is better suited for experimenting with physics and circuits using Redstone (which works like electrical connectors) or building a model from a literature or history assignment.
How Can Minecraft Replace Other Assignments?
The options really are endless for how to use Minecraft in your homeschool and over the years we have done a variety of activities across different subjects in the game. It’s a great way to add some variety to your homeschool or motivate your students on an otherwise less desirable subject.
History and Geography
Use Creative Mode and build a Minecraft village or icon based on a particular historical period or place. Have your child get library books and other resources to research the time and features and then include them in their Minecraft build. There are even educational mods that can provide this for your kids to explore.
Math and Economics
You can explore math concepts in minecraft by building structures with specific dimensions and measurements. You can also trade resources with NPCs (Non-Player Characters) as a way to grow your inventory of supplies and learn the value of different commodities. When playing with other people you can create a shop to sell resources and practice counting money.
Literature
Literature may be the easiest and our favorite way to include Minecraft in our homeschool. Instead of writing book reports or reflections on reading assignments, I ask my students to build a favorite scene in the game.
The first story they built in Minecraft they did on their own for fun. I was sad I didn’t think of it first. They enjoyed the book we were reading as a family so much, the kids decided on their own to recreate Charlotte’s Web in Minecraft. Dad and I were quite impressed when they showed us when they were done!
To encourage creative writing, encourage your child to write down the adventures they have as they play the game. For students who aren’t excited about reading, there are a variety of strategy guides and fiction books set in the game that could help encourage a love of reading.
Science
Minecraft can also be used to teach science. You can build experiments or simulations of scientific concepts including physics or life science. Redstone is a type of minecraft block that works a lot like electricity and lets you create circuits and automations. It can make survival a lot easier to automate specific tasks and also be useful for exploring physical science ideas. Using minecart tracks and redstone you can build a roller coaster to experiment with forces.
There are dozens of different real world biomes that can be seen in Minecraft and each has its own set of real world animals that can be found there. Desert, Forest, Snow, Jungle and Swamp are just a few that can be explored in a simulation to real life. Minecraft is intentional in what animals it adds to the game, with an interest in using its platform to raise awareness of creatures that are endangered. That’s why it included the Panda Bear, Dolphins, Bees and Axolotls. Let your student learn as they play or let their interactions with the creatures in Minecraft inspire offline research.
Using Creative Mode, you can also build models of anything as well, saving space in your house and the mess. A proportional model of the solar system would fit in an endless minecraft world and a working volcano with magma in Minecraft won’t make a mess in your kitchen like vinegar and baking soda.
Ways to Include Minecraft in Your homeschool Besides Playing the Game
While there are many ways to include the game Minecraft in your homeschool activities you can also use it as a jumping off point for other learning activities outside of the game. My dysgraphic student helped me create copywork pages for them to use for handwriting practice because handwriting is way more fun when you are writing about what you love. They wrote the trivia facts in both volumes of the Minecraft themed copywork in the shop!
We have learned about the behind the scenes of gaming as we have participated in the Minecraft live events when new features are released. Multiple times my students have helped decide what the new creatures, called Mobs in the game, by casting their vote alongside millions of fans worldwide. These activities make great jumping off points for discussions about civics and government and careers.
Another interest Minecraft has naturally inspired in my children is computer programming. My oldest chose to take a Java course to learn the programming language so they could code a Mod for the game later. After all, a programming mistake while designing the Pig creatures is what led to the iconic Creeper Mob. The programmer switched their X and Y coordinates creating a tall 4 legged creature instead of a long 4 legged creature.
Ideas for Managing Screetime and Free Play
Minecraft can be a great tool for learning, if used carefully and thoughtfully. Like all screen time, we do have family rules for free play screen time. At our house we want to help our kids learn, from an early age, how to use screens and technology as an important tool in their life, and that means helping them learn how to find the good in it and how to manage their time when they are playing for fun. We use it as a family activity to do together and something we can all share.
Our kids have a daily free play limit on screetime and they use their Time Timer to help them keep track of their time. If they don’t use it all they can bank it for another day. They have some bonus time they can use for using screetime with others as a social activity. Sometimes they game with a friend on laptops in the same room and other times they play virtually with real life friends while on video chat. We want them to learn the most important thing isn’t screens or no screens, but how they are being used and playing together on screens can be just as good as playing outside: in moderation, of course!