Clik here to view.
Want to write a guest post on Classcraft or another topic in education? Contact stephanie@classcraft.com.
Guest post contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Oguz Guvenc
As my second son is getting close to the age of 2 now, I have started to appreciate even more how unique every child’s personality is. Yet, there is something that remains the same across all kids: curiosity. That single element both makes them such a joy to have around and also very challenging to deal with. Because as long as you are in “play mode” with them, everything is fine. But it is hard for a parent to be in play mode all the time.
My 5-year-old son has always been a little extra inquisitive. If he has something to satisfy his huge imagination, he is the sweetest kid. If not, he is going to transform the house into a very interesting place to be in … for him.
One thing that he has not been very interested in is when I am planning lessons at home. But one day, he caught sight of Classcraft on my screen when I was adjusting it for one of my classes, and suddenly he was hooked. He started asking me questions about classes, how the game worked, and he fired off question after question. And it went on for days. He tried to catch me using Classcraft and would watch me for long durations.
When the summer break began, I decided to use his huge interest and start a new class in Classcraft named “Homecraft.” We made a character for him, one for his little brother, one for my wife, and one for me. We also customized all powers and consequences to suit his interest and our expectations from him. We played all through summer, and the results were remarkable. He was able to complete the tasks we expected from him more easily, and he had the satisfaction of achieving his privileges himself in a fun way.
Here are a few things that worked for us that you may like to consider if you want to start your own “Homecraft” adventure:
K.I.S. – Keep It Simple
Classcraft is designed for classrooms where kids know at least how to read and write and to count to several digit numbers. If you are playing with a younger kid, try to make everything age-appropriate. We lowered all the numbers into the range that he recognized: 30 Experience Points (XP) to level up (that was the highest number he could count to), 1-5 XP for doing different tasks, and small numbers for Health Point (HP) loss for negative behavior.
Tailor to you and your child’s unique needs
Classcraft works best if you can identify together with your child which best “privileges” that they want to be granted. What do they keep asking for that you are not willing to give away very often? Desserts? Fifteen minutes of video game time? Going to bed 15 minutes late? Prioritize those, and add them to the list of powers your child may choose from. For instance, we changed the Mage skill “Time Warp” to let our son go back in time after a misbehavior (and after losing HP) and re-act the same scenario this time with the “better choice” so he could receive his HP back.
Adjust the XP and HP presets to tailor the behavior you want to see. Create XP presets for the behavior that you want to see more often. Since we were trying Homecraft during summer, I had presets for completing his daily summer homework, brushing his teeth, going to sleep on time … all the things that we identified to be hard-to-accomplish habits for him.
For the actions you want to discourage assign HP presets. What does your child do that makes you mad? Not putting away their clothes after changing? Being rough with the little brother? Not using inside voices? Make a list of those, then prioritize and add them into your list of HP loss presets.
Add the age-appropriate flavor
Classcraft involves characters with swords, magic, and implied fighting. Depending on how young your child is, it is the parent’s own touch that turns these concepts into acceptable age-appropriate boundaries.
Try to tailor a story that will fit everything into a context your child is comfortable accepting. The concept of a character dying can be a sensitive issue for younger kids, so I preferred saying that when their HP was depleted, the characters “fell in battle” and then came back when they received medical help. You know your child the best, so you can adjust the game in the best possible way for their needs.
Keep it consistent
Make sure that the game is constantly “on” at your house. Long breaks from the game for a day or more can negate the gains. If there is something that you award or provide consequences for, make sure that you do it every time. We kept Classcraft up in our browser all the time and used the phone app when we were outside.
Story is the key
We created our own background story for our own Classcraft adventure and used the game interface to facilitate that process. Make the characters come alive by inventing what kind of world they are living in, what their great goal is, and make sure there is a tone and a purpose to the story. That drives all the other benefits of the game and lets you maximize the gain from it.
Consequences in a game becomes adventure
Something I realized with both my home and class use of Classcraft is how students can become eager to follow up with the consequences of falling in battle if they bought into the story. Whatever consequences you decide to be suitable with your kids, they are much more eager to follow through if you can fit those events into the story background.
For example, one consequence that we used was a five-minute time-out, and we associated that with the hero being captured by the monsters. He would break out after his five minutes was over. He had no issues during that five minutes sitting quietly because it was a part of the story.
“Homecraft” has a great potential to help with your management as a parent. Always remember that it is a great tool that can supplement great and caring parenting and cannot replace it, and you will have a blast with your kids.
Oguz Guvenc teaches physics, engineering, and astronomy at Sonoran Science Academy at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. He is father of two great sons, Okan (5) and Alper (2).
Photo credit: Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock.com