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zwm's comments

zwm | 5 years ago | on: Minecraft vs. Roblox (2020)

I can't advocate for Roblox because of their lack of moderation on excessive pornography posters hidden in many of the maps. This was a couple of years ago, so maybe things have changed. Roblox wins in freedom to build anything you can imagine versus Minecraft's limited blocky, lego-like (retro) builds. There's a trade off.

Personally, Minecraft's command blocks and server commands helped my child feel at home with java programming. I never forced or talked about programming until he started asking me questions about programming mods to extend his game plays after he outgrew the command blocks and / commands.

zwm | 5 years ago | on: Ask HN: Please share your experience teaching your kids to program

7: minecraft taught basic logic with red stone. 8: tinkered with available tools to hack eg. lego games. 9: godot programming via youtube video series. 10: ??? will see.

If a kid is bored, they'll think anything is fun. Key is to have a video game schedule; before that, "technology" is off limits. But the loophole is to allow access to certain apps (blender, godot, krita, puzzles, etc) before tech schedule if it doesn't conflict with daily responsibilities such as homework. None of these were forced but encouraged indirectly. Again, if a kid doesn't get hook on instant gratification with passive consumption of entertainment, the change is big your child will turn to exploration when bored...programming might be the natural direction given light encouragement.

zwm | 5 years ago | on: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?

Young couple here with a 9yo living in a 900sqft apt. Both of us were fortunate enough to scrape by with above poverty income and government sponsored medical insurance while working from home. What have worked is... (1) 60 mins walk morning and evening, (2) 3 x 180 mins outdoor activity per week, (3) 3-5 x 60 mins tech tickets to be rewarded throughout the day for responsibilities and ability to reset emotions after an outburst; first ticket given in morning for just waking up on time and folding blankets, etc, (4) encourage hobbies such as coding, drawing, guitar, blender which keeps child occupied for a couple 1-2 hr and allow us to build our online business, (5) child diagnose w/ ocd, adhd, and likely mild autism, so we are always on our toes but the strict yet flexible schedule allow us to work with our child's personality, (6) sunday kid day! I think what helps the most is my child can combine hobby time + tech ticket to give me a few hours of uninterrupted time each day. I also try not to feel like the child is neglected and as a parent, I want to spend enough quality time with my child without regret. It's an uphill battle still after 2 years of home school. The toughest part is getting time to spend with your spouse but unlike us, you might be able ease things with family support.
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