Happy Friday! Hopefully I will get online this morning, because I will be out in the afternoon, getting a kidney CT. I’m hoping this is the one that gets the cyst taken out, that appointment is next month, to see the Urologist again. I know my labs have been off, I’m going to go to the library and print out the ones from my last hospital visit, so I can take them with me. I’ve been having a LOT more seizures the past month, month and a half as well, and that often means that something in my body is off. Keep your fingers crossed that it finally gets taken care of instead of another “wait and see”.
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be
added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
Monday Youffraita
Tuesday: bigjacbigjacbigjac
Wednesday Pam from Calif
Thursday art ah zen
Friday FloridaSNMOM
Saturday FloridaSNDad
Sunday loggersbrat
Roblox and Minecraft are two different creative and social games that have been in existence for a few decades. One way to think of them are those library/bookstore Lego or Brio tables where kids can create things and play together, only virtual, and better. For one, you can save your work, and it’s harder (but not impossible) for others to just knock your stuff over. For two, you get to play either solo or with a chosen group, or with others from all over the world.
Roblox includes user made games, and an engine to make them that kids can use by themselves, it also includes educational games. You can also make movies or interact in the wider world with others. Minecraft includes mobs to kill (like skeletons and creepers), special elements you can find and mine, and educational modules. You can have your own servers, which allow only people you allow in, and the educational Minecraft can be limited to schools, etc.
If your kids or grandkids are really into Roblox or Minecraft, I suggest getting a book about them as a starting place, if you don’t want to jump in and try playing yourself. I can’t play Minecraft or Roblox because they give me vertigo. So when my kids were playing a lot of Minecraft when they were younger, I got a few Minecraft books (chapter books or novels in this case), and read them. This gave me an understanding of how the games work, the mobs involved, and some of the language of the game and let me communicate with my kids better about the game. You can also watch videos or lets plays on Youtube about the game. Or watch a video like these:
Gen Alpha, the younger ones who haven’t been able to go to protests or respond really to what’s going on, despite some of their peers being the ones picked up and deported, have found a way to voice their opinions, even if mostly among themselves.
What is Roblox?
Here’s a Roblox video made a few months ago:
My Gen Z and Zennial kids poo-poo Roblox, and always have, but they had their own online building communities in the past, including Minecraft. And protested and created this way when they were kids. Some still are creating and playing together this way.
There are even Minecraft education modules. I know many homeschoolers who have taught this way, both through ‘Official’ education modules like this, and having classes and learning things as they build copies of memorials, parks, and historic buildings.
Now there’s a Minecraft movie coming:
This is another way we can reach out and involve kids, and teach kids about things that the government is pulling out of schools. But first, we have to learn to play, and be willing to plunge into their world.
