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Friday, September 9, 2016

Welcome Letter

Here's our welcome letter drafted by our office assistant Kate. She deals with our day to day administration and you will likely interact with Kate should you need assistance or have questions.




Thank you for joining PyCraft!

We hope you have a lot of fun here and learn a lot too!


Things To Remember:

This class is designed for beginners. You may hear words that you aren't familiar with, this is because they are specific to programming. You may feel a little intimidated at first with everything being so new. That is fine too. You will get use to working with code and in the server. It will just take a little time and a few lessons and practice to get comfortable.

Eventually everything will come together and fall into place. We are always here to help you.
You may have some coding experience and so the first lesson may be very easy for you...that is fine too.

The Server:

You have been added to the PyCraft server.

Remember the server is open 24/7.

Please use the PyCraft server to work on your scripts. You upload scripts via our website and they are reviewed and once approved placed on the server, this may take up to 24 hours but is normally much quicker. You are welcome to upload scripts throughout the month. How to upload scripts is covered in lesson 1. It will take a couple lessons before you are writing scripts regularly.

We also have another server that you are welcome to use if you'd like. This is a creative server and can be used when you want a break from the concentration of coding but still want to interact in Minecraft safely. There's no coding enabled on the creative server.

Both servers are whitelisted (private) and monitored.

Remember to use the PyCraft server to code and use the creative server when you want downtime and just play Minecraft. Coding won't work in the creative server and creative mode won't work in the PyCraft server.


IP address for the PyCraft coding server: ******************

IP address for the creative server: *********************
Lesson 1:

How to access the server is covered in lesson 1.


Here is the link for your first video lesson. "How to Get Started in PyCraft - Lesson 1."


(removed)

The password for video lesson 1 is: *************


You can watch this video as many times as you like and pause the video when you need to do so, it is self-paced. This video will be accessible for a year.

This video lesson is just over 10 minutes in length.

Once you've watched this lesson you will be ready to start work on your first script!
The first video is very basic and we start off slow. The curriculum is designed that way for a reason. We don't want to overwhelm you. Each lesson becomes more detailed and there will be more work for you to do.
The first script you will write is a positional script (shows your location in Minecraft). It is very simple and is to introduce you to coding. It may not seem simple to you now but it will a few lessons in.
Remember you can watch the video lesson as many times as you need/want.
Scripts To Get You Started:

To get you use to the server and executing scripts we list below some scripts that are available to you on the server. Students have written and shared these scripts. You are welcome to run and use them while you build up your own batch of scripts (this may take a few lessons to do).

To execute a script already written you would type in the chat/text bar:

/py wood (for wood)
/py melon (for melon)
/py wool (for wool)
/py horse (for a horse)
/py stone (for stone)

There are many more and so once you are on the server and you want to run scripts that have already been written please ask a mod or an instructor for more scripts.


Color Level Ranking:
As students become more knowledgeable and build their script folders we recognize their effort and achievement with a color ranking system:-
white - new students
yellow - level 1
orange - level 2
pink - level 2.5
purple - level 3
black - prefect
light red - moderator
blue - senior moderator
dark red - super moderator
green - instructor

Just For Fun:
We know students do like to battle it out and show off their abilities and so every Sunday we host PvP (player vs player) on the server. This is the only time PvP is allowed.
Future Lessons:

If you decide to stay for lesson 2 your next payment of $9.95 is due one month from today to receive lesson 2 and to have access to the server for the following month. If you want to buy lesson 2 before the month is up you're able to do so. Please contact us if you wish to do this.

Just an FYI; lesson 2 is over 20 minutes and lesson 3 is over 30 minutes... each lesson becomes more involved and challenging as the student's knowledge grows.
Contacting Us:

Parents and students: should you have any questions/queries/concerns PLEASE email us so we can help!
Our email is: support@homeschoolhackers.org
If you have questions arising from a lesson or if you have a curriculum question please email us at: support@homeschoolhackers.org and in the subject line write" instructor" that way we can filter your message to an instructor quickly.
We will try our best to get back to you within a few hours.

Let us know if you have any questions. :-)

Kate
Support Team

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