Game Dev Academy
A coding elective
for homeschoolers
Self-paced game design for ages 6 to 16, with a certified mentor who answers by text and video. Nothing to build your week around.
- Class timesNone
- Time zoneYours
- CancelAny time
Leveled projects in Scratch · a certificate at every level · Minecraft Mod Worlds included
What the Academy actually is
Your child opens it when the day allows, works until they are done, and picks it up again whenever that is. Every project is leveled, so there is always a clear next step and never a blank page.
A STEM-certified, background-checked mentor answers by text and video message, and sends them a message every week whether or not they ask. For ages 6 to 16, complete beginners included.
Nothing expires in June and nothing has to restart in September.
Why homeschooling families pick it
- No class time. The one thing you have deliberately arranged your life without
- It fits a school year. Use it as your technology strand, one or two sessions a week
- Evidence for a portfolio review. A certificate at every level and a dated record of finished work
- It works for more than one child. Siblings work side by side at different levels
- Minecraft Mod Worlds. Their own world to mod with real code, included
1,000+
children code with us
The Academy runs on the same leveled projects and the same mentors as our live clubs, which is where most of those children are. Your child gets the curriculum and the mentor without the fixed hour.
Every child needs their own membership, because the mentor relationship and the progress record are per child.
Cancel any time • see what it costs
What your child actually gets
Not a video library they will abandon in week three.
Leveled projects, not a playlist
Each level is a real step rather than a longer list of the same thing, and finishes with a certificate.
- Scratch, built up from first blocks to working games
- A new featured game every week, so something always arrives
- Seasonal Game Jams, where everyone plays what everyone else made
A mentor, not a chatbot
Your child sends a screenshot of the thing that will not work and gets a video back showing them why.
- Answers by text and video message, not a forum queue
- A message from their mentor every week, whether or not they ask
- The same person over time, who learns how your child works
Minecraft, with real code in it
Their own world to mod. For a lot of kids this is the part that turns coding from a subject into a hobby.
- Mod Worlds included at every level
- The special interest is the point, not a distraction
- Going back a level is as ordinary as going forward
Using it as an elective
Homeschooling parents ask this early, so here is the straight version.
What there is to show
- A certificate at every level, from our own STEM-certified award program
- Leveled steps, Hacker, Modder and on, so progress has a shape you can describe
- A dated record of every project your child has finished
- The games themselves. Your child can open one and walk a reviewer through how they built it, which usually lands better than a worksheet
What the certificates are
They are our award program, and they are STEM certified. Each level your child completes earns one, and they are a genuine record of what that child can do.
They are not an accredited qualification and no credit is issued, and we are never going to dress them up as one. Requirements differ from state to state, and yours are the ones that decide what counts.
Good for: showing progress, evidencing the technology you are doing, and giving your child something to be pleased about at the end of a level.
Time zones, and where we are
We are a British company and our mentors are in the UK. The good part: self-paced is the one format where that makes no difference at all, so your child works on Pacific or Eastern time exactly the same way ours do.
The honest part: a mentor reply usually comes back within a day rather than within the hour, because somebody is asleep. A child who wants an answer this second is better served by a live class from a US provider.
Built for autistic, ADHD and twice-exceptional kids
A large share of our families are homeschooling because a classroom stopped working. More than a third of our members are neurodivergent, which is what parents have told us, and every mentor is trained in supporting neurodivergent children.
The demand is deliberately low. Nothing is due, nothing has to be spoken aloud, and going back a level is as ordinary as going forward. A child who wants to spend four months on Minecraft is not redirected.
We hold the Autism Inclusion Award from the National Autistic Society, Britain’s largest autism charity, given in 2025 for how our sessions support autistic members.
Start the Game Dev Academy
Join The Academy
only $40.00 per month
Our members rate us 'Excellent'!
FAQ
No, and we would rather say so than have you find out later. It is not accredited, no credit is issued, and no transcript comes out of the other end. It is a self-paced technology elective: leveled projects in Scratch, a certificate at the end of each level, and a mentor answering questions. Requirements differ from state to state, and yours are the ones that decide what counts.
A dated record of every project your child has finished, a certificate for each level completed, and the games themselves, which your child can open and walk a reviewer through. For most portfolio reviews a project a child can explain is worth more than a worksheet, and this produces a run of them across the year.
As much or as little as the week allows, which is the point of self-paced. Families typically use one or two sessions a week as their technology strand for the year. There is no class to be late for, nothing is due, and a week off has no consequence at all.
Six to sixteen. Siblings can work side by side at different levels, though each child needs their own membership because the mentor relationship and the progress record are per child.
There is no free trial session, because there is no session to sit in on. What there is instead is a month, and nothing that makes it awkward to stop at the end of it. You can cancel any time. See what it costs.
Two ways, and one of them is good. Self-paced is the one format where a time difference makes no difference at all, so your child works on Pacific or Eastern time exactly the way ours do. The honest half: our mentors are in the UK, so a reply usually comes back within a day rather than within the hour. A child who wants an answer this second is better served by a live class from a US provider.
Often, yes. More than a third of our members are neurodivergent, which is what parents have told us rather than a number we counted ourselves. The demand is deliberately low: nothing is due, nothing has to be spoken aloud, and going back a level is as ordinary as going forward. Special interests are the point rather than a distraction, so a child who wants to spend four months on Minecraft is not redirected. We hold the Autism Inclusion Award from the National Autistic Society, Britain's largest autism charity.
