To log into Home Base, you must have a Scholastic Kids account. 

When you first open Home Base on your preferred platform, click the “Play” button and you will be prompted to create a Scholastic Kids account or sign in using your existing Scholastic Kids username and password.

For the browser version of Home Base:

1. Open the Home Base game page

2. Tap on "Play" in the main menu

3. Tap on "Register"

4. Pick your username

5. Enter in an email address, and set up a password

6. Tap "Register User" and you're all set!

For the Mobile and PC/Mac Downloadable versions of Home Base:

1. Download the Home Base app from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or from the Home Base website for your computer

2. Open the Home Base app when it's finished downloading

3. Tap on "Play" in the main menu

4. Tap on "Register"

5. Pick your username

6. Enter in an email address, and set up a password

7. Tap "Register User" and you're all set!

To recover your username or password, click on the “Forgot Password” link on the Sign In page. You will then be directed to enter the email address you used to register for the site. An email will be sent to you with your account information.

Please email [email protected] if you did not receive your reset password email.

Tips on keeping your account info safe:

• When making password, choose words that are hard to guess (but that you'll remember!)

   

• Use a combination of capital letters and numbers

   

• Don't tell your password to anyone

If your account is banned, you won't be able to log into your account and play Home Base. You are prevented from accessing the entire game, including the Newsfeed.

A guest account is not able to access the community features available in Home Base.

These community features include:

• Meeting other players

• Using the Newsfeed: viewing and creating posts including discussions, comics, polls, and more

• Participating in multiplayer map games

• In addition, guest accounts do not transfer game progress between devices.

We take the safety of our community incredibly seriously. These are the safety measures we have here:

• Chat Filter: All messages in the chat run through our strict chat filter, which blocks inappropriate and rule-breaking messages. We continuously update the filter to stay up-to-date with current slang or subversions. While all chats run through the filter, it is always possible for something that is offensive to a player to slip through. We do our best to limit this possibility.

   

•  24/7 Human Moderation: We have a team of trained human moderators who watch the chat and approve/reject posts in the Newsfeed. In the case of a player being mean or acting not in the spirit of the community, they will step in and warn or mute a player.

   

• Reporting: Players are empowered to report content or players they believe have broken a community rule. Reports are sent to moderators, who investigate and will decide whether or not to act by deleting the reported content or warning/muting the reported player. 

• Banning: A player can have their account banned which prevents them from logging in with that account and playing Home Base. This is the last resort when a player repeatedly ignores moderators and the community rules.

Mod stands for “moderator” and they are the folks keeping Home Base a safe environment. When a player tries to break the rules or acts inappropriately, they’ll warn and potentially mute the player.

Admins design the game, and spend time in Home Base to play and chat with players so we can learn how to make the game even better. They also run events from time to time. Please listen to and respect the mods and admins - we’re here to keep the game fun and safe!

All mods and admins are adults who work for Scholastic. Their usernames will always have “mod” or “admin” in it so that you know who they are. Mods and admins hang out in the chat sometimes - even though we’re responsible for the rules, we don’t bite, we swear! We’re nice and are available to answer questions, play games, and introduce you to the world of Home Base.

If you see a post that made it through to the Newsfeed that you think shouldn’t have, you can report it by selecting the ‘REPORT’ button in that post.

Moderators will check the reports and look more closely at the context of the post to make a decision on whether it should be removed or not.

If you would prefer not to have access to the chat, you can simply turn the chat off in our Settings menu found on the Home Base main menu in the bottom lefthand corner. The account then won’t see the chat or be able to chat.

While we have a lot of ways we can keep you safe in Home Base, there are a few steps you can take yourself as players in an online game.

• Be careful with personal information: You shouldn’t share information that could tell someone where you are or how to find you in real life. If someone pressures you for information you aren't comfortable sharing, tell them you can't share that. If they keep asking, tell a moderator what happened.

   

• Don’t be afraid to let a parent, mod, or other trusted adult know if another player makes you feel uncomfortable or acts inappropriately. 

   

• Never share your password!

The key community rules are:

• Use appropriate language: no swearing, excessively violent speech, sexual speech, hate speech, etc.

• Be kind: Treat others as they want to be treated, be supportive and welcoming.

• Be safe: Don't share personal information or links/usernames from other games or sites. You can always turn off the chat if you don't feel comfortable with it!

• Be nice to the mods: They have a tough job! You might be annoyed if you get muted or if they don't respond right away, but remember they are humans and trying their best to keep the community safe.

You can find a more detailed explanation for each key rule in the Home Base app by clicking "Community Rules" on the Main Menu.

The chat has an automated filter that will block certain words that break the rules or that it doesn’t understand. Things like spelling mistakes and unusual vocabulary are often filtered even if they don’t break a rule. We constantly update the filter to better understand the way our community speaks.

If something you’ve said was filtered, please don’t attempt to get around it with tricks or subversions. Repeated attempts of that will result in a warning from our mods or being muted.

All submissions to the Newsfeed are checked by human moderation before being posted. It may take some time for your post to be approved, especially during peak hours. If your post is not approved, it likely did not follow our community rules.

The most common reasons we see for a post being rejected are: personal information such as your birthday or full name, and overly explicit violence in your stories. Please read through the rules and if you still have questions you can ask us for more details.

If you are experiencing technical difficulties, please email [email protected] and include information about the issues you faced, including the details about the device that you are using to play Home Base.

If you do not receive your reset password email, please contact us at [email protected].

Everytime we release a new update for Home Base, you’ll need to update your app. On phones and tablets, this can happen automatically depending on your device settings. Here’s what to do when you see this update pop-up:

1. On your phone or tablet, click “update” on the pop-up and you’ll be taken to the App or Play store where you can update the app.

    

2. On your computer, click “update” on the pop up and a new tab will open in your web browser with the Home Base download page. Download the latest version using either the PC or Mac download depending on your computer.

If your screen turns black after traveling to an island, refresh the page or close/reopen the app. This is a bug we know about and are working hard to fix, we’re sorry for the annoyance!

Sometimes you will get an error while using the browser-based version of Home Base, usually this happens while browsing the Newsfeed. When this happens try refreshing the page and the error should go away.

If you have any feedback or suggestions for Home Base, please email [email protected]

If you have a question that wasn’t answered here, please email [email protected]

If you encounter a bug or a glitch while playing Home Base, please email [email protected] and include information about what you were doing when you encountered the bug.

Remember to include details about the device you were using while playing Home Base (examples: iPhone 10, Mac browser, downloaded version on Windows laptop, Samsung tablet, etc)

Google Chrome/Firefox:

• (if you are on a PC or windows computer) Press COMMAND + SHIFT + I

• (if you are on a Mac) Press COMMAND + OPTION + I   

• A window a few different tabs will pop up. Click on the “Console” tab. This is where you’ll find your log files. Go ahead and select all that text, copy it, and send it over to us.

Your log files help us to pinpoint exactly what the issue is that made you see a bug or glitch in the game. Our developers will be able to look into the code to fix it!