TV Free Homeschoolers??

i can also play DVDs on my computer. I'm planning on keeping a few of our favorite DVDs... I think so anyway.

My oldest is not yet 4, so please keep that in mind when reading my answer.

We have two television sets -- one is upstairs, in the room dh and I sleep in. That one is hooked up with cable, and dh watches it sometimes after the kids are asleep. That one also has a DVD player, and dh and I will sometimes watch movies, again, when the kids are asleep.

The other is a flatscreen, mounted on the wall downstairs. That is not hooked up to cable and does not get any kind of reception. We use that for the kids' Dvds and videos. The only DVDs and videos dd1 watches are foreign language types (Muzzy, Lyric Language, Play and Learn Chinese), episodes of The Magic School Bus, and Leapfrog Word factory videos. I take dd2 out of the room when dd1 watches something, as she is less than a year and a half (and I don't want her having any screen time until she is at least 2).

Every weekend dh, dd1 and I watch a movie in bed upstairs (after dd2 is asleep). It's dd1's choice (and therefore we've been watching Finding Nemo every week for about 3 months now ).

That's how we do it so far, anyway.

The thing about my TV is... it's HUGE. I mean, it was the biggest one my stbx could afford. i just don't feel like i want this monstrosity as the centerpiece to our living room. (we're moving into an apartment)

Thanks everyone

Quote:
It doesn't have to be in your living room. Perhaps your bedroom? Someplace usual kid traffic doesn't go?

I used to limit the amount of TV my kids watched, but don't anymore.

My girls are 7 & 4. For a week straight, they watched TV all day. And then the novelty wore off.

For example today - they got up, had breakfast, painted, did a sewing activity, got dressed, colored, played the keyboard, watched 2 shows on PBS, had lunch, played badminton, and are now watching a VHS tape.

Granted its hot out today (in the 100s) so we are inside more. But once fall and winter hit, we will be outside more often and less TV gets watched.

TV is a good resource for learning - especially for my oldest whom is a visual learner. I don't limit the books they read, the toys they play with or tv they watch.

But I'm not the usual I suppose. I also let my kids pig out of junk food one day - they've never done it again because they know it hurt their stomachs.

Just my 2 cents,
Cara

no TV here

Why not try it without the TV? We put the TV in the shed when my daughter was 6 months and was turning her body to watch it. We put it in purgatory to see if we could live without it. Five years later, the TV has long ago been sold. My kids get bits of TV at other people's homes, on vacations, and the like. And if there was something I desperately wanted my dd to see--well, we'd find it and watch it at grandma's. I read that when Barbara Kingsolver's daughter was lobbying for TV, she asked, "So if we get a TV, what are you going to STOP doing? Less reading, less time painting . . . ?" You could ask that in the reverse, "Without a TV, what will we spend the time doing? Reading, in the garden, making smoothies . . . ?" I know that no TV makes some folks a bit defensive . We don't have one because we (the adults) really love it and can't stop ourselves from watching it, even when we're exhausted and need to sleep. For example, we watched, in one late night sitting while at my sister's, a whole season of Entourage, because we couldn't stop. Living without a TV has really worked for us, especially us grown-ups. Try it, why not? --Nancy

PS--my homeschooled girl is 5, my boy is nearing 2

: : (smilies picked by dd)