We have loose limits in this house. Imo, this is one of those areas where everyone is different, and you have to account for that. If we had potato chips in the house constantly, my dh would eat chips much more often than he should. I would not. But I would if it were ice cream, while dh would not. My dd1 and I can both spend so much time enjoying tv, that it woulldn't allow enough time to enjoy all the other things we should (and it would therefore rot our brains

). So we keep it in check, and will turn it off because we think we should.

I don't really use the word "educational" when I talk about tv. You can learn from pretty much any show, and but it's not always something worth learning. There are certain types of shows that just so obnoxious, that I don't want to hear them in my living room anywhere (where our only tv is).

We watch things like David Attenborough's documentaries, many of which we have on DVD, things like Rollie Pollie Ollie, cooking shows like Good Eats, Blues Clues and Hi-5, history channel stuff, discovery channel stuff. I never make a distinction between watching something fluffy or watching something "educational." We don't watch anything unless we like it, and too much tv isn't good for us, even if it were All "educational."

 

We don't have a tv. We finally sold it off after realizing that it hadn't even been plugged in for more than 6 months.

BUT, we do watch a video 3-4 times a week. It serves a lot of purposes in our house, but mostly we treat it as fun. Right now, dh is out of town for the month and I am pregnant, so a video is good entertainment while I rest.

Does it add to our homeschooling? Nooooooo. Does it make mama happy to have 45 minutes to catch up on some rest? Yessssssss.

I try not to get too hung up on the tv issue. They see a bit, less than I did growing up, and they love the bit that they watch. We try to keep it fun and light. If I make too big of a deal about the tv, it becomes the forbidden fruit. And then I suffer the whining and the begging...blech.

 

Ruthiegirl, what are you using to watch a video, without a tv?

Until just a couple of months ago, the kids were limited to what we had on video and dvd. I still call it "tv" though, even if my oldest is watching a dvd on the computer.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaWhit Is it a no-no? Or do your kids have unlimited access? Or something in between? If you watch it, what shows do you watch for educational purposes (in addition to entertainment)? How much value do you feel television adds to your homeschooling?

===============
We have a tv and we don't limit access. Each of us has a different amount of interest in tv, but types of shows watched could be cartoons, science shows, sports, cooking, home improvement, sit coms, dramas, news... I don't separate shows into "educational" or "entertainment" catagories as I don't find that important or helpful.

 

My son that I homeschool is 12. We dont do it on a daily basis, but we use the "educational channels" history/nat'l geographic/animal planet/etc for school purposes. My son would watch Nickelodeon all day long but I dont see the value in that, when it comes to during "school hours". I do, however, love to find a great documentary on the middle ages or whatnot for him, because its his favorite time period.

He also loves "Good Eats" and "Meerkat Mannor" so I encourage him to watch them. We do some basic "school work" most days, but my general school philosophy isnt about work so much as about helping him find interest in things beyond video games and cartoons.

 

No role whatsoever here. We don't watch television.

However, we do have foreign language DVDs. both my girls are learning basic Mandarin thanks to Jade and Mei Mei. We have a bunch of DVDs from both of them, and the girls love to watch, repeat back, and practice during the day.

We also watch Signing Time DVDs, and Muzzy Spanish.

 

We watch TV for entertainment purposes and I do limit it, because it has highly addictive properties for my children. I notice that they complain when I turn it off. And I notice that, when the TV/VCR/DVR has been off for a day, the kids play more cooperatively and creatively. So, I'm fine with them watching it, but I do limit the duration each day.

Even though I consider it an entertainment vehicle, some shows have educational value to me.

"Between the Lions" on PBS helped my oldest when he was initially learning to read. He didn't want any direction or help from us, but he was happy to watch the show and work things out himself. I could walk by and hear him sounding words out.

They LOVE the Zula Patrol on PBS, which is a cute little cartoon that talks about science concepts. My 5 year old learned about photons on that show.

They also love Reading Rainbow, although I have to screen it for adult content (e.g. Nazis, 9/11, etc). It mostly introduces them to new ideas and places. They recently watched an episode about mummies, in which scientists scanned mummies and built models of skulls. My oldest really took to that. They've learned about animals, like manatees and bird rescue/rehabilitation. There was an episode based on ds2's favorite book, "Zin Zin zin, a violin!" in which they visit Julliard to see the orchestra. My oldest is very artistic and so he really loved an episode about recycling in which an artist makes things from old appliances. I find a great deal of educational value in Reading Rainbow, although I put it on for entertainment.

They also like a show called, "Fetch with Ruf Rufman" on PBS, in which teams of kids perform science challenges. The episode in which they go to Kennedy Space Center was really popular at my house. Heck, I learned that newspaper is an excellent insulator from the lemonade stand episode. They also like Mr Rogers, when he tours factories. My husband tapes, "How it's Made" for my oldest, because he likes stuff like that.

Mostly, I've found TV to be valuable in bringing my kids to places they've never been before and showing them things they've never seen before, kind of like a book. You can get fabulous books about mummies. But you can actually watch a mummy's head being rebuilt on Reading Rainbow. Sometimes, the action of film brings something to life in a more dynamic way than photographs or descriptions.

But I do not find much educational value in toddler shows like Miss Spider's Sunny Patch or Little Bear. We watch those shows, but for entertainment. If you watch the Noggin channel, it makes claims that certain cartoons teach "interpersonal and intrapersonal skills" to children. I think that's ridiculous; you learn these skills from actually interacting with people, not from zoning out in front of a cartoon. Also, we haven't found educational value in toddler shows that purport to teach numbers and such, but perhaps someone else has had that experience. I think that, at the toddler/preschool level, the rote "educational" things that TV shows aim to teach can be learned in real life. But to me, the older shows that introduce new places and ideas can have educational value.

 

I don't think tv plays a specific role in our homeschooling. I think it's just another thing in the mix of how we choose to live our lives. Our kids are limited to 1/2 an hour of tv a day and one movie per week, in general (exceptions are made occasionally). I know a lot of people don't approve of limits, but I feel that limiting tv has really encouraged the kids to find other ways to entertain themselves instead of plopping in front of the tv because it's easier than finding something else to do (which is definitely how my oldest daughter would prefer it at this point; they watched massive amounts of tv in the orphanage and she has never really developed an ability to entertain herself) AND it has the added plus of my kids not being obsessed with brand names and mass-marketed kiddie products. We only have network tv, so they only watch PBS, but they rarely watch that. Usually they watch DVDs from the library, such as Go Diego Go or Eyewitness animals videos. Occasionally on Saturday mornings they watch a full-length movie (right now they are watching Peter Pan) so dh and I can sleep in a bit.

I notice a difference between the content of their play and the content of the play of children who watch a lot of tv (such as my nephew). My kids pretend to be characters from books and videos sometimes, but they are never limited to what the characters did in the source material. Ramona might pretend to be Diego, but she is Diego teaching an art class to her brother in the clubhouse. They pretend to be Jack and Annie from Magic Treehouse books, but they are Jack and Annie going to the swimming pool. They adapt the characters to their situations. In my experience, kids who watch a lot of tv tend to repeat storylines verbatim and ad nauseum, even arguing over whether certain details have been authentically re-enacted. I think it's sad.

I'd say that they only watch tv 3-4 days a week, even though they are allowed 1/2 an hour each day. I would be happiest if they never watched any, though.

On a personal note, I watched a lot of tv as a kid. The main way that I think it was detrimental to me is that it made me feel like life should be comical and neatly packaged like a sit-com. That might not make sense to people, but I feel that, as a teenager and college student, I really struggled with the idea that my friends didn't talk in humorous one-liners and we didn't have linear, neatly-resolved crises like they did on tv. It made me discontented with life for a long time until I identified the problem and took steps to correct it (mainly, by cutting out tv. I rarely watch anything on tv, and I don't really watch movies, either). I have found this makes me much happier. Dh has not reported the same problem I had, but he rarely watches tv, either, except during football season.

dm

 

I grew up in a house in which we always had cable and the tv was always on. It's hard for a child, imo, to want to do other things like read, draw and play when the tv is on. I do limit how long the tv is on because that is what works best for our family. We didn't have a tv until Sophie was almost 3. I would say that the tv is entertainment here and doesn't play a role in learning. If she does learn something that is great, but I don't put it on to teach her. I feel like getting rid of it when she asks for things that she sees advertised or repeats catchy one-liners from her favorite shows. It bothers me but we haven't taken the plunge into tv free living yet.

 

We watch tv. I view it as a resource like any other-- some books are wonderful, some are junky, and the same is true of tv shows. Since tv is so easy to watch, compared to reading, I do limit it somewhat-- it gets turned off when it seems like the kids are watching mindlessly or when the noise is making me crazy.

My kids have learned good things from tv-- I think it's a particularly good resource for little kids to learn about science and world cultures. We watch:

• How it's made
• Mythbusters
• Magic School Bus
• Cyberchase (a FABULOUS show about math)
• Higglytown Heros (I HATE this show, but not enough to censor it)
• Little Bear
• a range of movies from Netflix

We have tivo and that gives me some control over what my kids see on tv, but I don't understand why someone would be strongly anti-tv. Living where we do, my kids only have access to certain kinds of ecosystems, for example. We go to the zoo occasionally, and we can see their version of the rainforest, but the tv lets my kids see what life is like in ocean on the Southern tip of Africa. I would love to travel the world and see these things first hand, but it doesn't seem to be in the budget at the moment, and so tv can be the "next best" option.

I don't generally use tv as a formal part of our homeschooling, but I know my kids do learn from it, and it is a positive force in our lives.

ZM

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by dharmamama I notice a difference between the content of their play and the content of the play of children who watch a lot of tv (such as my nephew). My kids pretend to be characters from books and videos sometimes, but they are never limited to what the characters did in the source material. Ramona might pretend to be Diego, but she is Diego teaching an art class to her brother in the clubhouse. They pretend to be Jack and Annie from Magic Treehouse books, but they are Jack and Annie going to the swimming pool. They adapt the characters to their situations. In my experience, kids who watch a lot of tv tend to repeat storylines verbatim and ad nauseum, even arguing over whether certain details have been authentically re-enacted. I think it's sad.

I hate that too. When my kids pretend to be a tv character there tends to be a mish mash of characters in the game, and the plot is a wacky mish mash too. The kids I see who try to recreate tv shows rigidly seem to be kids with very little downtime for creative play. I don't think it's entirely fair to blame the box for that.

:

ZM

 

We don't limit and I do use it in my homeschooling. I guess I'm the only one though

:

Some of our favorite shows are:

• Good Eats
• Mythbusters
• Digging For the Truth
• Is it Real
• History's Mysteries

Of course they also like things like Sponge Bob and Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends.

:

I've used all sorts of documentaries as part of unit studies or just relating to what we are studying like Madness of Henry VIII and one about Marie Antoinette along with things like Walking with Dinosaurs. I find lots of stuff on Netflix as well as recording stuff on the DVR.

FWIW my kids also exhibit the flexible and creative play that dharmamama refers to. They are not rigid at all in their imaginary play often mixing characters from different books and TV shows together. The characters will stay in *cannon* but regularly invade each other's worlds and ours as well.

 

I consider The Simpsons educational, so maybe I shouldn't answer further.

We only get about 12 channels, depending on which way the wind is blowing. Sometimes we think about getting real cable so we could watch Discovery Channel etc. So far, we get NOVA and other neat DVDs and VT through ILL.
I don't limit TV. My kids are older. They don't watch tons and I never worry. I never did feel comfortable with infants and toddlers watching a lot of TV, so we didn't.

After reading this thread, I want cable. I really, really do.

 

We got cable for the first time a year ago - just basic cable, because we had to get cable internet and adding cable was only $13 a month. Then in April we upgraded, because Rain really wanted to watch BBC... of course, we had to get the expended pack and then the variety pack just to get BBC, but we dropped netflix and it's about the same...and BBC is cool. Last night we watch The Office (British version), and Rain watches Hex, and old Dr. Who...

Anyway, no limits, and as unschoolers we don't divide the world into educational vs. non-educational, because it's all learning... usually the tv isn't on during the day, just because we're doing other stuff. Usually it is on during the evening, if we're home, but not always...

dar

 

We only have a small tv in our bedroom upstairs. It has cable. Because it isn't in our main living areas, the kids rarely think about it, but it isn't really limited when they remember that they can watch it upstairs. When we had a tv in our living room, we watched it daily-so we ditched it. We watch mostly Discovery, Animal planet, discovery health, history channel etc and definitely not every day.... I do have lots of issues with tv, so if I thought it was getting out of hand, I would limit in some way that was agreeable to all. As my kids get older, I may use it alittle for HS, but we will see. We are moving out to the country soon, so we may not have tv at all then.

 

Our only rule for tv is that you have to actually be watching a program for it to be on. Because I hate it as background noise. My dd rarely watches TV. We used to watch a lot of stuff on History Channel ect. I like tv for science and history and we have college classes you can watch if you want to, but I've found the ones shown here to all be really basic, so we don't bother.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by umbrella Ruthiegirl, what are you using to watch a video, without a tv? Until just a couple of months ago, the kids were limited to what we had on video and dvd. I still call it "tv" though, even if my oldest is watching a dvd on the computer.

We use the laptop as well. The kids were given a portable DVD player and we use that occasionally, but the sreen is very small.

We refer to it as 'screen time'.

 

We have one TV in the living room with no cable (rabbit ears

), and a DVD player. I strive to keep the TV off until about 2:30 or 3pm. Otherwise my oldest boy (6) would literally sit on the TV all day and not move. When it does come on, usually they will watch whatever is on PBS Kids. Sometimes it's a movie/DVD of something. We love nature/science shows, so on the nights that PBS is running a National Geographic or Nature or NOVA episode, we will watch that too. (We luckily can get 3 different PBS stations on our rabbit ears.) I guess you could call most all we watch "educational", but then again, none of us watch network TV much at all, and even those shows have something to learn in them. Oh, we also love baseball around here, so if the Dodger's or Angels are on, then we are watching that too.

In all, I try to make sure the boys don't get more than about 2 hours a day of screen time. I'm a little more lax with computer games, though usually they'll only play for about 20 to 30 minutes at a time. In all, they keep rather active and I don't mind giving them "down-time" in the form of TV or computer time.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeldamomma The kids I see who try to recreate tv shows rigidly seem to be kids with very little downtime for creative play. I don't think it's entirely fair to blame the box for that. :

Fair enough, although I would argue that kids who watch a lot of tv have, by definition, less time for creative play.

dm

 

We don't have limits on television/videos.

We have a television with rabbit ears in the living room. Occasionally, Kenzie will watch Cyberchase or Dragonfly TV (when he remembers they're on). Usually, he's busy doing other things. Oh, we do watch reruns of The Simpsons and King of the Hill fairly regularly, and M*A*S*H when we're up late enough (it comes on at 1:30 AM).

We've got TONS of videos. We have a dvd/vhs combo, and several moths ago discovered that our local Half Price Books sells lots of clearance vhs movies for $1 each. We've built up quite a stash! Kenzie's new favorite (as of yesterday) is The Karate Kid.

Daniel: Hey, what kind of belt do you have?
Mr. Miyagi: Canvas. JC Penny. Three ninety-eight. You like?

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaWhit Is it a no-no? Or do your kids have unlimited access? Or something in between? If you watch it, what shows do you watch for educational purposes (in addition to entertainment)? How much value do you feel television adds to your homeschooling?

We really love TV, and we watch quite a bit of it usually. There are no restrictions on it. We try to juggle the different shows people want to watch, but having more than one TV has helped with that. Ds prefers to have his own TV in his bedroom and so do I, even if it's just a little one.

We have learned so much from watching. We love Globe Trekker, CSI and other legal dramas, music videos, cartoons, Discovery channel, documentaries, Sci-fi, news reports, and so on. It often sparks some random question or discussion.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaWhit Is it a no-no? Or do your kids have unlimited access? Or something in between? If you watch it, what shows do you watch for educational purposes (in addition to entertainment)? How much value do you feel television adds to your homeschooling?

It's a no-no here. I hate TV with a passion. Honestly, I don't find any redeeming value in TV other than the occasional documentary or Veggie Tales which we can get from Netflix. I don't like the way people on TV speak to each other, I don't like attitudes projected, and I don't like commercials.

I think the "TV trance" is totally creepy too. When we go to a place with a TV whether it be grandma's house or Cici's the kids (including those who have TV in the home) totally zone out like they're hypnotized. Creeeeepy!

We have a little TV/VCR combo for the occasional video but it's stuffed in the basement. Seems like if I get it out once they want videos ALL the time so right now it's out of sight out of mind and that's working for us.

 

We limit it to a certain extent... I tell DS that as long as he's watching TV smartly, he can watch pretty well as much as he wants. By 'smartly' I mean things like, not in the trance, not watching junk just in order to watch something.

There are certain things I won't let him watch. Most of the Cartoon Network stuff is just horrid. I find 'entertainment' to be just as valid a reason to watch TV as 'education' (otherwise I'd be a terrible hypocrite), but there is so much c-r-a-p that is aimed at children that it's disgusting. I tell DS that this stuff will rot his brain... sometimes, I've talked through an episode of something junky, explaining as it went why it was awful... the messages it was sending. For instance, I remember one cartoon he was watching, where the storyline revolved around deception, lying, and getting away with having done something 'wrong'. And it was all presented as 'funny'. We had a good talk about that sort of thing.

Or if he's been watching for like 3 hours straight, doing nothing else, I'll turn it off. We talk about keeping things 'in balance'.

Of course, there have been times along the way where I've had to completely limit the TV (and computer) time, regulate it, legislate it, until he learned how to self-regulate a bit better. Now, I tell him that as long as he stays reasonable with his watching time, he can be pretty much on his own.

The result of this, is that most of his favourite shows are things like Mythbusters, How It's Made, Trading Spaces, Daily Planet, Frontiers of Construction, and various history documentaries. Along with fun things like the Simpsons, Foster's Home, etc.

But ask him what his favourite channel is, and he'll say "Discovery Channel". Cool.

 

I do not limit tv at all. They choose to turn it off and go do other things. I do limit what they are ALLOWED to watch. They only watch age appropriate things and I don't really think about educational or not educational. I wouldn't say the tv has much to do with our homeschooling. Its just a part of our life as is small amounts of formal bookwork as is child-directed learning as is computer games and so on and so on.

 

We have no-TV days on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That doesn't go for dh and I though, just for the kids. But, if their programs aren't on, they'll just play. If dh is watching "How Its Made" or a nature show, they'll sometimes watch that but generally, they play. I don't use a lot of TV in homeschooling, but I do prefer educational shows for the kids. They absolutely adore Teletubbies (something that oldest ds learned about from a young age when he awoke at a horrible hour and I'd put on PBS while we breastfed) but I see no worth in the show. I was refusing to let them watch it when dh pointed out that I like "fluff" TV myself. So, I am a little more lax in that area now though I only allow shows with no worth when dh is around. The kids see it as a happy daddy kind of thing.

On TV days, I let them watch what they want out of a list of shows I've preapproved, Magic School Bus, Hip Hop Harry, Prehistoric Planet, and Blue's Clues are their favorites. After awhile I turn it off and they go play. Even while watching they are likely drawing, playing, and reading also. I don't see anything wrong with TV as long as it isn't the only thing the kids do.