As SagePixie commented on one of my posts, kids can "learn a lot through TV and video games." I realize this when my son's reading abilities continue to grow if the only things he reads for 3 days are the names of the power ups earned while playing LEGO Star Wars. Hand/Eye coordination is developed. Memory is tested. Cooperative play skills are built as he usually plays these games with his little brother.
I know that there is a large variance in the way that people homeschool their children. Even in the unschool community, people's philosophies vary greatly. Some welcome different technologies into their "school day," while others shun video game systems and television that is not PBS. In our house, we tend to straddle the middle line. I did turn off the cable, but I bought the Penguins of Madagascar Christmas DVD. My Netflix queue has both Birds, Birds, Birds! and Santa Buddies. Watching the movie Up began a new obsession for my 7 year old that includes searching for blimp videos on You Tube, and looking in Venezuela for Paradise Falls. (It isn't real, but check out some of the landscape that inspired the movie The Real World Behind Up's Paradise Falls)
I also know that in January, I am going to have to sit down and talk to a nice lady at the board of education and show her what I've done to teach my boys. Lists of activities are all well and good, but she is going to want some "proof." And this makes me nervous. So a month or so ago, I instated a "pay for play" rule. If you want to play video game, you have to perform an activity on the cork board in the living room. There are math sheets with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. There are lists to record books read and Weekly Readers (subscribed to before unschooling).
Surprisingly, this idea has gone over quite well. I don't have to remind the boys to do their math or reading before playing games. Some days, they choose not to do any, and instead choose to draw, play with LEGO or work on the laptop. There are never complaints when it comes to doing the activities. My 5 year old searches out the division problems because he likes to manipulate the counting bears that way. New books are being read, and critical thinking activities are being performed. They like the Weekly Readers.
We don't stop this rule because it is the weekend or a holiday. They read on Thanksgiving so that they could play Wii. However, if on Christmas they get a new game, they won't have to do an activity to dive into it.
So now my boys are doing activites that would have began crying battles of will before taking on a less traditional approach to schooling. The kids are happy and I'm less nervous. And we'll see how the BOE likes it in the new year.
I know that there is a large variance in the way that people homeschool their children. Even in the unschool community, people's philosophies vary greatly. Some welcome different technologies into their "school day," while others shun video game systems and television that is not PBS. In our house, we tend to straddle the middle line. I did turn off the cable, but I bought the Penguins of Madagascar Christmas DVD. My Netflix queue has both Birds, Birds, Birds! and Santa Buddies. Watching the movie Up began a new obsession for my 7 year old that includes searching for blimp videos on You Tube, and looking in Venezuela for Paradise Falls. (It isn't real, but check out some of the landscape that inspired the movie The Real World Behind Up's Paradise Falls)
I also know that in January, I am going to have to sit down and talk to a nice lady at the board of education and show her what I've done to teach my boys. Lists of activities are all well and good, but she is going to want some "proof." And this makes me nervous. So a month or so ago, I instated a "pay for play" rule. If you want to play video game, you have to perform an activity on the cork board in the living room. There are math sheets with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. There are lists to record books read and Weekly Readers (subscribed to before unschooling).
Surprisingly, this idea has gone over quite well. I don't have to remind the boys to do their math or reading before playing games. Some days, they choose not to do any, and instead choose to draw, play with LEGO or work on the laptop. There are never complaints when it comes to doing the activities. My 5 year old searches out the division problems because he likes to manipulate the counting bears that way. New books are being read, and critical thinking activities are being performed. They like the Weekly Readers.
We don't stop this rule because it is the weekend or a holiday. They read on Thanksgiving so that they could play Wii. However, if on Christmas they get a new game, they won't have to do an activity to dive into it.
So now my boys are doing activites that would have began crying battles of will before taking on a less traditional approach to schooling. The kids are happy and I'm less nervous. And we'll see how the BOE likes it in the new year.
No comments:
Post a Comment