Today I had an unschooling moment. We had movie and tv restrictions before, and gave them up after reading here. Today, we were driving somewhere, and went down a road near where the tide comes in (we live near the Bay of Fundy), and after renting The Lizzie McGuire movie last week, and seeing the state of the tide, naturally I burst into "The tide is high..."!!--joined happily by my three daughters. Sometime after the nth rendition of that song all together, I thought, here we are doing something happily all together, and from that space, anything can happen, questions, answers, laughter, silence. Thank you Lizzie McGuire, thank you people of the unschooling.com message board, I'm not the kind of girl who gives up just like that....

About 2 years ago I pulled off the antennas and unplugged the TV. Now after 6 months of no TV and over a year of just videos, I put the TV antennas back on, and we have broadcast TV again (this was about 2 months ago). I'm even toying with the idea of getting cable or satellite.

The amazing thing is I am able to see the value in watching TV now. I can give myself permission to enjoy the things I enjoy, even TV. I can encourage my kids to enjoy what they enjoy, even TV. I can watch along with them, and be a part of their joy and learning, even with TV.

This gradual transformation can be attributed to lurking on unschooling lists for the last 18 months.

Now, at the ripe old ages of 6.5 yrs and 4.5 yrs my DD's have discovered a love for the Teletubbies and Barney. DD2 was using the digital camera to take pictures, and she especially wanted to remember the pretty flowers on the Teletubies show.

Here's the photo. Something that would have horrified me two years ago, now I see the flowers and my DD2's joy.

We presently live in a "book worshipping" culture. Television is definitely something that is looked down upon as a lower-form of learning and entertainment by some. TV is still so new historically. Before TV, for example, comic books and some radio shows were also thought to be destructive and evil. I know in time attitudes about TV will change. People will learn to value it for the amazing learning tool it is and not be afraid of it.

In our lives, TV is one of many options my children have to learn from and enjoy. I do not value books over TV for my children's learning. I trust them and value all of their choices and support their interests. I can't imagine how small our world would be without TV! As an Unschooling Mom, I want to give my children as BIG a world as possible! TV introduces us to so many topics and interests that we may not have learned about otherwise. We have a joyful relationship with TV!

The topics of interest that have been introduced to us through TV have been incredible! It is a window to our world! Being Homeschoolers, I love the fact that my kids know all about modern pop culture. They are able to have conversations with anyone, including kids in school about things current and popular in our world. They aren't the "weird, sheltered homeschoolers" who have no idea what Spongebob is (for example) making them all the more differerent from kids their age. They feel totally "normal" around anyone because they know so much about what others are discussing in social situations.

Also, through TV, our family has witnessed True Human Potential! From skydiving, to contortionists, to people saving endangered species, to learning to cook Italian, to building a Chopper, to 'Dirty Jobs', to birth and death and love.....TV is not all doom and gloom like I was led to believe from some in the naturally minded community after I had my first son. It is not something we fear! It is something we value greatly.

There are so many awesome, interesting, enriching things on TV! Just like books, there are some good and some bad. I do not choose to never read again, just because there are books out there with something I wouldn't approve of! TV is no different. No one forces us to watch the news or things we personally don't value. Some days we watch no TV and some rainy days hours. It depends on the day. Just like reading, some days we read 10 books, some days none.

I honestly believe that my children have such an incredibly broad knowledge base, and TV has contributed to that as much as books, and every other resource we have in our lives. As Unschoolers, we use TV like a rich buffet before us. We joyfully take what we want and leave the rest!

Dayna

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