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.
More on TV
Book Worship
Parenting for Unschoolers