video games...never enough
[email protected]
Hi All,
I am new to the list, I have been lurking here for a few weeks now. I pulled my now 9 yo son from the third grade in March. I have been reading alot about homeschooling since then and now think that unschooling would work for us, especially since he was refusing to do anything at all that seemed like school...
My question for you today, I've seen alot of posts on video games. Basically he would play video games non-stop, not eat, not drink, not sleep if we didn't make him, only *very* quick bathroom breaks. I've decided for the last few weeks that I would let him play as much Gameboy/PS2/whatever he wants, because surely he would get bored with it sooner or later, right? Problem is, there is always a new game out there to try (maybe that's not really a problem).
So - do I just let him play video games as much as he wants forever? Even if I can stand it I'm pretty sure my husband can't...he's not too sure about this whole homeschool thing anyway.
I guess I'm looking for experience, advice, about if this is okay? How much video games is okay?
Thanks for your support and input.
Amy
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I am new to the list, I have been lurking here for a few weeks now. I pulled my now 9 yo son from the third grade in March. I have been reading alot about homeschooling since then and now think that unschooling would work for us, especially since he was refusing to do anything at all that seemed like school...
My question for you today, I've seen alot of posts on video games. Basically he would play video games non-stop, not eat, not drink, not sleep if we didn't make him, only *very* quick bathroom breaks. I've decided for the last few weeks that I would let him play as much Gameboy/PS2/whatever he wants, because surely he would get bored with it sooner or later, right? Problem is, there is always a new game out there to try (maybe that's not really a problem).
So - do I just let him play video games as much as he wants forever? Even if I can stand it I'm pretty sure my husband can't...he's not too sure about this whole homeschool thing anyway.
I guess I'm looking for experience, advice, about if this is okay? How much video games is okay?
Thanks for your support and input.
Amy
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
-=-. Basically he would play video games non-stop, not eat, not drink, not
sleep if we didn't make him-=-
Please read the graveyard of similar statements here:
_http://sandradodd.com/strew/ifilet_ (http://sandradodd.com/strew/ifilet)
_http://sandradodd.com/strew/ifilet/_ (http://sandradodd.com/strew/ifilet/)
I hope one of those will work.
-=-I've decided for the last few weeks that I would let him play as much
Gameboy/PS2/whatever he wants, because surely he would get bored with it sooner
or later, right? Problem is, there is always a new game out there to try
(maybe that's not really a problem).
-=-
Some people read a lot, and there are always new books out there (and
magazines, and cereal boxes).
Some people watch movies a lot, and they're always making new ones.
-=-So - do I just let him play video games as much as he wants forever? Even
if I can stand it I'm pretty sure my husband can't...he's not too sure about
this whole homeschool thing anyway. -=-
It might take a while to get your husband to a place of understanding, but
less time if you rent/buy and watch Video Game Revolution (I think it's called,
there's a link and lots of stuff here:)
_http://sandradodd.com/games/page/_ (http://sandradodd.com/games/page/)
-=-I guess I'm looking for experience, advice, about if this is okay? How
much video games is okay?-=-
"Okay" depends on what your priorities and intentions and hopes are.
It's been way more than okay at my house, it's been enrichment, fun,
geography, mapreading, vocabulary, history (though it's never discussed or thought
about that way here, just by me in discussions like this to try to explain to
people who haven't thought of anything past "eye hand coordination")...
All of this involves looking at things a little differently. If you think
of food as meal-times and plate-cleanings rather than as sustenance and fuel,
it will be harder to think it's good to deliver meals "computerside." If you
think of sleep as something that should happen on a schedule, it might be
something you think will never happen, but people sleep when they're sleepy
UNLESS sleep has been forced, measured, commanded, forbidden, and removed from a
personal awareness of "I'm tired and going to bed now." THOSE kids, the
controlled kids, will try to stay up all late just because they can, because
they never have before, because they think it would be cool, would make them
adults, would be exciting. Kids who can stay up until they're tired find no
thrill in staying up just for the sake of staying up. If they're not doing
something they want to do more than they want to sleep, they'll go to bed.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
sleep if we didn't make him-=-
Please read the graveyard of similar statements here:
_http://sandradodd.com/strew/ifilet_ (http://sandradodd.com/strew/ifilet)
_http://sandradodd.com/strew/ifilet/_ (http://sandradodd.com/strew/ifilet/)
I hope one of those will work.
-=-I've decided for the last few weeks that I would let him play as much
Gameboy/PS2/whatever he wants, because surely he would get bored with it sooner
or later, right? Problem is, there is always a new game out there to try
(maybe that's not really a problem).
-=-
Some people read a lot, and there are always new books out there (and
magazines, and cereal boxes).
Some people watch movies a lot, and they're always making new ones.
-=-So - do I just let him play video games as much as he wants forever? Even
if I can stand it I'm pretty sure my husband can't...he's not too sure about
this whole homeschool thing anyway. -=-
It might take a while to get your husband to a place of understanding, but
less time if you rent/buy and watch Video Game Revolution (I think it's called,
there's a link and lots of stuff here:)
_http://sandradodd.com/games/page/_ (http://sandradodd.com/games/page/)
-=-I guess I'm looking for experience, advice, about if this is okay? How
much video games is okay?-=-
"Okay" depends on what your priorities and intentions and hopes are.
It's been way more than okay at my house, it's been enrichment, fun,
geography, mapreading, vocabulary, history (though it's never discussed or thought
about that way here, just by me in discussions like this to try to explain to
people who haven't thought of anything past "eye hand coordination")...
All of this involves looking at things a little differently. If you think
of food as meal-times and plate-cleanings rather than as sustenance and fuel,
it will be harder to think it's good to deliver meals "computerside." If you
think of sleep as something that should happen on a schedule, it might be
something you think will never happen, but people sleep when they're sleepy
UNLESS sleep has been forced, measured, commanded, forbidden, and removed from a
personal awareness of "I'm tired and going to bed now." THOSE kids, the
controlled kids, will try to stay up all late just because they can, because
they never have before, because they think it would be cool, would make them
adults, would be exciting. Kids who can stay up until they're tired find no
thrill in staying up just for the sake of staying up. If they're not doing
something they want to do more than they want to sleep, they'll go to bed.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Pam Sorooshian
And - a new article on video games - the July issue of Discover
Magazine -
Your Brain on Video Games
Could they actually be good for you?
By Steven Johnson
-pam
Magazine -
Your Brain on Video Games
Could they actually be good for you?
By Steven Johnson
-pam