Maria

I was the one who was ambivalent about TV watching and posted a month or so back about it...just wanted to update:

We decided to get a TV. Not any old TV, but a fancy, flat-screen, 32 inch one (my husband's choice, he works for a company that works on TV's, so I let him make all the decisions about it). For those considering an upgrade, Costco has a really great price (ours was $427).

Seth, our 3.5 year old, is currently watching PBS's Create, in which a man is making a ladder. We've not made the decision to get cable, because I refuse to pay for channels I don't want. Who knows, maybe in a year I'll have changed my mind on that, too...

I'm realizing more and more just what a great tool a TV is (and I'm finding that even people who watch quite a bit of TV, but are not unschoolers, believe there's something bad about it, which is weird). The only problem now is that I'm on the computer a LOT more, which means things that were getting done before, aren't getting done as much...oops!

I also spent some time showing Seth how to play video games, and it was a lot of fun! I usually have a hard time finding something that both he and I love doing together, so perhaps this will be one of those things, and if that's all we do for hours, how can that be bad?

I continue to read the posts for encouragement on our unschooling/ deschooling path.

Thanks,
Maria

Joyce Fetteroll

On Apr 28, 2009, at 5:01 PM, Maria wrote:

> We've not made the decision to get cable, because I refuse to pay
> for channels I don't want. Who knows, maybe in a year I'll have
> changed my mind on that, too...

One way to look at it is that you're paying for the ones you want and
the others come free :-)

It's like with newspapers and magazines. You get the whole thing even
if you only read a couple of articles. It's easier not to feel guilty
about not reading the whole thing (and who can with a newspaper!) if
you think of it as paying for monthly access to a couple of articles
rather than paying for a magazine full of articles. Same with cable.
You're paying for access and with that access you get a slew of
channels.

Even of the channels you will watch, you don't watch them 24/7 even
though you're paying for that. You pick and choose what to watch,
when to watch.

Joyce

Sandra Dodd

Thanks for that update!

It seems unfair to blame the TV for your increased computer use, but
I'm sure you know that. <g>

We don't have cable either, but there seems to be a glitch in thinking
here:
"We've not made the decision to get cable, because I refuse to pay for
channels I don't want. Who knows, maybe in a year I'll have changed my
mind on that, too...">

"Refuse" is a harsh word. Getting cable TV is a necessity for people
far from broadcast or translators. In New Mexico lots of people live
where they can't get reception. We, on the other hand. live in plain
view of the mountain that has the TV broadcast towers on it. My
husband is very thrifty, which comes in handy. He's kind of techno-
avoidant (LOTS, considering that he's an engineer with a computer
science degree). He stalled forever about getting a CD player and
still doesn't have a cellphone. Because it makes him feel really
good to avoid spending money and moving up electronically, I don't
whinge (a word Schuyler loves) about cable. Maybe I spend as much as
we would spend on cable on buying DVDs. I might even if we had cable.

But anyway, cable isn't paying for every channel. It's paying for
CHOICES of channels. If you go to a buffet and eat what you want to
eat, do you spend that time thinking about food that might still be
there at the end of the shift, and that you don't like having paid for
that food you didn't eat? If so, it can't be good for your
digestion. You paid for the array of choices.

My kids loved PBS shows. Holly was talking about Zoom yesterday, and
singing Zoobilee Zoo a week ago. She's 17.

Sandra

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Pam Sorooshian

On 4/28/2009 2:01 PM, Maria wrote:
> Seth, our 3.5 year old, is currently watching PBS's Create, in which a man is making a ladder. We've not made the decision to get cable, because I refuse to pay for channels I don't want. Who knows, maybe in a year I'll have changed my mind on that, too...
>

We have basic cable even though we live in the Los Angeles Metropolitan
area and have more over-the-air tv stations than anywhere else in the
world. The cable tv comes with DVR capability (which is like tivo).
DVRing is awesome and makes it possible for us to watch what we want so
much more conveniently than without it. The extra cable channels offer a
whole lot of interesting random opportunities to sample things we'd
probably not search out. Mostly we have them for international soccer
watching - which my husband and youngest daughter are very very into. We
don't pay extra for any "premium" channels like Showtime or HBO, though.
It is a matter of budgeting, for us. If we had unlimited income, we'd
get all the premium channels - to have more choices. There are sometimes
HBO shows someone wants to watch, but we get them on DVD from netflix or
watch them onlline. Netflix is, for us, a better use of the extra money
than paying for premium cable channels.
> I'm realizing more and more just what a great tool a TV is (and I'm finding that even people who watch quite a bit of TV, but are not unschoolers, believe there's something bad about it, which is weird). The only problem now is that I'm on the computer a LOT more, which means things that were getting done before, aren't getting done as much...oops!
>

It is SO cool, to me, that my kids watch tv with no guilt, that they
really enjoy it so much. Rosie was telling me her plans for the summer
and she included a day-per-week of lots of tv-watching right in there
with all the other things she wants to do - with great eagerness and
enthusiasm. She has a list of shows she wants to watch that she doesn't
have time for, right now.

-pam