DiamondAir

From: "Cindy L." <clappin@...>
>I am concerned from a neurological perspective, he does have some neuro
>problems as it is and I didn't want to add to that situation. He does have
>a great attention span, he plays very well by himself, and is highly
>creative in his play. I have no idea if things would have been different
>with more electronic media exposure or not. Sometimes I think we're the
>only homeschoolers around who limit this, nice to know we're not alone.


We do limit these things as well. We don't watch TV (moved it to the
basement where hubby occasionally uses it to view sports), and don't own any
playstations or video games. My kids have their own computer and an
assortment of programs and I don't put any time limits on that, but we do
have a general rhythm to our day where the time is semi-limited anyways
because of other activities (we get up, have breakfast, do chores, then
circle time, then we're usually out of the house until my daughter's nap
time, which is usually when my son and I do things he's wanted to do like
crafts or games, and then sometimes he uses the computer while I'm getting
her down or up from her nap, then it's in to dinner time and daddy's home
and we do family stuff).

Personally, I truly believe in unschooling - that is, letting our kids
direct their own learning. But I also believe that I do need to set some
limits in our children's lives and in our home. We don't have a ton, but we
do have some. Chores need to be done, food eaten needs to be fairly balanced
and nutritious, and we don't play games (computer or otherwise) that involve
shooting guns, or taking of life (we're also vegetarian and pacifist). My
son was fairly appalled at the store today when we walked past a video game
called "Deer Hunter" complete with fake gun you could aim at Bambi and blast
away. We try to discuss our reasons for not spending a ton of money on
consumer goods as well - that each thing we buy has to be manufactured and
trucked and then disposed of when its no longer working. So in general we
don't buy much in the way of new toys/books/clothes, but try to find thrift
store stuff or make our own. We tend not to go into stores very often where
we will have to walk past big displays of mass-marketed goods and electronic
devices.

I'm sure this will all get much more complicated as my kids get older
(They're 4.5 and 16 months now) and they have their own money, etc. At that
point, I hope that the values we've discussed so far rub off. Between now
and then, we'll have to do a lot of thinking about what we do and do not
want to let into our household and lives, how much control we have or want
to exert over this with respect to our kids, etc. etc..

Blue Skies!
-Robin-
Mom to Mackenzie (8/28/96) who spent hours adoring the fruit bats at the zoo
and Asa (10/5/99) who loves "paghetti"
http://www.geocities.com/the_clevengers Flying Clevenger Family

Kathy B Cauley

Robin
good to read your post
our days are much the same
dd Emily is 4 (10-18-96) and ds Ethan is 19 months (8-16-99)
we are always traveling the road of less consumerism and damage
it is sometimes very hard and i do wonder what will happen when they are
older
the pressures are already there and we try to avoid them but I know we
can't just continue this way

in peace
Kathy in Bryan
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