TV thread/suggestions
Debbie Smith
I have really enjoyed reading the open/restricted TV policies that everyone
has shared. I have never posted on the list before; I'm still trying to
work up the courage to crossover into unschooling. I supposed most other
homeschoolers would consider us the *relaxed, semi-structured* variety
homeschooler.
Anyway, I would be really interested in everyone's opinion on the quality of
TV shows available to our children. What TV shows would you *rank* as
educational programming? My children and I routinely watch "Antique
Roadshow" and many people are surprised to find that I consider that
educational programming.
I hope this topic hasn't been posted-to-its-natural-death, and that some of
you will share your thoughts on what is "educational" TV.
Debbie
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has shared. I have never posted on the list before; I'm still trying to
work up the courage to crossover into unschooling. I supposed most other
homeschoolers would consider us the *relaxed, semi-structured* variety
homeschooler.
Anyway, I would be really interested in everyone's opinion on the quality of
TV shows available to our children. What TV shows would you *rank* as
educational programming? My children and I routinely watch "Antique
Roadshow" and many people are surprised to find that I consider that
educational programming.
I hope this topic hasn't been posted-to-its-natural-death, and that some of
you will share your thoughts on what is "educational" TV.
Debbie
_________________________________________________________________
Join the world�s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
http://www.hotmail.com
Leslie Moyer
+ Anyway, I would be really interested in everyone's opinion on the
+ quality of TV shows available to our children.
+ What TV shows would you *rank* as educational programming?
Well....just about anything could be educational depending upon what one's
interests are.
My son was watching and enjoying "Junkyard Wars" for a long while there. If
you haven't seen it, it's great. Here are a couple websites that tell about
it:
http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/junkyard/junkyard.html
http://www.junkyard-wars.com/
My older daughter likes the arts/crafts/decorating shows on HGTV/TLC. (She
also likes books about beading, sewing, crafts, jewelry, etc.) She watches
the morning news shows (primarily Today Show) pretty faithfully and she's
pretty current on world news.
My youngest daughter loves any show about animals, but we don't get Animal
Planet here. She catches a lot of them on TLC and Discovery Channels. She
and my older daughter also like "The Price is Right" and they really have
learned some math there. :-)
My husband and son enjoy many programs on The History Channel. We also
enjoy A&E's "Biography" show occasionally. We watch PBS from time to
time---especially the "sociology" or "history" kinds of shows. We have
watched many interesting science/health shows on The Discovery Channel. The
kids like some of the trivia shows like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire",
"Jeopardy", etc., though they don't watch them a lot. We sometimes watch
the forensics/crime-solvers shows....they're on TLC or Discovery.
--Leslie Moyer / Oklahoma
+ quality of TV shows available to our children.
+ What TV shows would you *rank* as educational programming?
Well....just about anything could be educational depending upon what one's
interests are.
My son was watching and enjoying "Junkyard Wars" for a long while there. If
you haven't seen it, it's great. Here are a couple websites that tell about
it:
http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/junkyard/junkyard.html
http://www.junkyard-wars.com/
My older daughter likes the arts/crafts/decorating shows on HGTV/TLC. (She
also likes books about beading, sewing, crafts, jewelry, etc.) She watches
the morning news shows (primarily Today Show) pretty faithfully and she's
pretty current on world news.
My youngest daughter loves any show about animals, but we don't get Animal
Planet here. She catches a lot of them on TLC and Discovery Channels. She
and my older daughter also like "The Price is Right" and they really have
learned some math there. :-)
My husband and son enjoy many programs on The History Channel. We also
enjoy A&E's "Biography" show occasionally. We watch PBS from time to
time---especially the "sociology" or "history" kinds of shows. We have
watched many interesting science/health shows on The Discovery Channel. The
kids like some of the trivia shows like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire",
"Jeopardy", etc., though they don't watch them a lot. We sometimes watch
the forensics/crime-solvers shows....they're on TLC or Discovery.
--Leslie Moyer / Oklahoma
Groundhoggirl
On Wednesday, January 9, 2002, at 06:14 AM, Debbie Smith wrote:
TV is not restricted in our house. My 7-year-old boys have access to it
whenever they wish. Personally, I don't think that a show has to be
"educational" to be worthwhile - although my boys pick up new vocabulary
from some of the silliest shows around - so, I suppose, all of them can
be viewed as "educational" to a certain extent.
There are certain shows on the Cartoon Channel like, Dexter's
Laboratory, Tom & Jerry, Ed, Edd, & Eddie, and Justice League that my
boys just love. If these shows entertain them and make them happy, then
I really don't see anything wrong with letting them watch them.
Certainly TV can be educational, but, in our house, it primarily serves
as a form of entertainment. There are other shows and channels they
love to watch, which, I guess, many other people would consider as being
more "educational". Some of these shows are: History Channel
(History's Biggest Blunders, any show about tanks, planes, battleships,
submarines, GI's, Nazis,WWI, or WWII, The History of the Gun, Shows
about Knights, "Blacksheep Squadron"). They love Animal Planet (that
crocodile guy), Discovery and The Learning Channel (Walking with
Dinosaurs, etc.), they also love "Battlebots and Junkyard Wars". They
like American Movie Classics channel because they like westerns,
especially JOHN WAYNE. They like old movies like Godzilla and on Friday
nights, there's monster fest so they get to watch "Frankenstein",
"Creature from the Black Lagoon", and other old monster movies. On
Friday nights at 9PM there's a show called "Special Effects" on AMC
which is a little documentary show about how the special effects of
movies are made - They really like that a lot.
TV offers them a lot of entertainment and educational stuff as well.
But, believe me, that's not all they do. They are very involved in more
active pastimes such as riding bikes, Legos, taking compressors, etc.
apart, helping me in the yard, kitchen and cleaning, helping their my
husband with his Chemistry, etc., lots of drawing, computer games,
playing with friends, etc. They have very full lives and TV just
happens to be a part of their lives because it makes them happy. If
they're happy, I'm happy.
Mimi
>===============
> Anyway, I would be really interested in everyone's opinion on the
> quality of
> TV shows available to our children. What TV shows would you *rank* as
> educational programming? My children and I routinely watch "Antique
> Roadshow" and many people are surprised to find that I consider that
> educational programming.
>
> I hope this topic hasn't been posted-to-its-natural-death, and that
> some of
> you will share your thoughts on what is "educational" TV.
>
> Debbie
TV is not restricted in our house. My 7-year-old boys have access to it
whenever they wish. Personally, I don't think that a show has to be
"educational" to be worthwhile - although my boys pick up new vocabulary
from some of the silliest shows around - so, I suppose, all of them can
be viewed as "educational" to a certain extent.
There are certain shows on the Cartoon Channel like, Dexter's
Laboratory, Tom & Jerry, Ed, Edd, & Eddie, and Justice League that my
boys just love. If these shows entertain them and make them happy, then
I really don't see anything wrong with letting them watch them.
Certainly TV can be educational, but, in our house, it primarily serves
as a form of entertainment. There are other shows and channels they
love to watch, which, I guess, many other people would consider as being
more "educational". Some of these shows are: History Channel
(History's Biggest Blunders, any show about tanks, planes, battleships,
submarines, GI's, Nazis,WWI, or WWII, The History of the Gun, Shows
about Knights, "Blacksheep Squadron"). They love Animal Planet (that
crocodile guy), Discovery and The Learning Channel (Walking with
Dinosaurs, etc.), they also love "Battlebots and Junkyard Wars". They
like American Movie Classics channel because they like westerns,
especially JOHN WAYNE. They like old movies like Godzilla and on Friday
nights, there's monster fest so they get to watch "Frankenstein",
"Creature from the Black Lagoon", and other old monster movies. On
Friday nights at 9PM there's a show called "Special Effects" on AMC
which is a little documentary show about how the special effects of
movies are made - They really like that a lot.
TV offers them a lot of entertainment and educational stuff as well.
But, believe me, that's not all they do. They are very involved in more
active pastimes such as riding bikes, Legos, taking compressors, etc.
apart, helping me in the yard, kitchen and cleaning, helping their my
husband with his Chemistry, etc., lots of drawing, computer games,
playing with friends, etc. They have very full lives and TV just
happens to be a part of their lives because it makes them happy. If
they're happy, I'm happy.
Mimi
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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rumpleteasermom
--- In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., "Debbie Smith" <momschoolfor4@h...>
wrote:
FOr example, Wyndham really like action stuff like Speed, ID4,
Volcano. Those are movie but his TV taste is similar (except for his
pokemon thing.)
Anyway, most of those actions shows lend themselves to discussion of
physics/science and whether the "action" is possible or not. Anyway,
as hard as I have worked to limit the amount of time he spends
watching, I NEVER limit what he watches unless there is conflict with
other family members but that's a different issue.
Bridget
ps - sometimes the educational lesson is one about boredom and that's
okay too.
wrote:
> I hope this topic hasn't been posted-to-its-natural-death, and thatsome of
> you will share your thoughts on what is "educational" TV.I think almost anything can be educational in certain circumstances.
>
> Debbie
FOr example, Wyndham really like action stuff like Speed, ID4,
Volcano. Those are movie but his TV taste is similar (except for his
pokemon thing.)
Anyway, most of those actions shows lend themselves to discussion of
physics/science and whether the "action" is possible or not. Anyway,
as hard as I have worked to limit the amount of time he spends
watching, I NEVER limit what he watches unless there is conflict with
other family members but that's a different issue.
Bridget
ps - sometimes the educational lesson is one about boredom and that's
okay too.
Lynda
Any program is educational if you are learning something from it. AR
expands the mind, opens horizons. Sounds like a learning opportunity to me.
Lynda
expands the mind, opens horizons. Sounds like a learning opportunity to me.
Lynda
----- Original Message -----
From: "Debbie Smith" <momschoolfor4@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 4:14 AM
Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] TV thread/suggestions
> I have really enjoyed reading the open/restricted TV policies that
everyone
> has shared. I have never posted on the list before; I'm still trying to
> work up the courage to crossover into unschooling. I supposed most other
> homeschoolers would consider us the *relaxed, semi-structured* variety
> homeschooler.
>
> Anyway, I would be really interested in everyone's opinion on the quality
of
> TV shows available to our children. What TV shows would you *rank* as
> educational programming? My children and I routinely watch "Antique
> Roadshow" and many people are surprised to find that I consider that
> educational programming.
>
> I hope this topic hasn't been posted-to-its-natural-death, and that some
of
> you will share your thoughts on what is "educational" TV.
>
> Debbie
>
>
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Join the world's largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
> http://www.hotmail.com
>
>
>
> Message boards, timely articles, a free newsletter and more!
> Check it all out at: http://www.unschooling.com
>
> To unsubscribe, set preferences, or read archives:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Unschooling-dotcom
>
> Another great list sponsored by Home Education Magazine!
> http://www.home-ed-magazine.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
Leslie Moyer
My family likes the Simpsons, too. I don't know how I forgot to include it!
(I like it, but it's not on at a good time for me to watch it, so I usually
don't--my 8 y/o daughter sets her clock by it.) We also like _King of the
Hill_ and one of our big favorites: _Malcolm in the Middle_. All of them
"dysfunctional family" kinds of shows. By examining what is "off" I think
we can come to a better understanding of what is desireable in our lives and
why....and we laugh, of course! _Spongebob Squarepants_ is funny, too, but
also not on at a good time for me to watch.
I agree--there are *all sorts* of things to learn from these shows. Humor
is something that requires a great deal of intelligence to understand.
--Leslie Moyer
(I like it, but it's not on at a good time for me to watch it, so I usually
don't--my 8 y/o daughter sets her clock by it.) We also like _King of the
Hill_ and one of our big favorites: _Malcolm in the Middle_. All of them
"dysfunctional family" kinds of shows. By examining what is "off" I think
we can come to a better understanding of what is desireable in our lives and
why....and we laugh, of course! _Spongebob Squarepants_ is funny, too, but
also not on at a good time for me to watch.
I agree--there are *all sorts* of things to learn from these shows. Humor
is something that requires a great deal of intelligence to understand.
--Leslie Moyer