Unschooling and electronics

 My latest article at an Unschooling Life
http://anunschoolinglife.com/unschooling-and-electronics/

a little more about TV

It seems there are a few *biggies* in unschooling/parenting forums.

Math, tv, video games, food, sleep, these seem to strike fear in people.

How will they ever _____ if I don't make them _____??????

Unschooling is a philosophy that people are born with an innate desire to learn and that learning is as natural as breathing.

We trust the learning process and it is different in every person because everyone is unique.

Nobody learns the same thing at the same age, it just doesn't make sense. Yes there are averages because otherwise it's all across the board.

Straight from birth, each milestone is reached at a different age, it's reached in that child's timeframe. I'm not even sure I agree with *milestones* as it makes it out that EVERY baby will do _____.

Anyway back to TV.

My kids have never had artificial limits or rules imposed on them.

They are free to watch TV or not watch TV.

Cassie likes TV and she does have it on often, she has her favorite shows and knows when they are on.

Her TV is on a lot, it will be on while she is playing, she usually forgets it's on and leaves her room.

Once in awhile she shuts it off.

Last night was one of those times.

We cleaned her room and she loves it when it is clean.

She turned her radio on and was sitting on her bed writing in her notebook.

Be Free!!!!

true choice

Let me backtrack a second...

Cassie has started watching the Brady Bunch and Little House on the Prairie. I get LH on Netflix for her.

TV Land plays them both on weekends starting at 2 am. Yesterday she was ecstatic that it was Saturday so she could watch Brady Bunch.

It wasn't on last night, she cried. I looked online, they don't play full episodes of it, I checked Netflix, no instant play.

I checked the listings and it is on tonight. She was still upset last night but I found a movie for her on instant play that she likes and that helped a little bit.

She is going to stay up and watch all of it tonight, 2 episodes of each that will bring her to 5 am before she goes to bed.

I asked her if she was sure about watching it all and she said yes she is planning on it.

I guess I'm just saying that it is her choice to stay up and watch and fall asleep afterwards.

That is real freedom of choice.

CSI

Any CSI fans?

I was blown away by the ending...no pun intended.

Although I was always suspicious of the undersheriff.

Back into TV Land

Bear with me, this is supposed to be at the bottom but I can't figure out how to move it and I don't feel like typing the post over. You'll get it as you read :) This is Jason fixing my ceiling. What does this have to do with TV, you ask...

There is always a story around here...

Today the cable guy was supposed to come between 12-3pm, I went to bed at 3:00am and I couldn't sleep...

I knew I had to get up just in case he showed up early or at noon, so I got up at 11:00am. I know for you normal people that isn't early, but it is when you are me and you didn't even sleep.

So I felt like crap :)

The day went on and we started thinking he wasn't coming so the guy called around 2:30pm, he was off in the boonies and apologized but he was on his way. Like they can't give him two jobs in the same vicinity...

So we are already wired because we have cable internet, we decided to go for the triple deal, tv, phone, internet.

Jared and I were in the boys room learning about the solar system, he had questions and thankfully I have encyclopedias in the house with pictures. So we were reading and talking and minding our own business when all of a sudden...

BOOM, CRASH, OH SHIT!

Well here's the picture.

The cable guy fell through my ceiling! First of all he wasn't hurt, phew!

All Jason could do was laugh and assure him it was OK, he was very remorseful. The thing is Jason already stepped through the same spot and we had the ceiling taped up, I'm not kidding! Except this was much bigger and now had to be worked on today. Oh Home Depot loves us!

I just told him *welcome to the money pit*

So anyway everyone is so excited we haven't had TV in 10 months. So guess what everyone around here will be doing for awhile :)

Confession

This was brought on by Julie, http://jewlsntexas.blogspot.com/2007/08/guilty-pleasure.html
I wouldn't really call it a guilty pleasure cause I don't feel guilty, LOL!

Confession: I watch The Young and the Restless, I have since I was 12. I taped it through school years and watched it later.

There were a few years in the early 90's where I didn't see it. We joined Amway and it was all about garbage in garbage out, no TV , Show the Plan! So we did not watch TV for 2 years, we rented an occasional movie but that was it, especially no News.

We started back slowly into TV when Kieran was a toddler, he watched PBS we only got a few channels so started to buy videos, you know Blues Clues and Thomas :)

I have since been taping my show, I love it, it's my escape so to speak. It's kind of funny, Jason hates soaps, he doesn't forbid me to watch, LOL! He has voiced his opinion and respects my decision to watch.

I love that it is made up, I know all to well about real people and real situations. There were many times, situations, people, things that happened in PA, that I wish were made up. I mean some examples from Jay's work, I would tell him and you think my soap is bad. HA!!! To protect privacy I can't say things but my gosh the things people do.

So that is my confession I love Y&R and I hate to miss it :)

tv, video games, limitations, rules...

I asked a fellow blogger where to begin since I'm new at this and she said start where you are now. So today on a yahoo group I belong to there were discussions of limiting tv and video games. I always have a hard time with these posts because these things have never been limited in our house and are not an issue. Sure my kids watch tv and play video games whenever they want, they also do lots of other things that interest them. I firmly believe that if these things were limited or used as a reward or punishment then there would be some sort of power given to them. As it is they hold no power and they are just another tool or resource, they are also a form of entertainment and learning.

What really got me was how the parent talked about how the kids have to explicity behave and clean up before they can play or watch. If they act up they can't play and get grounded from it, HUH!!!!!

I always wonder how these kids feel when their parents put such limits on them. I wonder if the husband told the wife that since she didn't do the dishes when he wanted that she had to go to bed early I don't know, it's all stupid to me. Where is the respect in these homes, where is the joy of learning, where is the compatibility, where is the real living?

More to come on this subject but right now my kids are calling...