Thanks Kriston! Well done! You didnt' mention "computer games - video games - gameboy - Internet" If you feel comfortable, how do you negotiate that?
You can't tell? Because I'm ALWAYS on the computer, naturally! The poor kids can't get to it! LOL!
We own two computers, but only one is hooked up to the Internet. That helps. And I really am on the computer more often than not when we're not doing school work. (Bad!)
We don't own a gameboy or other video game system, so that's easy...for now. When we get to the "Everyone has a gameboy but me" thing, I know it will become more of a challenge. Now, when the kids do play games on the computer, it's usually "I Spy" software, the games on the Hot Wheels website, or Webkinz. None seems too bad for them. It's all of the nonviolent make/build/do style of game. I figure it's about equal to the kind of TV we allow them to watch. Meh. But they only play for maybe an hour a week.
There will come a day when I'll be in trouble, because my rules for them about TV and computer do not apply to me. I rely very heavily on TV, computer games, and the Internet for my personal entertainment, mainly because they're more interruptable than my writing or reading books and more fun than housework. (Ha!) But one of these days, I fully expect the kids to say, "How come you get to watch junk TV and play on the computer so much and we don't?" I don't have a good answer for that!
To me, the kinds of experiences your DS sets up for himself with the Tantagrams and Clay are exactly what "school" should be about. I had a very hard time enticing my DS to do any of that after the age of 2.5 when he discovered computer games. YMMV, but I applaud you.
Nah, I don't deserve applause. It's the path of least resistance for me, really. The clay and tangrams and legos and such are all independent play that don't require my attention. Video games and TV do require it, at least some of it. Really, I'm mostly just a lazy person at heart.
I certainly don't want to hold myself up as some kind of example parent or anything. I'm SOOOOOO not that! What I am is concerned to make learning fun and easy on all of us. Most days I go to bed feeling like I should have done more than I did for my DSs. But I remind myself of a saying we had in grad school: "You can never do enough. You can always do more. But at some point you really have to decide to stop for the day." Home schooling is much the same. Some days are learning whirlwinds. Some days are yawn-worthy. But if learning is mostly fun for him and if I feel we're mostly being responsible, then I'm okay with stopping for the day, even if we could have done more. <shrug>
Certainly we're not hothousing. Quite the opposite, if anything! Keyword: lazy mom!
