Posted on 15 Comments

Reading, and thoughts on Summer screen time

I took Flufy to the library recently, so we could have a little quiet spot to help him work out a math problem he was having, and once he got the hang of it I was left to wander the New Book section.

Reading, and Thoughts on Summer Screen Time @lclarke522

This is what I came home with.

Yesterday, being Sunday (and a hot, humid one at that), I decided some lazy time was in order. I plopped myself down on the couch, feet up on my newly-refurbished stool, jar of ice water on the table next to me, and dug into that pile of library books.

I spent the most time with Geek Mom (surprised? no, I didn’t think so).

Thoughts on Summer screen time

As usually happens around this time, three days away from the end of the school year, I wonder how on earth I am going to keep the kids from wasting their entire summer in front of the computer. Lori of Project-Based-Homeschooling fame, has been writing lately on the subject of screen time, (more specifically, why she doesn’t worry too much about it),  and I find that she has helped me approach this summer from a new perspective. I don’t want to think so much about limiting BOG and Flufy‘s screen time anymore. My focus should really be on providing enough opportunities to experience the things that I think are Good and Important. If we have enough outdoor time, social time, creative time, family time, and whathaveyou, then the fact that they choose to spend what’s left playing Minecraft (or whatever) shouldn’t really matter.

Besides, I actually really like the skills that they are acquiring through their involvement with Minecraft. Their screen time has always been more constructive than it has been passive, and so I’ve usually been on the more generous side of limits. Still, the need for limits has been omnipresent in my mind for many a summer. Lori’s approach turns my thinking topsy-turvy (but in a good way).

With that in mind, Geek Mom is giving me some ideas for do-together stuff. I may have to get my own copy of this book so I can bookmark the daylights out of it. (Also, there’s a website. Cool!)

You can see more about the other books in the pile here.

So, what are you reading these days? Any good nonfiction recommendations?

Supermoon over Stirling

P.S. Totally unrelated, but how about that supermoon?

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Posted on 15 Comments

15 thoughts on “Reading, and thoughts on Summer screen time

  1. Kiddo is being required to do either half a day of working for me or someone else half of the time and socializing / volunteering half the other days.

    Other half days? Her share of the normal chores and then she can go goof off however she wants. I am betting that will be a lot of minecraft and sims and tumblr but that’s okay.

    I have a hard time telling her not to use the computer / game stuff / phone too much when I’m pretty much glued to the same sort of thing. So we monitor it.

    1. I know what you mean. Sometimes I feel like these screen time limits are as much for me as they are for my kids. I often need to force myself to close the lid on the laptop and go do something else.

  2. Nothing non-fiction on my bookshelves right now (doesn’t help that all my books are packed to move). I am currently deep into Rebels of Ireland which is the sequel to Princes of Dublin. The history of Ireland told through fictional families through the ages. It’s by Edward Rutherfurd & I love how he tells the history of a place. I’ve read the ones he’s done on London, Russia and middle England. I think if we taught history like this in schools kids would be way more interested.

    1. Sounds interesting! I’ve always liked historical fiction, especially as it relates to familiar places and figures.

  3. “Lori’s approach turns my thinking topsy-turvy (but in a good way).”

    yay! 🙂

    i hope you guys have a great summer — i am sure you will!

    1. Thanks, Lori 🙂

  4. No nonfiction here, but I am readying the Game of Thrones series. Just started book 3 today!

    1. I only seem to read fiction when I’m pregnant. And even then, it’s usually just mysteries. My husband panics when he sees me reading Agatha Christie, LOL!

      1. heehee

  5. My 12 year old loves Minecraft so much that he chose staying home to play on his computer over going to the movies this afternoon to see Man of Steel.

    I listen to audio books and just finished a great two book series by Connie Willis called Blackout and All Clear. The three main characters are history students from Oxford in the year 2060 who have time traveled to London during WWII to experience history first hand. But they get stuck and have to figure out how to get back. I learned a great deal about life during the war and it would be a great book for children too.

    1. I could see my kids doing that, too, sometimes 🙂
      Those books sound interesting!

  6. Thank you so much for posting this! I hadn’t heard of the PBH website, and after devouring the article you linked, plus the three attached, and then a fair chunk of the rest of the site, my mind is officially blown. And I love it. I just got her book from the library and this is sparking a huge mess of changes in our home. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

    ~Angela~

    1. I’m so glad to hear this! I love Lori and her ideas. We don’t homeschool, but I see so many opportunities to apply little bits of her wisdom here and there anyway 🙂

  7. I was looking at the library books you have and hope you’ll report in on the knitting in 30 minutes. I’m definitely good to go on a 30-minute projects, seeing as how I’m about to birth one that’s taken a year!!! Also, Smitten Kitchen. I love that blog and her gorgeous photos and all her food. It’s amazing to me that she can do all those amazing things in a tiny NYC apartment kitchen. She’s one talented woman!!
    Oh, and btw, my daughter (mother of the 3 yo Ruby and the 5 month old Emme (who’s about to have her second open heart surgery — the first was when she was 3 days old). Anyway my daughter didn’t allow any screen time for Ruby until she was over 2. Then it was very limited (1/2 hr a day). The time crept up a bit. And now, with the baby’s upcoming surgery and her trying to get everything done that needs being done, the tv (or iPad or iPhone) is allowed for a great deal more time. But Ruby explained to an out-of-town visitor what a hypothesis is. She also discussed what a palentologist does. Both of these are compliments of Dinosaur Train. So if she’s learning all that at 3, a little more screen time won’t hurt! Off the bandstand….

    1. When mine were little, the only TV we ever watched was PBS Kids, or DVDs from Baby Einstein and Blue’s Clues. And then, it was either a way for me to sneak off and get a 15 minute shower, or it was something we did together. And they learned quite a bit from these shows.

      These days, we have a lot more channels, but my kids never want to watch them. They are just not the sit down and watch TV types. They’d rather be making their own videos. Somehow I managed to raise producers instead of consumers (which is very cool, but I can’t really figure out how I did it, LOL!)

      Your granddaughter’s heart surgery must be a nerve-wracking thing for you all! I’ll be thinking good thoughts for your family.

      As for the knitting book, I only looked through it very quickly, but I liked the aesthetic of the projects. There were some cute hanging birds that I particularly liked.

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