So today I was explaining to my DS5 that when I was a kid, I didn’t play handheld video games all the time on long road trips, but that I would read, color or write stories. He got very excited about this, and asked if he could write his own story. Now, my son’s reading is good for his age (just finished reading a Frog and Toad book), and he is very imaginative when he plays, but getting him to write a sentence is painful. He hates handwriting practice, composition, and spelling. I was worried that this might stifle his creativity. So I offered to scribe for him. Maybe I ought not to have done this, but I did. I told him to form complete sentences aloud, and then I wrote just what he told me. We wrote two stories, each about ten sentences long, and then he drew pictures to go with them. It was so fun! And as someone who still loves to write stories, it warmed my mommy heart. Has anyone else ever done anything like this?

I have the same problem. I've been letting my DS5 play Lego Star Wars in the mornings (starting at 7:00) so I can sleep until my daughter gets up (around 7:30). But if she sleeps in, so do I...Then I usually let him go to Starfall.com or pbskids.org in the afternoon for about an hour so I can pay bills, make phone calls, do lesson plans, etc. Then I sometimes park both of them in front of some inane Claymation preschool show so I can make dinner. Basically, I know they get too much screen time, my son in particular, but I don't know how to fix it! He's happy to not play games/watch TV--as long as I am actively playing with him. He has a very hard time not saying "mom....mom....mom...." every ten seconds. To be fair, though, we've only been homeschooling for three weeks. But I'm worried that as my need to breathe increases, so will his screen time. Anyway, I don't really have an answer. I am looking for one! My husband works so much, asking him for help isn't really an option. I just read in WTM that afternoon nap should be two hours of quiet, independent play. I'm lucky if I get twenty minutes without a screen involved! I don't know how people enforce "no screen" rules. I'd like to figure out how to cut down, though.