The Great TV Divide

[HejKatt]

DS is young enough that TV doesn't figure into his education. Personally I'm holding off until he can read proficiently. I'd be happy to hold off even longer but my parents have been asking what about documentaries, History Channel, etc.

 

I've seen other posters here who use TV (DVDs, really) for HSing, e.g. for the Teaching Company series. I can see that being useful, but in between the present "No TV" and the future "Useful TV", there's a large divide that I'd like to hear how you handled. Especially since TV can be so addictive - I should know, I wasted many hours on it when I was younger!

 

So how about it, parents? Have you made TV figure positively in a classical education? If so, when did you introduce TV for your kids, and what boundaries did you set? On the flip side, did you ever sense your child was getting "too much TV" and how did you handle it?

[Parrothead]

Dh's side of the family are pretty big TVers. Not turning it on was not an option. So I'm on the other side of the divide from you. But dd is right now playing Stargate SG-1 instead of watching it with dh and me. Most days it isn't on until dh comes home from work. There are times that we will turn it on during lunch. We do not any longer have cable, satellite or antennae. All our watching is done via Netflix streaming.

[Gratia271]

DS is young enough that TV doesn't figure into his education. Personally I'm holding off until he can read proficiently. I'd be happy to hold off even longer but my parents have been asking what about documentaries, History Channel, etc.

 

I've seen other posters here who use TV (DVDs, really) for HSing, e.g. for the Teaching Company series. I can see that being useful, but in between the present "No TV" and the future "Useful TV", there's a large divide that I'd like to hear how you handled. Especially since TV can be so addictive - I should know, I wasted many hours on it when I was younger!

 

So how about it, parents? Have you made TV figure positively in a classical education? If so, when did you introduce TV for your kids, and what boundaries did you set? On the flip side, did you ever sense your child was getting "too much TV" and how did you handle it?

 

We don't watch tv, but we watch dvds like BBC series and movies, documentaries, classics, Teaching Co. etc. I didn't introduce anything until age 7. I know we are odd, but it works for us.

[HejKatt]

I second that thought about no cable, satellite or antennae. They can really complicate the picture in terms of tracking/vetting what shows are being watched, and most shows nowadays seem to be duds. The good ones can be added onto the Netflix queue.

 

Although I must say our house is not a popular one with the relatives because "they can't watch the news" when they visit. :)

[HejKatt]

We don't watch tv, but we watch dvds like BBC series and movies, documentaries, classics, Teaching Co. etc. I didn't introduce anything until age 7. I know we are odd, but it works for us.

Nope, not odd! I like your philosophy.. I know a family who is strictly no TV (children age range from K to teens), and although I'm not sure we could do the same, I like that their children are well read.

[Alenee]

I watched far too much TV as a child and young adult and so I passed that on to the kids from birth. Eventually, we had to actually begin accomplishing things during our day ;) and I immediately put restrictions on TV time (as well as all screen time). We only have an antenna so they have two channels that we allow. Occasionally, when we have time off from regularly scheduled activities, they will watch a little more but generally speaking, we keep it to an hour or less per day and there are definitely more days where it stays off than on, which makes mama very happy!

 

I've only started using the screen as an educational tool recently but it's helped. We do a lot of reading and sometimes, you just don't want to have to work that hard. The girls had a Pyramids dvd from the library that was of the same book/author that was on our book list. They can recite everything back to me about what they learned so I'm happy with that!

[HejKatt]

I watched far too much TV as a child and young adult and so I passed that on to the kids from birth. Eventually, we had to actually begin accomplishing things during our day ;) and I immediately put restrictions on TV time (as well as all screen time). We only have an antenna so they have two channels that we allow. Occasionally, when we have time off from regularly scheduled activities, they will watch a little more but generally speaking, we keep it to an hour or less per day and there are definitely more days where it stays off than on, which makes mama very happy!

 

I've only started using the screen as an educational tool recently but it's helped. We do a lot of reading and sometimes, you just don't want to have to work that hard. The girls had a Pyramids dvd from the library that was of the same book/author that was on our book list. They can recite everything back to me about what they learned so I'm happy with that!

That's a great example of how the medium of TV can add to learning, by supplying animation or music.

 

This learning, together with the sponge-like memory of children, could lead to watching more screen time at the Grammar stage/younger age. Though I'm not personally comfortable with that conclusion, since I've more often seen children controlled by TV than the other way (not that I'm implying you are, Carli, just a general statement!)