The Big, Bad, TV

                                                                            


I really like TV. After the kids get to bed, I like to relax, maybe make some popcorn, and watch TV. It's the end of the day, and I can FINALLY just sit down, and do nothing... ahhhh...

But, as a homeschool mom, I'm not supposed to like TV! I'm supposed to disconnect it and throw it on the front lawn until the trash men come. TV hating and homeschooling go hand-in-hand. When homeschool people introduce themselves, they often say something like, "I homeschool my 14 children, who were all born in the bathtub, and we don't watch TV." They also usually throw something in there about how wonderful they eat too. One mom confided in me, "She thinks green beans are a treat!" I punched her in the boobs.

I'm not advocating parking your kids in front of the TV all day. Any one who knows me knows that's not how I roll. And I think you should be very careful what they watch. I just think people should stop vilifying TV. Like so many other things, it's what you make of it- you can use it for bad, or you can use it for good.

Last summer we signed up for Netflix, and we ended up using it for homeschooling more than anything. In September we did a unit study on Johnny Appleseed, and we were able to rent the Disney movie. We've watched a few IMAX shows about animals and several episodes of "Liberty's Kids", a cartoon series about Colonial America and the Revolutionary war. When we read Madeline and studied France, we were able to watch the cartoons of Madeline as well. It's a nice supplement. And we really enjoy making popcorn, grabbing a blanket, and having family movie night- just like sometimes we have campfire night or board game night or going out for ice cream night. I just really don't get what all the fuss is about.

That being said, I am hyper-vigilant about what my kids watch, and they are usually limited to PBS cartoons (I LOVE Martha Speaks and sometimes find myself watching it...) And I do have two kids with couch-potato tendencies, so we have some guidelines:

One hour max a day
No TV if you don't do your chores
No TV when there's something else to do- nice weather, piano practice, family over
We also watch movies before our kids do. Even "G" movies sometimes have things that are a little too scary or themes we're not crazy about.

So that's my take on TV. It's one of those things you have to use common sense with. And no, I didn't really punch that lady in the boobs. I usually go straight for the jugular.