I admit it....
I admit it, I like children's educational programming! I have many mom friends, and know there are many others out there, who never watch television--or dare let their children watch it -- but I want to openly and loudly confess that not only do we watch television in our home, but we enjoy and LEARN from it!
My Irish twins are fourteen months apart, which means that my oldest (Jordan) was only six months old when I became pregnant with my youngest (Cali). Extreme fatigue and exhaustion characterized both of my pregnancies, so unfortunately our park outings for the next nine months were cut drastically. We did continue a few play dates with friends, played with the usual educational games and toys, and we always read a ton of books, but we also did watch a good bit of Noggin and Playhouse Disney! I would always scout out the ones that I felt were the most educational and we would interact with the show while watching it (I have always enjoyed talking to the television anyway, this just gave me an excuse!). After Cali was born, I was having to adjust to having a 14 month old toddler running around and a newborn, so the educational programming hung around for a bit longer.
Over the last year and a half, we have reduced the amount of television we watch and have been adding a lot of fun learning activities and classic children's literature to our homeschool preschool. At first I did try to cut out almost all of the television because I felt I had to follow the crowd and experts that said that it was harmful. Shortly after that cut, I researched learning styles and discovered that Jordan was a huge auditory learner. While television is an obvious visual medium, the fun animation grabs her attention and she learns and retains the information she hears so quickly! Thanks to the little bit of Dora she watched for that year, she still knows many Spanish words and songs.... in fact, I have had to call my bilingual friend to ask her if my daughter was using the words correctly! She, in fact, was! Hmmm, maybe television isn't so bad after all?
As I mentioned, even when we were at maximum television viewing, we did continue to read a lot of books every day. Both of my girls love the written word and Jordan has been expressing interest in wanting to learn to read for several months now, even though she only recently turned three (on Thanksgiving)! Again, I listened to the so-called experts for quite awhile that said children aren't developmentally ready to learn to read until they are at least three or four years old, and that we shouldn't push our children. However, her interest maintained and she learned all her letters and sounds very quickly. Then, around mid-October we discovered PBS and three AWESOME shows: Super Why, Word World, and Between the Lions. I LOVE PBS!!! These programs have both of my girls (even Cali who will turn 2 next month!) so excited about reading! In the last two months, Jordan has learned how to spell a handful of words and yesterday read the word "Cup" all on her own! This has all been accomplished simply by reading a lot of good books, playing letter recognition games and watching these three shows on PBS!
My Irish twins are fourteen months apart, which means that my oldest (Jordan) was only six months old when I became pregnant with my youngest (Cali). Extreme fatigue and exhaustion characterized both of my pregnancies, so unfortunately our park outings for the next nine months were cut drastically. We did continue a few play dates with friends, played with the usual educational games and toys, and we always read a ton of books, but we also did watch a good bit of Noggin and Playhouse Disney! I would always scout out the ones that I felt were the most educational and we would interact with the show while watching it (I have always enjoyed talking to the television anyway, this just gave me an excuse!). After Cali was born, I was having to adjust to having a 14 month old toddler running around and a newborn, so the educational programming hung around for a bit longer.
Over the last year and a half, we have reduced the amount of television we watch and have been adding a lot of fun learning activities and classic children's literature to our homeschool preschool. At first I did try to cut out almost all of the television because I felt I had to follow the crowd and experts that said that it was harmful. Shortly after that cut, I researched learning styles and discovered that Jordan was a huge auditory learner. While television is an obvious visual medium, the fun animation grabs her attention and she learns and retains the information she hears so quickly! Thanks to the little bit of Dora she watched for that year, she still knows many Spanish words and songs.... in fact, I have had to call my bilingual friend to ask her if my daughter was using the words correctly! She, in fact, was! Hmmm, maybe television isn't so bad after all?
As I mentioned, even when we were at maximum television viewing, we did continue to read a lot of books every day. Both of my girls love the written word and Jordan has been expressing interest in wanting to learn to read for several months now, even though she only recently turned three (on Thanksgiving)! Again, I listened to the so-called experts for quite awhile that said children aren't developmentally ready to learn to read until they are at least three or four years old, and that we shouldn't push our children. However, her interest maintained and she learned all her letters and sounds very quickly. Then, around mid-October we discovered PBS and three AWESOME shows: Super Why, Word World, and Between the Lions. I LOVE PBS!!! These programs have both of my girls (even Cali who will turn 2 next month!) so excited about reading! In the last two months, Jordan has learned how to spell a handful of words and yesterday read the word "Cup" all on her own! This has all been accomplished simply by reading a lot of good books, playing letter recognition games and watching these three shows on PBS!
I am sure there will be many things in this homeschool journey that will seem daunting to me, but for now I must admit the biggest obstacle has been teaching my children how to read. The very idea of that has scared me senseless. It just seems like one of those areas that you should have a PHD to be able to teach effectively, yet thanks to children's educational programming, good classic literature and my own genius creativity, my children are learning how to read and the anxiety has lessened greatly!
I have read several blogs from other homeschool moms who use educational videos to help teach science, history and even religion with great results. In fact, I'm considering purchasing one of the video curriculums that I recently read about for art education ( I can't even draw a straight line!). Maybe that is the problem -- while it is accepted and even common in the homeschool world to utilize educational videos online or from the library, there is still a stigma attached to television, even when it is educational programming.
So in an attempt to stop this madness and usher in a new era of open-mindedness, I am stating loudly and clearly, and publicly.... we watch television!!!
Any takers in joining me in this public confession??
:-)
Love in Christ,
Rachel
I have read several blogs from other homeschool moms who use educational videos to help teach science, history and even religion with great results. In fact, I'm considering purchasing one of the video curriculums that I recently read about for art education ( I can't even draw a straight line!). Maybe that is the problem -- while it is accepted and even common in the homeschool world to utilize educational videos online or from the library, there is still a stigma attached to television, even when it is educational programming.
So in an attempt to stop this madness and usher in a new era of open-mindedness, I am stating loudly and clearly, and publicly.... we watch television!!!
Any takers in joining me in this public confession??
:-)
Love in Christ,
Rachel
