When summer happens things change- even for homeschoolers. Friends are out and about all day, school work is little to none, vacations happen and for us strep throat also happened. It went from one kid to another then to me. So for 2-3 weeks the household had a sick inhabitant.
All of these factors led to lots of screen time. Before I knew it they were a wreck without their TV or iPad’s (one old iPad and another kids amazon tablet which we love!).
I tried limiting it and making a little poster of what has to be done every day before they could use them. I gave a nice little speech and the poster is really bright…. but it was still a daily frustration. Although the poster helps because I can use direct them to it when they are repeatedly asking me for screen time. I also have a morning routine up to give them some reminders about the morning’s and what needs to be done each morning. This again saves me from a lot of verbal repetition.
I must say that I am all about electronic. There are moments when the TV or their iPads SAVE MY LIFE! And if used right there are so many resources to be found online. It’s also great family time to watch a movie or TV together. But I didn’t like that every day they kept asking “when can we use our iPads or watch TV?” over and over again.
I decided that it being a daily thing was the problem. I’m sure in my common sense section of my brain I already knew this but like I said we had slipped into a free for all schedule as of late. Continue reading