A
homeschooling parent
Entertainment
Professional
Techno geek
Embracing and
exploiting television.
The box in
your home and the programming that you and your family utilize to explore life
and the world around you. It is a tool.
You can live nicely
without it. The same can be said about books, electricity, plumbing, But why?
Life may well be simpler, but not richer.
Kill the TV =
Book burners (itÕs just a cop out)
It is a common
sociological experience shared with the vast majority of the population,
experienced at a personal level with great control.
ŅSpecial timesÓ watching
a favorite movie or sporting event. Or discussing how will this story resolve?
Family bonding-Watching
together, being engrossed together is also a connection with each other. In
your nest together.
Child and parent are on
an equal footing, without power struggle.
It is a time to share
generational experiences. [RoxÕs bigotry and Cosby Show questions.]
The birth of
Drama and Theatre. Our ancestors sitting around the ancient campfire where it
is safe, out there it is dark and lions and the like, it is safe here at home by
the fire with the others. We talk because it is comforting. The hunters are
talking about todayÕs hunt because it is exciting, they killed a lion today.
Someone gets the idea to SHOW the others how it was. Standing and motioning for
us to get on one side of the fire, he stands and takes the first stage on the
other side. He is SHOWING how the hunt transpired. One of the other hunters
places the lionsÕ skin over themselves and becomes the first actor. They
reenact the exciting events of the days hunt, stalking, crouching, leaping,
roaring, stabbing, rejoicing.
The most
important event of the day has come to life for people who were not there.
All My
Sons and You CanÕt
Take It With You are
live stage plays performed in a theatre, for an attending audience that have
been taped and broadcast to a Television Audience.
Watching
truly great performances that wouldnÕt otherwise have been available
Studio
masterpieces in your home without the costs of attending a movie theater.
Older movies
that are not available any other way.
YouÕre in the same room
together. Hard to beat being on a comfortable sofa, child in your lap, or
snuggled next to you enjoying a program together, laughing, crying ,
questioning.
Ever see a
child role play while watching? Pretending with Mr. Rogers who is pretending to
be in the opera etc. A time to encourage rather than shush. Your not in a
theatre watching the ballet, donÕt shush.
Often
motionless-take a look at why. Much like reading a book or attending the ballet
or theatre.
Often a rest
from other physically demanding activities- Gilmore Girls after soccer.
I donÕt think
there is a person who didnÕt ask questions about TV. Be there and enjoy them.
Regardless what the subject or viewpoint, everything on it is open to
discussion. Wide varieties of beliefs and values can be brought up for review
and discussion.
Television
provides a nearly limitless supply of subjects to discuss. For child and
parent. An excuse or reason for the discussion. How women were treated in I
love Lucy vs Mary Tyler Moore vs Gilmore Girls.
A time and
reason to talk about apartheid.
While watching a show
on dinosaurs, we got into a discussion about how crude oil is formed, and the
different methods that have been developed for bringing it up out of the earth
(or "sucking" it out, as my youngest put it), and also the refining
process and all the things that the oil is used for.
While watching
Spongebob Squarepants we talked about why people cuss, (there's an episode
where Spongebob and Patrick think cussing is cool) and we all decided that
people that cuss constantly must not be very "smart" if they can't
think of any better words to use. :)
While watching a
movie, a Kotex commercial came on and spawned a lengthy discussion on
menstruation, and how all the different methods of protection work, or don't
work, the reasons why women pick one method over another, and what did women do
back before companies like Kotex existed. Then the discussion moved to the
different methods of birth control, then to birth itself, and C-sections,
natural childbirth, etc. All from one little Kotex commercial.
While watching The
Mummy (cartoon), we talked about Egypt and the pharaohs, and then slavery,
which eventually led to the civil war and Abe Lincoln, and then on to other
presidents that had done "great" things.
That's just a few off
the top of my head, but the main thing to remember is that none of these
discussions were planned, and it's always the kids that initiate the talks, and
when they stop asking "why, when, how, who and where" the talk is
over. They may come back at a later date and want more information to add to
what they know, or they may be satisfied and leave it at that.
TV is not a "bad" thing. TV can be very, very cool.
When I used to watch
Gilligan's Island in 4:00 re-runs after school every day, I would wonder whose
idea it was for the plot, how many writers there were, how they decided who
could come and visit, what device they would use to prevent the visitor from
rescuing them, how they must plan in advance not to have too-similar plots near
each other, and the re-runs must be kept in that same order too. I wondered about them changing the
theme song--at first it had said, "the movie star, and the rest," but
in later seasons it said, "the movie star, the professor and Mary
Ann," and I wondered whether they had re-sung the whole thing or just
spliced in that line, because it sounded the same as it had before. And had
they done it because the actors complained? Their agents complained? I wondered whether the
pedal-powered washing machine (or whatever it was) really worked by the pedals,
or whether it was just secretly plugged in, and if so, where did the wires
run? I wondered if much of it was
on indoor sets. How deep was that
water? (As an adult, I saw what's
left of the set at Universal Studios.
Cool! Outside! Actual little lake.) When I would see a show the second
time, I'd look around for things I had missed the first time. I would re-write lines in my mind,
things that could have been funnier, or sounded more in character for that
person. I'd wonder who knew more
about hammock making, the captain or the professor? Maybe Ginger or Mary Ann knew macramˇ. When there was a show
which didn't have one of the actors in, I'd wonder whether he was sick or on
vacation or what? And if an actor
misses the filming of a sitcom, does he still get paid? I wondered about them having to keep
their hair the same for years, and which of them were might be wearing wigs.
Where were they supposed to be getting nail polish and lipstick? Hair spray? I wondered if the professor was a physics professor or
engineering, or what, and whether he would lose his job at the university. I wondered about that Mr. Magoo voice
on Thurston Howell. I wondered
about Amelia Earhart. I wondered about
the soundtrack music. Did they
just have little themes they pushed a button on during final edit, or was each
show done separately? I wondered
if the fruit was real or props. I
wondered about cameras--where were they?
Did they have to sweep the dirt between takes? I wondered if the guy who played the lost WWII pilot
was really Japanese. I could think
more during an episode of Gilligan's Island than most other people I knew could
think in a whole week. I didn't bother to ask my parents any of the questions.
They would have thought it was stupid to be thinking them. So to all outside appearances (except
to my cousin, Nada, who was my age) I was just zoning out, involved in the plot
of another 25 minutes of Gilligan's Island. That wasn't true at all.
Easy choices about what
to view provide experience and empowerment in their lives and ample opportunity
for questioning and self review.
This is where the child
becomes the adult. Making choices about their time. Being able to see and
decide for themselves what is worthwhile and what isnÕt. Is Bewitched worth
spending 5 hours of your time?
Time limits can undercut
a personÕs ability to make useful choices for themselves. Some parents turn off
the TV thinking that they are offering freedom to their children. In reality,
children that have limitless access have the freedom to turn it off, and often
do.
It is a
vision based medium with motion and sound. Even incidental music, theme songs of shows, without the
high-level opportunity for seeing people perform, and movies with award winning
soundtracks, etc...
[SandraÕs one radio
station story and TV having all kinds of music]
ŅTV
and the internet allow all of us a view of the
world
that previous generations could not access. I
can
get a photo of virtually any place on the planet.
I
don't have to wonder what the favorite food of
Aussies
is or how to raise a tadpole or what the
weather
is like in Bejing today. Just go
look it up.
I
think it's Exciting to live in this world we find
ourselves in. The Possibilities are Limitless.Ó
Complex
problems or situations that would be nearly impossible to comprehend in only
words can be illustrated in spatial relation. Ex. Search for he missing quarks
and elements. El Nino causing ocean temperature changing patterns. Satellite
weather photo loops.
TV is a huge information resource available to anyone without the prerequsite of the ability to read.
I strongly disagree with people like John Roseamond that say you should allow viewing until they are firm readers. Why would a reasonable person hold it out?
A study for
the presentation of structure and story. Understanding dramatic structure is
fostered in the experience. You can understand good story telling by watching
good story telling. Meta Cognition, the means of getting the message. Thinking
about the thinking of the viewing.
A favorite show is Ebert and Roper because they talk critically about films we have seen and they intelligently explain their points of view. Saying good things about bad movies and visa versa. Ultimately ending with either thumbs up or down from all that gray of good and bad points. Illustrating how incomplete such black and white answers can be. And how differently we all see the world. Often a negative point as explained is a positive reason for us to see the film.
It, like reading, and computer usage, is a visually demanding task that can cause discomfort. Concentrating during any of these tasks often causes one to blink less often. Making viewing an activity with discussion and interaction will automatically give the eyes a rest from the picture.
Some people are effected by it. There is now a sharpness adjustment on television sets that I hear helps to alleviate that sensitivity. But ultimately we all balance benefits with costs.
That doesnÕt seem like
the model for a parent active in their childrenÕs lives as most homeschoolers
are. But take a good look at your parenting.
TV
has become the poster child for laziness and obesity. It is an erroneous
correlation. There is just as much good information and worthy topics of
interest on TV as their are in books.
It is in a different form. It does require discretion of the viewer. But
so do books. Many books are not worthy of the trees that died for them.
Yet
books have no music and sound recordings have no visuals.
Again
most studies work on given situation not outcomes. They find a lot of obese
people watching a lot of TV and deduce that TV made them obese, that there were
no other factors in the obesity. If there were no TV we would all be skinny
very little of it looks the other way, that obese people look for occupation
that can be sedentary. [joke about frog research]
Is
TV making you (or your kids) a couch potato or are you (or your kids) a couch
potato looking for something to do on that couch.
Solitary
viewing may be an excuse for needing time alone or time to cogitate. Let those
needs be satiated with TV or a book or music or whatever. Then continue to make
TV an active endeavor.
Blaming TV is
a politically expedient scapegoat
Schools
donÕt work as their proponents would like and they need scapegoats. The first
two are often parents and Television
The
points against TV are pretty weak and remarkably similar to homeschooling: No
social interaction? No questions? No language?
Anti-TV
studies often are school-based, and talk about how kids who don't watch TV do
better in school, or whatever. If
learning is the goal, not school, how could TV prevent LEARNING?
Before TV
they blamed comic books, and before that paperback novels, and before that
secular books... till we get to the devil.
How does the
study relate to your situation, beyond the common denominator of the TV? Are
they looking at active homeschoolers? [or at student nurses] What is the study
group and how were the tested? Why was the study performed and what was trying
to be proven. I havenÕt found a single study that concerns active homeschooling
parents like you.
Jane Healy,
keynote speaker last year (that I enjoyed very much) had lots of negative
things to say about TV and affects on learning. Not a signal example involved
homeschooled children. She hadnÕt even knowingly had a conversation with a
homeschooled person until she came to the conference.
PBS, a
mission of public interest. Starts from the viewers desires usually in
education and the arts. Not strictly commercial free.
Exists to provide an audience to advertisers. DonÕt ever forget that.
Media providersÕ primary
responsibility is to its shareholders. Many take NO responsibility for children
except as a group of potential customers to advertisers.
What is so cool about the race car toy after you take away the lighting and sound effects and music?
Built in
times for discussion
Time shifting
commercials into a blink with VCR and PVR (Tivo) [DEMO]
EVEN BETTER
is that the VCR & Tivo allows discussion at anytime, safely encouraging
dialogue without fear missing program. We can stop anytime we want and
interact.
Presumably commercial free content tailored for personal one to one viewing. Re distributing films in the television format
[Cats or Star Trek}
http://television.vilter.us My fledgling website where, for now, is a web page version
of this document. IÕll post more
information here as I get it.
http://sandradodd.com/tv The television section of SandraÕs web
site. The rest of the site is a rich resource for un schooling and
homeschooling.
http://www.screenit.com very explicit review of what you will see broken-down by
category, addressed
to parents
Kids in
Mind
http://www.kids-in-mind.com/
objective,
non-critical assessments of the potentially objectionable material contained in
movies, also addressed to parents
http://www.filmsite.org/ - very in depth reviews, although not
specifically
aimed at guiding parents picking movies for children.
Grading the Movies, Music and Games - not currently keeping up w/
game
reviews, although there are a few in the archives.
http://www.gradingthemovies.com/
Edutaining Kids - Children's Video Reviews - they also review
books, toys,
music and software.
http://www.edutainingkids.com/videos.html
Parents Television Council
http://www.parentstv.org/
The History Channel - subscribe to their listings.
http://www.historychannel.com/
Mail
Call
http://www.historychannel.com/mailcall/mailcall.html Answers questions about
technology and tactics used throughout history by the armed forces (one of my
sons favorite programs)
ChildrenÕs Television Workshop
http://www.ctw.org/sesamestreet/
Public Television
http://www.pbs.org/
TV Land
http://www.tvland.com/
http://www.tvland.com/nickatnite/
http://www.nickjr.com/
http://www.nickjr.com/grownups/teachers/
Cable in the Classroom
http://www.ciconline.com/default.htm
National Geographic Channel US
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/tv/channel/cic.html
Tech TV
http://www.techtv.com/ Specializing in programming about
computers and technology.
Noggin
http://www.noggin.com/
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/
Home and Garden Television
http://www.hgtv.com/
Food Network
http://www.foodtv.com/
RFDTV
http://www.rfd-tv.com/start3.html
Discovery Channel
http://www.discovery.com/
BBC America
http://www.bbcamerica.com/bbcamerica.jsp
Animal Planet
NetFlix
http://netflix.com DVD rental through the mail very large collection of
films and television show released on DVD (only)
Mentura
http://www.mentura.com/ Similar to NetFlix specializing in educational programs.
Study guide are available for many programs
Internet
Movie Database
http://www.imdb.com extensive database of 260,000 movies and TV shows
thoroughly hyperlinked ŅwhatÕs his name?Ó ŅWhat else has he been in?Ó