Posted in My Ramblings
JESUS IS COMING SOON! MARANATHA LORD!
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Hi friends, if you need to silence the music just hit the play/pause button on the player in the right sidebar, just below the black horse and the copyright notice.
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Hi friends, if you need to silence the music just hit the play/pause button on the player in the right sidebar, just below the black horse and the copyright notice.
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When the TV went digital in June, I thought it wouldn't matter to me because I had a digital tuner and digital antenna, I also had two converter boxes in case I ever needed them for an older TV set. Once the switch happened though, I was disappointed that where I live, I can only pick up one station on the digital broadcast! I had been watching the NASCAR season all year previously, and really didn't want to stop, I had gone from being mildly interested in racing to being one of the biggest NASCAR fans around. So for the first time ever in my life, I decided to pay for TV. I called Direct TV.
Now previous to this, I hadn't really needed to control my children's TV watching, because there really wasn't much on that they wanted to watch. They had lots of DVDs and VHS videos, but since they had seen them all, they really didn't watch them that often. Since getting Direct TV, they have been turning into little couch potatoes. The sit mesmerized for hours if I don't stop them. They don't play outside, they don't play the Wii Fit, they just sit and watch TV. Occasionally they turn the TV off and play on the computer, not much better!
So I have decided that we need to reign this in before it gets any worse. I told them this morning that we were going to be changing things. And I've set up a system to do that.
My main goal, besides getting them to watch less TV, is to get them to pick up a book once in while without me assigning it to them. So they now can earn TV and computer play time by reading. If they read for 15 minutes, they earn 15 minutes of TV or computer play time. I also wanted them to be more physically active, so they can earn up to 1/2 hour a day by playing on the Wii Fit or by playing outside. They can't earn more than 1/2 hour that way though, because I do want them to read as well. They can earn as much time as they want with reading, but they will have to be spending an equal amount of time reading first, so I don't expect that it will be too much, and if it is, at least they are also reading that much! Also, just to be nice, I give them one 15 minute block automatically when they finish their homeschool for the day.
It seems to working well so far, but this only the first day. Right now I am keeping track on paper, but once I find our bag of poker chips they'll each get a jar to keep poker chips in, and each chip will be worth 15 minutes, when they earn time, they get a chip, when they watch TV or play on the computer, they give me a chip.
Hopefully, as they spend more time reading and playing, they will begin to enjoy those activities enough that they won't have to bribed or forced into them.
Now previous to this, I hadn't really needed to control my children's TV watching, because there really wasn't much on that they wanted to watch. They had lots of DVDs and VHS videos, but since they had seen them all, they really didn't watch them that often. Since getting Direct TV, they have been turning into little couch potatoes. The sit mesmerized for hours if I don't stop them. They don't play outside, they don't play the Wii Fit, they just sit and watch TV. Occasionally they turn the TV off and play on the computer, not much better!
So I have decided that we need to reign this in before it gets any worse. I told them this morning that we were going to be changing things. And I've set up a system to do that.
My main goal, besides getting them to watch less TV, is to get them to pick up a book once in while without me assigning it to them. So they now can earn TV and computer play time by reading. If they read for 15 minutes, they earn 15 minutes of TV or computer play time. I also wanted them to be more physically active, so they can earn up to 1/2 hour a day by playing on the Wii Fit or by playing outside. They can't earn more than 1/2 hour that way though, because I do want them to read as well. They can earn as much time as they want with reading, but they will have to be spending an equal amount of time reading first, so I don't expect that it will be too much, and if it is, at least they are also reading that much! Also, just to be nice, I give them one 15 minute block automatically when they finish their homeschool for the day.
It seems to working well so far, but this only the first day. Right now I am keeping track on paper, but once I find our bag of poker chips they'll each get a jar to keep poker chips in, and each chip will be worth 15 minutes, when they earn time, they get a chip, when they watch TV or play on the computer, they give me a chip.
Hopefully, as they spend more time reading and playing, they will begin to enjoy those activities enough that they won't have to bribed or forced into them.
Posted by it's ME
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