Homeschool World Forum

gladtobefound · User Joined: 10 May 2006 Posts: 2

Anyone give up television? I'm a single(never married) dad raisng my twelve year old son by myself.. wondering where to turn to get rid of all that sickens our society and where to meet people who also understand.

Elei · User Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Posts: 41

Hello,

My kids don't watch TV either. We do get some educationa videos from the library. And we adults watch TV in the evening sometimes when they are in bed, specially the news and a few other programs because there never is much to watch.

I think that nowadays TV for kids is terrible, too much violence, too much consumption, commercials, manipulating their ideas.......

So yes, some people do understand your concerns.
Elei.

Ophelia · User Joined: 20 Nov 2007 Posts: 105 Location: Ohio

We've been tv free since before our children were born. It's been 8 years now.

The only time the kids are exposed to tv is at Grandma's house and Grandma does her best to follow my rules on what and how much tv they are permitted to watch while there. Grandma doesn't always understand our reasoning for no tv, but she respects our decision.
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Decrease · User Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 125 Location: Verona VA

In a couple of hours I will have been married for 10 years. During that time I only had a television for 1 1/2 years. Now, I am not a die harder against tv, for I believe there is some good in television. Many companies offer something like "Locks and Limits", which limits what can be watched and even what times something can be watched (in some cases).

Today, we do not have a television but we do not believe it is always wrong to have one. We miss, for instance, programs like "Signing Times" and "Between the Lions". We have some on DVD but it would be nice to have our DVR (that came with our service) back. Usually we watch a DVD on our computer Smile

Personally, we can live without TV without much of a problem. As well, with inventions like the Apple TV and other such devises, I believe how we currently use television will be a thing of the past in the not so distant future. Technology will change how we view, what we view, and through what mediums. Hopefully, such technology will change the way cable companies and satelite providers give us television so to be more specific to our wants.

Jazzy · User Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 214

I have been thinking TV issues as well. We have already greatly reduced how much we watch, but my husband likes it so I don't know that we'll ever get rid of TV all together. How would we watch football and basketball? Smile

Anyway, I am reading a book called The Plug In Drug that you may want to check out.

I think going without TV would be great for a 12 year old. There is so much negative on it.
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Tara · User Joined: 28 Jun 2008 Posts: 4 Location: NC

We actually haven't had cable for about 10 years and my daughter is almost 6 so she has never had cable. I absolutely LOVE it!! We occasionally watch something on PBS but other than that it is just DVDs that we have have full control over. She's never gotten whiney about wanting this toy and that toy because she hasn't been subjected to the bombardment of commercials. She has our ideals and morals, not the generally smart mouthed kids on TV's "morals". People think I shelter her because I don't have cable and I am now homeschooling her, I tell them "You are darned right I am sheltering her, that's what is wrong with so many kids today is that they were exposed to way too much way too early!" Smile

I completely confuse the cable company when they come by trying to add TV cable service into our plan with the cable internet service LOL We cut the cable a long time ago for financial reasons but I quickly realized that I was totally addicted and there was a whole world out there I was missing out on. Once we could turn on the cable, we both agreed that we never wanted to go back to couch potato, cable zombies again!!

Elei · User Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Posts: 41

Theodore · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:19 am Post subject:

We've never had a TV, but we do watch some shows online now, and we have a DVD subscription. This means we watch a lot less ads, and we can control the times when we watch things - a better way to do things with a somewhat fluid homeschool schedule.
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Ophelia · User Joined: 20 Nov 2007 Posts: 105 Location: Ohio

Emerging Dad · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 1:34 pm Post subject:

We've been without TV for about two years now. The kiddo watches a few DVDs a week, but if he walks away from the TV I turn it off and that's the end of it. Every blue moon, whenever work gets stressful and I want to turn my brain off, we'll rent a season of a show on DVD, but as a whole I don't miss TV. My son watches some TV at his grandmother's house, and I can always tell when he has — he's hyper and squirrely for hours afterward.
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bubbaansissy · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:53 am Post subject:

here's a good laugh.....
currently, we have a tv in every room except my daughter's room (she's 3). tivo on one and directv on all, except for one, which is strictly used for movies and vtech games.

ok, since we began homeschooling a year ago, i've slowly been changing our ways. the good thing about directv is that you can pre-program shows that are appropriate for young children (or anyone) to watch; so, i do pre-program my 5 yr old ds's tv. he's not allowed to watch just anything that's out there.

ok, i did say slowly....i just had directv turned off in our master bedroom (dh thought i was crazy...don't know why, we never watched it anyway). my ds's tv is next. we are soon to start our kindergarten year in august & we're going to teach using the charlotte mason method. tv is just completely opposite of what i'm wanting for my children.

sorry this is long, but i thought, maybe, this could help some that do watch tv. soon, very soon, next month, actually, we will be down to just one tv & it will be in our living room. need another laugh? it's a 60"!!! Laughing

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Glottis · User Joined: 06 Jun 2008 Posts: 42

i hate to be one of the odd ones out, but i don't think that there are plans in the house of ever getting rid of it. true, a lot of the programs contribute to, (if i may) the 'brain shrinkage' of young kids, but there are programs that are decent and some, excellent... tv, is allowed in the house, as long as the kids follow the rules, and as long as they know when to turn it off and when to open their books..
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Decrease · User Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 125 Location: Verona VA

bubbansissy,

I would use your DVR to make sure that you are recording the good programs to watch later (or, as you call it, TIVO). This is a great way to do things. I used to be in management for DirecTv and they have done some wonderful things to make it easier to block what you don't want people to watch. One day, I hope, there will be a time when you can order programs or television stations ala-carte. I actually talked to the President of DTV about this. Right now, it is financially infeasible and would cost the consumers more money. Yet, with the internet it is right around the corner.

Before you get rid of DTV, make sure you have no commitment or else it could cost you some money. As well, remember when you disconnect one of their recievers, if it is not owned (most customers have no idea whether theirs is truly owned or not) then you have to send it back. Some may be owned others may be leased, almost all obtained in 2007 or later are leased. Make sure you send them back..

Okay, another DTV message Smile

MikeMcK · User Joined: 23 Jul 2008 Posts: 1

momo3boys · User Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 574 Location: Western Mass

I went from a house with 2 TV's that were on ALL the tie and I had very little control over the content because I was living at my Father-in-law's home. He liked war movies, and westerns, and lots of violence. He is a self-employed painter in NE so, from January to May I had to listen to the Tv ALL DAY LONG Shocked

When we moved last April I told my husband that i would love to just not have the TV in the house at all, and he agreed, I love it!,
We do have the internet and a great filter,that I can customize so I don't have to worry about the boys getting into anything. Tim can download TV shows without commercials, and we get net flicks so we can request the history channel shows, discovery channel and other great movies and shows for the boys that you guys would probably record. I don't miss it at all! And I don't feel like they boys are deprived of anything either. Even if my FIL and mom think so Rolling Eyes

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