Television is not the Devil

No matter what Bobby Buchea's (spelling?) mother says in the movie, The Waterboy, television is not the devil.

This is a post I did for my students' parents. It applies to all of us. Television could be such a great tool, for education, entertainment, time together, versus a distraction that separates by different programs on different TV's in different rooms in the same house.


Me to Sofia who's sitting on my lap right now: "I want you to be beautiful, bold and free."

Her response, "Why would you want me to be bald?"

Here are some shows on basic cable TV this weekend that I recommend. These shows are a good way to introduce school subjects in a very stress-free way that is effective for both auditory and visual learners.

There are many more channels for science, math, history, etc on the larger cable/satellite packages. I was very sad to give them up this summer, but as we all know, there was more summer than there was money, and I had to have it disconnected. If you have TIVO or DVR, I highly recommend you recording these shows for your young genius to watch during downtime, and in a relaxed, stress-free way. Watch them together. Have family time.

I tell my children that for every one of their shows. For example, for one Hannah Montana episode we watch one History Channel show. For every Jimmy Neutron cartoon (I so dig the character Sheen) we watch a black/white Jimmy Stewart movie. If nothing else, the family is spending time together, my grandmother's concern that this is the main reason why marriages are failing and families splitting at a record rate.

SATURDAY

9AM-7PM
The History Channel
The States of America
*In the Spring your child will have to pick a state to do a project on.
*The narrator is the same guy who did The Presidents, and is fantastic.

SUNDAY

2pm-9pm
The History Channel
The Universe
*Introduces some basic concepts they will have to know AND enlightens them to just how fascinating and grand our world is (and could be the trigger that internally motivates them to REALLY learn science this year. Last year a student went from refusing to read science to me giving him the nickname Doctor as he would help me teach science in class. And it started with him watching these shows.)


MONDAY
8am-8pm
The History Channel
The Universe
*replay of Sunday's shows