 |
|
Alchemical Bakery Homeschool Newsletter Back to Home Education page HOMESCHOOL NEWS - Children and Computers by Stephanie and Dennis Scheck David, age 15, recently has begun to use the computer in a major way. When he was 10 and many of his friends were using computers, he asked to use the computer. We explained our concerns about TV and computers to David. We asked him to wait until he was older to use the computer. We suggested he wait until he was 13. He agreed. His thirteenth and fourteenth year passed. He has developed many interests so that a request to use the computer did not come up again until this year. Now his interest in the computer is just one of many. Heather, age 10, has also agreed to wait to use the computer. Again because the computer is not a major focus, shegravitates to other activities. We believe that there is merit in asking children to postpone use of computers. There is a cultural push to "plug- in" to technology. For example, childbirth is treated as a medical/technical procedure rather than a natural process. Before birth, babies can be viewed withultra-sound. Children are encouraged to become computer oriented before they can read. From the time children begin school the clock rather than their own innate cycles drives their lives. We believe that "plugging" children into computers at too early an age may lead them to the false notion that computers/technology is the end all and be all of modernlife. 
Joseph C. Pearce author of The Magical Child refers to life as a series of matrix shifts. The shifts move us from concrete experiences to ever more abstract ones. The shifts are as follows: the womb, the physical mother,the Earth, the world culture, the realm of pure thought. At each matrix ideally the child will fully bond to the matrix and from that bond establish the knowledge and wisdom to be able to make the shift to the next matrix. In this way intelligence grows. According to Pearce the age appropriate time for bonding with the natural world is between two to seven years of age. Between the ages of seven and fourteen the child emerges as a social ego and is ready to imprint to the whole culture. Pearce suggests that encouraging the young child to use computers at an age when s/he should be developing a strong bond to the earth and nature may hinder overall intellectual development rather than enhance it. An important focus of our home learning involves exploring the natural world with our children. We have identified 40 to 50 wild plants;observedhawks, golden eagles, turkey vultures, coyotes, skunks, squirrels, mice,voles, shrews, lizards, toads, and rattlesnakes, and hiked the hills andwoods around us. Together we have developed an intimate relationship with our immediate environment and in the process we have grown to love the natural world. We believe that when are home-oriented they tend to focus on the activities that are being presented in the home. As they become attracted to the larger culture, home oriented activities take a backseat. Now that our children are in their teens and pre-teens, they are pulled to explore the larger culture but we believe that this pull has been balanced with an appreciation and love of the natural world. The larger culture has placed a strong emphasis on early computer use. However, it is very easy to access this tool at any age. Parents may fear that their children will some how be left behind if they don't get experience on a computer at any early age. Delayed use of the computer has not hampered David. He is rapidly becoming computer literate. The other day by just reflecting and 'playing around' on the computer, David solved a computer software problem that had puzzled us for weeks. We are sure that' computer literacy' will be just as easy for Heather. Heather and David understand that the computer is only a tool. We are suggesting that a large portion of this understanding is a result of having the chance to develop other interests at an early age. Until we began participating in the care of Grandma (Stephanie's Mom)about five years ago, we rarely watched TV. (We do rent occasional videos. )At that time Grandma was watching TV all day long. We would sit with her and watch. Most of the time we would be uninterested in what was being presented. We'd sit and watch anyway. One day we mentioned this to David and Heather. Both of them acknowledged having the same experience we did. They also said that watching TV made them feel 'jittery'. We decided to do other things while Grandma watched TV. Not long after our experience at Grandma's, we came upon a book entitled In the Absence of the Sacred by Jerry Mander. This book contains several chapters on the negative effects of TV and computers on people. We gave the chapters to David to read and read them to Heather. The information has had a big impact on them because it validated for them their own experiences with TV and the computer. Mr. Mander also wrote a book called Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. We highly recommend Mr. Mander's books. We thank Meredith Collins for the distinction she makes between activities that inspire passion and activities that fuel addiction. Her insightful comment about the difference between passion and addiction is clearly demonstrated in our observations of how many adults and children relate to computers and TV. Because we have talked to David and Heather about this,they have acquired another perspective by which to evaluate their activities. Stephanie and Dennis Scheck Six Directions Foundation |
