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As much as I might not like to admit it, especially in a few of my mommy circles — I allow screen time. I even enjoy screen time. My son is actually able to retain useful information through screen time!
Gasp!?
There I said it.
Our family enjoys movie night. Even though we rarely finish a movie in one sitting or day or week. We snuggle up on the sofa, with lots of blankets — we love those times.
Media has also been a wonderful adjunct to homeschool.
BUT — not just any TV show, movie, game, app or book will suffice. Even when a program is rated G, there is often content that I don’t find appropriate for my littles. I also find myself editing out words like “hate” when reading picture books to my 4-year-old.
FEAR NOT!
I have found 4 very reliable resources, that make it super easy to find the very best family shows on TV & kid-friendly TV shows! Plus, books, apps, movies, and games!
How to Find Kid-friendly Media to Enhance Your Homeschool.
1) Common Sense Media!
It’s FREE.
This is an invaluable resource. All in one place you will find movies, books, TV shows, games, websites, books and apps that can be filtered by age.
Check out their “BEST OF” LISTS. I enjoy their Best for Learning: Our Recommendations for Families.
While signing up make sure to “select” that you are an educator! They actually have a, “Home-school parent” option, and you will receive helpful emails if you so choose.
Common sense media is a one stop shop for finding safe, age and value appropriate media for your family; that will also support your learning objectives!
To be honest I also pre-screen the movies hubby and I watch. There are just somethings I don’t want to hear or see.
2)FaceBook
Facebook is really useful these days. I think I am in more groups than I have friends!
There is a wonderful homeschooling group called Christian Homeschooling with Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, Roku and more. In this group you can ask for recommendations from other homeschooling parents. You will also find warnings about media that they found inappropriate for their families.
While you are there, like my page!
3) PureFlix
PureFlix does the work for you by only providing media that is inline with their standards.
“PureFlix Digital strives to be the most trusted faith and family friendly streaming video source on the web for PCs, iOS, Android, Roku and many more devices…”
“Our mix of family friendly & wholesome entertainment includes movies for all ages, kid’s animated titles, documentaries, how-to’s, hobbies, educational, health & fitness, sports, outdoors and travel plus many inspirational and devotional titles. We provide a wholesome viewing experience for your entire family. We believe that given a choice, people want to be able to stream wholesome, family friendly titles that carry a great message.”
4) VidAngel.
VidAngel is good for families that want to enjoy mainstream media, but with out the crap! YOU choose what you want to filter out!
“VidAngel is a streaming service that allows customers to filter potentially objectionable content out of their movies and TV shows. Each movie and show costs only $1 after sell back. The customer buys the movie for $20 (because ownership of the movie is necessary in order to legally filter the content) and then within 24 hours, VidAngel buys it back for $19.”
Screen time definitely has a time and place in our home, but I still suffer from screen time guilt.
But the resources I’ve listed reassures me, because I know the media my children consume is inline with our values. That takes a bit of the guilt away — and everything in moderation, right?
Also remember … Media is better, when enjoyed together!
I hope this helps,
xoxo,
Raivon Lee
The Vain Mommy
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