Ask the Experts: How Do You Manage Screen Time and Technology in Your Homeschool?

Limited Use of Technology…

We have been homeschooling for over twenty-five years, so technology has evolved significantly within that span of time, but our use of technology within our homeschool has advanced only slowly.
I am definitely an “old school” type of teacher, preferring books, paper, and pencils for school. I lack a lot of knowledge about utilizing current advancements. My kids understand more than I do, and we make sure that they have very limited use of technology.

However, they use the online options from Seton Home Study School to make taking tests and turning in assignments easier. Outside of school, they are allowed to have email accounts to talk with friends.

Our sixteen-year-old daughter shares a cell phone with me so that I can see her conversations with friends. My teen boys are allowed one hour of video games a day (with extra time on weekends or holidays), in which we have previewed the games to make sure the content is acceptable for them.

I believe that the limited access my kids have had to technology has let them develop more fully in other areas of life that excessive screen time has stifled in other children. I am grateful for the choices we have made for our kids, and I think our kids understand and appreciate it, too.

Susan Brock – North Carolina

Scheduled Screen-Time…

The first and best line of defense in my arsenal is reducing educational dependence on technology. Good old pencils, paper, and printed texts still win the day for homeschoolers.

A book in the hand reduces the temptation to distractions, and research shows that it equates to greater comprehension.

Therefore, I still provide paper books for my children instead of e-books. Additionally, I favor having students handwrite first drafts of essays and research papers. Though the ever-expanding reach of AI can still infect a student’s work, I believe handwritten first drafts can reduce the risk of relying on computer-generated responses and edits.

Lastly, I impose a schedule for screen time, and we stick to it. No TV programs, movies, or gaming are allowed outside the set timeframe.

During some seasons in our homeschooling life, I mandated outside play time as an additional pre-technology requirement. That looked like: play outside for an hour before turning on any device at 3:30 pm.

Handling screen time and technology is no easy challenge. However, homeschool educators can succeed with a bit of creativity, old-school tools, and firm boundaries.

Tara Brelinsky, North Carolina

Chores and Schoolwork First…

Aristotle held that virtues are found in the middle, or “mean,” between two extremes. Courage, for example, is the mean between rashness and cowardice.

It is with this philosophy that I engage technology and screens in my homeschool. The right course for my family lies somewhere between “no screens ever” and “all screens, all the time.”

In general, there are no screens at all until the day’s chores and schoolwork are completed, and then one hour per day. (This tends to go out the window in summer, something I am still working on.) I also allow more screen time if all five children are playing together.

Once, they worked for weeks building an entire city together in Minecraft. In this city, they built a cathedral. In the cathedral, they built an altar, tabernacle, and sanctuary lamp with a candle. They also kidnapped a villager, named him Fr. George, and kept him there in a cage so he could be available to say Mass whenever they wanted.

I’m not sure whether to be proud or concerned. All devices are appropriately monitored with filters and protections. My husband and I know all passwords, and we regularly talk with our kids about online safety, what they have seen or read, and how they feel about it.

None of my children is allowed to play online games where anyone, anywhere, can converse with them. Our TV and computer are in the main area of the house, and the kids’ computers are only allowed in their room while they are doing schoolwork, not at night.

Kristen Brown, Virginia