Cutting Back on Glowing Screens

I remember my summers...full of swimming, reading, playing outside, making up new games, and writing and illustrating my own mini-books. We didn't have to deal with the constant pull of devices calling our names. Now that official school in this house is on a severely abbreviated schedule, the electronics usage was starting to drive me crazy. So I am so glad I read a post on Facebook the other day that addressed this very issue!! I added and tweaked a couple of items and here is our new plan for the summer to reduce the time the kids are spending on "glowing screens". This includes tablets, ipods, iphones, computers, netflix, and television.

No Glowing Screens until the following items are completed in full - 

you may complete in any order:

1. Daily chore completed (emptying the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher, putting laundry away, mowing the lawn, etc. check with mom if you don't know what to do)
2. Read for 45 minutes (no comic books)
3. Physical activity for 45 minutes (if it's raining, you can play ping pong or jump rope in the garage, or just wait for the rain to stop)
4. Creative activity for 45 minutes (go to the creek and sketch what you see, draw a picture, write a song, practice piano/drums/tin whistle, build or make something, do a DIY project)
5. Learn at least one new thing (There are a tons of educational books in the playroom to choose from)

The theory here is that when we get started on something productive in the morning, our entire perspective changes and we tend to be more productive throughout the day. If we start the day watching a movie, it's hard to get motivated to do something.

So, for example, today it is now 11:54 am. Both Boone and Brennan finished the above list over an hour ago and they are now technically allowed to be on their electronics. But guess what? They are outside playing and singing. They haven't asked for their devices yet. Brooke and Brady are still working on the list, partially because they both slept in :)

Just for fun, our "one new thing" we learned today:
Pam -        polar bears can swim for sixty miles without having to stop or take a break!
Brennan - there are 103 elements on the periodic table and he thought it was cool that one is                    named Einsteinium (ES)
Boone -    if you take a thermometer out of the sun and wrap it in a towel, you might                                  hypothesize that it will warm up (like when we're in a blanket in bed) but you                            would be wrong. the temperature dropped 5 degrees. (Note. he is now repeating                      this over and over to try and figure out why this is happening)