Our Wired Home

This month’s Wired Classroom theme on Reading Rockets got me thinking about our wired home, and how our kids use technology. I know I’m not alone in my conflicted feelings about the role of media (opens in a new window) in my kids’ lives.

Here’s a rundown of our Wired Home, what’s yours like?

E-mail: The girls don’t have their own e-mail address, although they do like to type with the keyboard. When they type e-mails to aunts and Grandma, they use our account, which works just fine.

Websites: Both girls are obsessed with Poptropica (opens in a new window), a site they learned about at school. At first I thought it was an okay site because it seemed to encourage some strategic planning, but now I’m wondering just how “educational” it is. Plus I’m terrible at it! No help at all.

I’ve introduced Molly and Anna to a thousand “educational” game sites, but none of them stick for too long. It’s like they can smell “skill and drill” a mile away!

One book site caught their attention for quite awhile. When Molly was into the Magic Tree House series (opens in a new window), she really loved the activities on the Magic Tree House site (opens in a new window). Her enthusiasm spread to Anna, and we had two MTH passports laying around for quite awhile!

iPod: I mentioned (opens in a new window) that Molly wanted an iPod for Christmas, and she did get one. So far, she has kept the volume low, and hasn’t been tuning us out (as we feared). Both girls really enjoy listening to audiobooks. I’m contemplating a subscription to Audible (opens in a new window), but I can’t decide!

Software: The girls LOVE Encarta Kids (opens in a new window)! I’ve wondered if we should get a set of encyclopedias for our house; Molly always wants to know the background on things. Why do we use Christmas trees? Does Shay (our kitten) see in color? For now, Encarta Kids is a great place to turn for all kinds of answers. But the old-school Mom in me would love for her to have some real encyclopedias to leaf through.

Looking over this list, I can see that more and different types of media are seeping into our lives. I’ll be “staying tuned” to our overall use for awhile to try to keep it all in balance. Any ideas for doing that?