What my kids do in their Media free hours

This is the stereo Courtney bought with her Christmas money and her savings, it has a place to plug in her i-pod. That gal is such a super saver! She hasn't made an new money goal yet, but I am sure when she does, she will accomplish it. She is one focused gal that way!
The boys current CD player, they seem to go through them quickly, probably once every six months, so if I see them at yard sales and I can plug them in there and see that they work I snatch them up and store them till their current one dies.


Sometimes I think people wonder, if my kids are done their school day between 2 and 3 and if they only get 1 hr of media on school days, and have no homework (one of the great things about being a home school kid). What do they do with their evening hours?

Well they have chores, usually about 1/2 of daily chores and another 1/2 hour, 3 times a week of larger chores.

They also have activities like soccer, church, swimming and gymnastics (starting again this month).

Once a week the boys do a trade with another homeschooling family that has two sons their age. One week Aiden and his friend are here, and Thomas and Gavin are over at his house. The next week Aiden and Evan are at Evan's home and Thomas and Gavin are here.

Courtney doesn't seem to have home school friends yet, but on Friday afternoons or Saturdays at least once a month she has a friend over, I wish it could be more often but public school kids seem to live such busy lives in comparison to homeschoolers. In the summer though her friend visit more often.

The rest of the time, my kids love hanging out in their rooms listening to books on CD. Aiden builds Lego up there for hours listening to "magic tree house" or "Percy and the Olympians".
Courtney creates art out of recyclables with "Junie b. Jones" or "Jonathan park" in the back ground.

I guess technically this is "media" but it really works on their listening skills and engages the mind more than video games and TV.

The rest of the time, they read real books that I have assigned them for the week. Wish they would voluntarily do this but so far no luck!