Article that puts into words why I dislike that my kid spends school time on Prodigy and other "learning apps"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I despise Prodigy, it's truly one of the worst softawares thrown at our children with zero learning at best, and detrimental effects on attention at the worst.

I agree. I would just add that we shouldn't lump all learning apps into one category. I despise Prodigy because it promotes violence, and the kids spend more time gaming than playing math. But, there are learning apps that in small doses have been hugely beneficial for my kids - for math, Beast Academy. No violence, and 95% of the time on that site, they are watching a math video or doing math problems. That said, I'd rather do BA at home and have them off screens at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lexia is great though.

I found Lexia helpful when my kids were younger … 1st and 2nd. The issue I’m seeing now that my oldest is finishing 4th is that they are doing too much on these baby apps and programs instead of reading whole books and writing longer papers and assignments. Again, my kid is finishing 4th. He knows how to read. Yet they still make them do 3x IReady assessments in reading a year. When they’re young, you can see the changes in how they are able to decode and read more complex texts as the year goes on. But as older kids it’s just not super helpful. And the tests are sooooo long. They could be doing other stuff but nope, 3 long ass IReadys every year and you don’t even get the results of them until weeks if not months later.

[Anonymous]

The problem with some of these math games is that they are just games and there is no real sequencing with the curriculum. I liked Happy Numbers because there was advancement of the skills and it followed along with what they were doing in class.

[Anonymous]

We are doing our best to keep our kids (elementary and preschool ages) in low-screen schools. There is 30 min/week of typing on a laptop, which is fine. Everything else uses paper textbooks and printed workbooks.

There is a printed encyclopedia available for research. They have been taught in school that not everything on the Internet is true.

I hope we get away from the heavy use of screens in most schools. IPads for pre-K and K just are not appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are doing our best to keep our kids (elementary and preschool ages) in low-screen schools. There is 30 min/week of typing on a laptop, which is fine. Everything else uses paper textbooks and printed workbooks.

There is a printed encyclopedia available for research. They have been taught in school that not everything on the Internet is true.

I hope we get away from the heavy use of screens in most schools. IPads for pre-K and K just are not appropriate.

They also need to be taught that everything in school textbooks aren’t necessarily true either.

The NYT shows the same textbook, one used in Texas and one used in California. They weren’t the same though. Facts were omitted from one or the other and some were not facts at all.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/12/us/texas-vs-california-history-textbooks.html

They will learn which websites are reputable by middle school. Same with books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem with some of these math games is that they are just games and there is no real sequencing with the curriculum. I liked Happy Numbers because there was advancement of the skills and it followed along with what they were doing in class.

We do a lot of math board and card games, but the only computer game we use at home is Math Blaster (from the 90s) which is great for drill-and-kill. Mostly I just have my daughter do worksheets I’ve created, which allows us to practice a variety of skills and helps build the patience needed to handle harder work in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a public school ES teacher with older teenagers, I would put my kids into a no-screens private school if they were starting kinder now. If this is not resolved before my grandkids, I’m paying for them to attend a no-screens private school.

I do my best and don’t use anything I don’t have to, but our school uses team/grade level planning and I’m not redoing everyone else’s plans. That would go way beyond my contract hours. I’m just buying my time until we retire. Sadly my younger coworkers don’t know how to teach any other way.

And the kids don’t either. We are doing a unit on fairytales and my third graders don’t know any that haven’t been made into Disney movies. Parents need to do better too.

My kindergarten and first graders don't have the attention spans to even sit through an entire Disney movie. They top out at about 15 minutes and then can no longer pay attention.

I believe that. But the said part is these kids have not been read nursery rhymes or fairy tales. They don’t know the 3 Little Pigs or Little Red Riding Hood. Yes, Snow White is also a fairy tale but they don’t know that one. They’ll answer “The Lion King!” Or “Moana!” Sigh.

That’s such a shame. We read a lot of fairy tales in our home. Recently discovered this gem: https://surlalunefairytales.com/book.php?id=124&tale=4063