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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I make my kids do worksheets, spellings, writing practice, cursive, multiplication tables and elocution practice at home.

I cannot control what they do in public schools and I have low opinion of private schools in US. So, I use the public schools as a mainstream socializing tool, but, what I need my kids to really learn, it is all happening every single day at home. [/quote]

Sadly, this view of schools and this approach to instruction is increasingly common in families that value academics.  I understand that it really is needed in many cases, but the decline in local public schools academic content (e.g, FCPS) since the 1990s is very sad.  I know what I was taught. My kids are not being offered as much actual academic content as I was.  Sigh.[/quote]

And that has nothing to do with computers.    I agree to not needing iPads in school.  Wait until they can proficiently use Chromebooks, middle school would be ok with me.

We had textbooks back  in my day and they were as dry as sand.  So boring.   I worked with my daughter and her 7th grade geography class on Chromebook.  The material is vastly better because of the endless amount of sources for learning the subject. The graphics and videos are a helpful tool for students to retain and understand the content.

Japan for example.  They learned the basic facts about Japan, the continent, the people, their government system, the usual.  To add to the basics they had points of interest with all the countries studied. For Japan the video was about the fish market.  Japan eats about 10% of the fish catch worldwide but are only 2% of the global population.

Japan has a bluefin tuna market that has auctions to buy these massive fish. One tuna was almost 600 lbs and was sold for $1.3 million US dollars.    The video was interactive, there aren’t any passive watching like we used to do.   At certain intervals the video would stop and ask questions about what they just watched.  They couldn’t fast forward or skip any part in order to complete the assignment.

We were talking about Japan a few months later with someone and we both remembered the details of the lesson.

They read real books in English where they all get a copy.  They use paper and pencil for math and science.   The computer is a valuable tool if used correctly.   [/quote]

Studies show college is pretty much the first time using a computer for more than 10% of the day is remotely possibly helpful to learning.

Studies also show -repeatedly - that paper reading or taking notes from a lecture is better for memory retention. Yes, even those "dry as sand" textbooks. But ideally what Charlotte Mason called "living books," engaging print books that really bring concepts to life. Video...isn't it.[/quote]

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