The Khan Academy website and the Khan Academic Kids app are two great supplements for reinforcing academic content. We like the Khan materials and have used them throughout this school year.
Unfortunately, children find ways to abuse the screen time privilege.
Out eight-year-old in particular has mastered the “Command+Tab” task switching of Apple’s macOS. She also knows that Alt+Tab will do the same in Microsoft Windows. And, she’s learned how to create virtual desktops and switch between those using the Control key and either the cursor arrows or the keyboard numbers.
I became suspicious when I thought I saw the screen quickly change as I walked down the hallway, passing my wife’s office.
I had been wondering why our oldest was taking so long to complete some exercises and class assignments. I checked the Apple Screen Time reports through our Apple family plan. It turns out, our daughter was splitting her time between work and Apple Arcade games.
Susan and I really don’t want to be spying on and policing the girls. That’s not really a message I want our daughters to receive from any adults. (The Elf on the Shelf is just plain creepy. Then again, I don’t like threats of Santa or any other being watching.)
However, the reality is that kids left to computing devices for even a few minutes will find and play the games. Before computers, they might doodle for a few minutes or read a fun book. Computers, tablets, and phones make distractions too tempting for all of us… especially children.
Apple’s parental controls offer finely tuned settings. You can set time ranges, total time, or a combination of both for categories of applications and specific applications.
Games now have a 15-minute limit and are only usable for certain hours. We will add time and shift the time window as our daughters earn more free time on their devices.
I fight for student attention at the university level. It was overly optimistic to assume games and social media wouldn’t distract children during homeschooling time.