Our daughter is now 14. We read to her until until basically she took the book from our hands and started reading on her own. After that we would still read to her but it was more about bonding than teaching her to read.
No screens at all until about 4 or 5. Then it was an occasional family movie day or evening.
So without screens, she read even more books. Reading at 8th grade level in 2nd grade. And college level in 5th grade. So that’s a challenge for a parent, finding college-level content appropriate for a 9 year old. We did ok there.
There were limited access screens in 1st, 2nd grade public schools.
We started homeschooling for 3rd grade. Computer / iPad use for schoolwork through about 6th grade where we let her start using it for comms with her peers, email, chat, NO social media.
All along the way we taught digital citizenship and how to stay away from groomers.
We found about a year ago she was reading some kind of racy stuff on a fan fiction site, with some creepy folks lurking in the comments. At that point we realized we made a mistake letting her compute in private. So we realigned, computer/iPad use only in the living room and only with screen mirroring to the television turned on. We don’t really watch the mirroring, it’s a behavior modification tool which we will discard once she shows some signs of being more mature and following rules.
Anyway, you know better than anyone what is right for your child. Of course consult other parents for ideas but you’ll do your best and pivot as needed.
She’s still reading. I think keeping screens off limits was a huge gift to her. She’s tearing through a trilogy of about 1-3/4” thick novels this week. This is even with routine daily tv watching about an hour a day. Her willingness to read has enabled her to teach herself a lot. We still homeschool and we outsource topics where we are weak to private educators.
Regarding home schooling English / Language arts curriculum. Did you use any program in particular? I've looked at MCT LANGUAGE ARTS (https://www.rfwp.com/mct-language-arts/, not affiliated ) though haven't committed to it yet.
No screens at all until about 4 or 5. Then it was an occasional family movie day or evening.
So without screens, she read even more books. Reading at 8th grade level in 2nd grade. And college level in 5th grade. So that’s a challenge for a parent, finding college-level content appropriate for a 9 year old. We did ok there.
There were limited access screens in 1st, 2nd grade public schools.
We started homeschooling for 3rd grade. Computer / iPad use for schoolwork through about 6th grade where we let her start using it for comms with her peers, email, chat, NO social media.
All along the way we taught digital citizenship and how to stay away from groomers.
We found about a year ago she was reading some kind of racy stuff on a fan fiction site, with some creepy folks lurking in the comments. At that point we realized we made a mistake letting her compute in private. So we realigned, computer/iPad use only in the living room and only with screen mirroring to the television turned on. We don’t really watch the mirroring, it’s a behavior modification tool which we will discard once she shows some signs of being more mature and following rules.
Anyway, you know better than anyone what is right for your child. Of course consult other parents for ideas but you’ll do your best and pivot as needed.
She’s still reading. I think keeping screens off limits was a huge gift to her. She’s tearing through a trilogy of about 1-3/4” thick novels this week. This is even with routine daily tv watching about an hour a day. Her willingness to read has enabled her to teach herself a lot. We still homeschool and we outsource topics where we are weak to private educators.