We interrupt this educational program for pure unadulterated FUN!

With Christmas morning quickly approaching, I am preparing for the inevitable invasion of my home. No I'm not talking about the in laws, I am referring to the onslaught of all sorts of toys, electronic or otherwise that my children will receive. The biggest "intruder" will come in the form of a Wii. Now, my husband and I have resisted having a gaming system in the house (even at this late hour I still question our decision) but we decided to forge ahead anyway. The evils of Square Boxes have certainly been a discussion topic in our house in the past but the imminent introduction of a Wii has escalated talks to the point we may need to call in the United Nations to draft a treaty. When can the children play? For how long? What games are appropriate? Do they get more time on "educational" game vs "non-educational games"? ... You get the idea

This same line of thinking prompted me to throw a question about my two oldests' favourite new internet game, Proptopica 's, appropriateness into the Twittersphere the other day. One strategy that was suggested as a way to help choose games to allow the kids to play was to have them "convince me of the educational value" of whatever they wanted to play. This sounded like a great idea. It would encourage higher level thinking, forming an argument, and learning to evaluate appropriateness for themselves. Not to mention personal responsibility and self discipline. Win, win, win situation.

I still think it is a great strategy, however, I wonder, does every activity need to have "educational value". Is there no room left in a child's life for pure, unadulterated, non-educational, time-wasting FUN? Have we analyzed, structured, and sheltered the fun right out of being a kid? There are probably a lot of experts (and kids) that would answer that last question with a resounding "YES". While we monitor what our children do online can we, honestly, say that every activity we engage in while on the computer is "educational" or "worthwhile". I know I can't. Seems like a bit of a double standard.

So I'm calling off the UN's treaty negotiation team and embarking on a little experiment. When the Wii comes out of the box this Christmas it will come with no restrictions, rules or regulations. Well maybe one -- have fun, be silly, be a kid!! Maybe I'll even find a way to follow that rule too! My suspicion is that, left to their own devices and given a range of activities to choose from, they will find a balance (after the initial gorging that is). The problem starts when they have no other activity to choose. I am confident if the temperature ever raises above -20c they will ditch Wii Ski for a trip to the local hill in a minute. But who knows, I could be wrong -- maybe I better keep the UN on standby...just in case.

Where do we go from here and where exactly is here?

A friend asked me the other day where I was going with my Blog. To tell the truth I don't really have a route mapped out of where I'd like to go or even where I'd like to end up. Since I have chosen Web 2.0 tools as a topic there really is no end in sight because the map changes every day. But of course to find your way on any map...

you first have to know where you are and YOU just happen to be on my BLOG. Now I know it looks like a website, it acts like a website and it even has an address like a website but it really is a BLOG (trust me on this one Ok it will all be clear in a moment). I could get into a long narrative about what a Blog is and what makes it different than a website but these guys do it so much better --

Blogs are one of those Web 2.0 tools that I alluded to in my previous post. Why, as parents, would we care about Blogs? In short, we can harness the power of Blogs to make our lives easier. Let me give you an example:

Mary brings home a class newsletter. You do actually manage to retrieve it from the jaws of the backpack monster (an amazing feat in and of itself) and it is full of great information, important dates, websites to visit, and a map pinpointing the location of the Holy Grail. On your way to the calendar to record this vital information (after all the Holy Grail would fetch a price that would make your retirement spectacular) the phone rings, the baby spills her milk, someone comes to the door, and in that moment of mass confusion this wonderful newsletter is inadvertantly sent to the recycle bin. Suddenly all your retirement dreams are lost, and even worse you send Mary to school in a hideous plaid turtleneck sweater for picture day (which she will later recount to her therapist as the beginning of her "self-esteem issues"). Is there nothing that can be done to avoid such tragic outcomes? Let's take a look at what would have happened if Mary's teacher maintained a Blog.(like this one)....

Sometime during the morning, day or night when you routinely sit down uninterupted to check your email (ok this is maybe a bit of a stretch but work with me) you check your teacher's classroom Blog. All the important announcements are there, complete with a calendar of events and a google map pinpointing the Holy Grail (and retirement dreams). The information is always there in the same place, 24 hours a day, impervious to coffee spills, misplacement, or children carting it away to use as finger paint paper.

Sounds like heaven right??? What's that?? You have four kids?? You don't want to surf to 4 Blogs every day on the off chance there may be an announcement to read?? This is where a Blog teamed up with an RSS feed really begins to show it's worth. What's and RSS feed??? Once again the people at common craft can tell you far better than I can....




So really what's not to like?? You get updates from your child's teacher about all manner of things delivered straight to your reader and if you ever need to check back on anything the information is always there on the classroom Blog coffee and fingerpaint free.

There are Blogs out there that cover just about any subject you could imagine so even if your child's class doesn't have a Blog I encourage you to search for one that matches your interests. Experiment, get a reader account, subscribe to a blog -- subscribe to my Blog -- after all now that you know where "here" is you might as well follow along to the next stop.

At the beginning...

For reasons too complicated, too convoluted, and frankly too boring to bother explaining, I recently took an interest in the use of technology in schools, in particular elementary schools since my first child is in Grade 2. I have been reading articles, watching fantastic videos, playing with very cool Web 2.0 tools and in the process sending scads of excited emails to friends and family in an attempt to share this "new world" I had discovered. One of my friends (who I hadn't flooded with emails) suggested that I start a blog and in the spirit of experimenting with all that the Web has to offer I have decided to start Web 2.0 for Parents!!

At this point I am not sure what direction this Blog will take but my hope is to help other parents, like me, who may be a bit behind on "what the kids are doing" start to understand the basics of some of the most commonly used applications and why tech integration in the classroom is important. It is with that goal in mind that I'd like to share a video that was the beginning of this journey.



So put on your adventure shoes and take a peek at what's going on in Web 2.o!! Who knows we may even find some fun stuff along the way!!