The Week with No Screens

We decided to take a break from certain screen options for the week. Our goal was to focus on improving our work ethic and improving our interactions with others. Screens are not in and of themselves a bad thing, but they do prove to be a distraction for us sometimes from what our ultimate priorities and goals are as a family and as individuals. When we start feeling a lot of extra stress and there are more and more instances of fighting or aggravation with each other, taking a step back from fluff screens has been helpful in giving us all a reset.

So, you might ask: what did we do this week? We all had to improve our activity selection. During the Fall, we are more unschooling and don't have any required book-work. Since we live in a place with gorgeous, full-bodied seasons, we attempt to spend more time outside and save book-work for the extended months of winter that keep us indoors anyway. We are currently working from a WILO (Week In the Life Of) system. Everyone gets a spreadsheet with each hour of the day and each day of the week. Many spots are not up for choice. For example, meal times, bed times, family activities/errands that must be run, etc. Everyone started out this week by making a list of activities or projects we wanted to do during the week. Next, we filled in our individual WILOs to give us an adaptable plan for the week. Without a plan, screens are easily the default.

On Sunday, Rod and Gideon gathered supplies for building beds. Zoe and Gideon designed beds for the rooms to be embellished as they go. Gideon spent time with Rod in the garage building the framing for the beds.

They planned out the support beams and how to attach it to the wall. Who knew finding studs in a basement could be so tricky? After assembling the base, they installed the slats to hold the mattress.

Gideon enjoyed practicing his harmonica on his new bed. He's excited to complete the space underneath and have his own personal man cave. Gideon chose to not install a ladder so that he can use his parkour skills to get in and out of bed.

 Zoe's bed is almost exactly like Gideon's. They both loved the idea of having their beds high enough to be able to utilize the space underneath.

Zoe has plans to sew curtains and install a hangout area underneath her bed. The nice thing about building the same bed twice is that the second one goes much faster. A productive and effective use of a Sunday.

It was a great way to set up the week. It set a great precedent of activity and working hard to achieve a desired goal. We continued through the week with the same togetherness in as many activities and daily processes as possible.

Everyone was included in all meal prep and clean up for the week. Our first dinner was a new recipe from the new vegetarian cookbook we got. Everyone had fun making it. Only the adults truly appreciated the diverse flavors of Moroccan Spiced Couscous.

The kids chose to play together more creatively without the distraction of screens. They spent hours playing with legos. They still had grinchy moments, but they were much less intense and passed by quickly.

While Zoe helped me with dinner one night, the rest of the kids enjoyed playing in the backyard. One of our biggest hopes for buying a house and moving out of an apartment was the opportunity for the kids to play in the backyard. The wide availability of screens really kept them from utilizing it. This week they played in the yard every evening and Tobyn and Rebel spent time during the day as well. Nothing like dirt, sun, and fresh air to add peace to the family.

 After dinner, most evenings were spent in playing board games, walking to the park, watching our favorite educational shows, or (most often) listening to the Harry Potter series. Everyone seemed less reluctant for bedtime by the end of our days with no fluff screens. The younger two were even happily telling us they wanted to go to bed.

 We are going to ease back in to fluff screens in the coming week. Our rule before had been two hours per day. This week we're going to try one hour per day. I would honestly be happy to have no fluff screens during the week and reserve a few hours on the weekend for their use instead. But, as a family we are experimenting with different options and the kids are much more in favor of the one hour per day idea. We'll see how much that affects us all as individuals and a family before making a new family policy, though.