There and Back Again

Minecraft on Xbox 360. My son is on the left and I am on the right. I am looking at his pet Iron Golem (he told me his name, but I cannot remember it now) As mentioned , my son watches many Minecraft videos on YouTube. During this December holidays, we have given him more time to play games on the iPad and Xbox. He is going to start Primary One in one week's time so we have been closing one eye to his game playing time (though I do drag him to the bookshop, to swimming and test his spelling once in a while). Nowadays, my son wants me to join him in his Minecraft games- both on the iPad and the Xbox. I have to admit that he is better at this game than him. He creates really amazing worlds in his games. I am really humbled when I see his creations.  He has named himself '8469 tryert'. His first online screen name / user name. I am looking at a trap he build. Unsuspecting villagers will walk and fall into the lava pit. He's a devious boy. He h...

The kids playing Xbox 360 The other day, I chanced upon my son's Minecraft game. He had this underground home that was unbelievable. It had doors, a library and other things that a house might have. I was very impressed. After all, he is only six. I never thought that a six year old would actually build a library. I know he has been watching Minecraft videos, but I did not realise that learns anything from these videos. So today, I thought I wanted to take a look at his 'world'. He was swimming with his buddies (the children of my wife's friend) so I took the iPad and opened the game. I could not find his underground home, so I searched for it by entering a nearby hole. But I could not find it. Needless to say, I continued to poke around, hoping to find it. Eventually, I went deeper and deeper underground. And I got lost. And I fell into lava. Because it was set in creative mode, my avatar was not killed by lava. Instead I got stuck. Then I panicked. I spend t...

Lucas with his mum's iPad mini Recently, an article appeared in one of the Facebook pages I liked that I found disturbing. The author of this article (which I will not link to - call me biased, but I do not want such ideas to be perpetuated) was totally against the idea of handhelds for children under the age of 12. I was really surprised by this - I do teach in a school that has children under 12 and we do use the iPads in the classrooms. Nevertheless, I clicked the article and read it (I always force myself to read articles that go against my own beliefs because I think it creates a critical mind). I realised that some of the arguments she listed were actually false dichotomies - they did not allow for alternate reasonings. She argues that handhelds delay development probably because the children do not move and exercise while watching or playing games on the handheld. It is a good point, but in another part of the article, she notes down that children below 12 can safely ...

Some parents dislike their children using a smartphone or a tablet. They think that their children are spoiling their eyes, or wasting their time inside the house rather than going doing outdoor play. While their concerns are valid, I do believe that technology can play a part in our children's education. Technology, in moderation, and especially guided by an adult can be very useful in helping our children learn. Voice Changer There are two apps I found quite useful in helping my son spell. One of them is called Voice Changer.  What you can do with it is to ask your child to spell the word and record it using the app. Once it has been saved, your child can press the icons to modify his voice. Your child can make himself sound like a mouse, a ghost, with helium and so on. It is definitely lots of fun to experiment with all the different voices! The constant listening to the audio recording of the word being spelt in a fun way really helps him to remember the word. You can use...