My son has been sucked into a video game!  Well, not exactly.  However, I’ve been busy lately and he’s been getting more “screen time” than I felt was good for him.  He’s not being bad…so it doesn’t require punishment, but it does require – me.  I needed to be more proactive about how he’s spending his time.

So, we established additional ground rules and came up with:

After school and chores are completed, 1 hour of productive activity = 1 hour of screen time.

I also printed a list of 120 things he could do to be productively engaged.  He’s free to add to this list, but I wanted to really “prime his pump”.  My son is 15, but I’m making the same deal with my 7 year old son (except he’s not allowed to go for the car repair).

I thought my list might be something some of you would like to have as well.

1. instructables.com

2. Origami

3. learn to dance

4. Puzzles

5. car repair

6. household repair

7. landscaping (not simple yard work – he already has to do that)

8. logic games

9. Become a pool shark

10. drawing

11. Reading

12. Piano

13. Bible

14. Exercise

15. Construction

16. Sewing

17. watercolors

18. pastels

19. charcoal

20. playdough

21. Drawing

22. Frisbee

23. pattern blocks

24. extra non-required classes

25. tangrams

26. send off for free stuff in the mail

27. learn a new prayer

28. woodburning

29. engraving

30. leather tooling

31. whittling

32. model rocketry

33. photography

34. legos

35. magic tricks

36. card games

37. knot tying

38. model building

39. organizing collections

40. secret and real codes

41. pray liturgy of the hours

42. chemistry kits

43. star gazing juggling

44. candle making

45. plaster molding

46. paper airplanes

47. yo yo tricks

48. magnet play

49. jacks and marbles

50. soap carving

51. calligraphy

52. harmonica

53. puppetry

54. military strategies

55. practice lectio divina

56. pen pals

57. learn how an engine works

58. write letters to relatives

59. teach dog tricks

60. Canning

61. freezer cooking

62. computer programing

63. identify all the plants or birds in our yard

64. paint a room or furniture

65. imitate an author’s writing (just a paragraph or two)

66. Learn to change a tire

67. bike repair

68. guitar

69. magic tricks

70. pray intentially

71. golf

72. pottery

73. Learn to change oil

74. website design

75. air soft guns

76. paintball

77. write a blog

78. learn sailor knots

79. card tricks

80. computer repair

81. drawing

82. train for a race

83. puzzles

84. cards

85. Learn a foreign language

    

86. Fishing

87. Climb trees

88. Archery

89. Cooking

90. Campfires

91. Audio books

92. Sailing

93. Canoeing

94. Learn computer animation

95. Kayaking

96. Backpacking

97. Hiking

98. Working on cars

99. Adding motors to scooters or bikes

100. potato cannon

101. trebuchets

102. Kites

103. Paper airplanes

104. Chess

105. Darts

106. Ping pong

107. Stomp rockets

108. Camping in the yard

109. Building a shed

110. Lifeguarding

111. Carving

112. Making Comic books

113. Little electronics kits makezine.com

114. Sewing costumes

115. Inventing things

116. hunting

117. balsawood airplanes

118. Legos

119. Skateboarding

120. games

121. develop a software skill to prepare for a computer job http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/careers/directory.html#region=Americas

Would you like help planning specific activities for your kids or advice in knowing how to overcome specific obstacles? Highland Dove Homeschool Helper would love to schedule an individual consultation and we can work through your specific situation together!

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