Do you have a question about parenting in the digital age? Ask Dr. Kulman!
LearningWorks for Kids founder and president Randy Kulman, PhD is a licensed clinical child psychologist with over 30 years of experience and a leading expert on the effects of technology on the brain’s executive functions. He’s the author of Train Your Brain for Success: A Teenager’s Guide to Executive Functions, and Playing Smarter in a Digital World, a book for parents about how to use popular apps and games to help kids build thinking skills. Best of all, he’s making that expertise available to you with no strings attached.
Post your question in the comments or send us a message on Facebook and Dr. Kulman will give you his advice in our new advice column for parenting in the digital age, Ask Dr. Kulman.
I’m homeschooling my two sons (age 7 &4) and started by using workbooks and abandoned it quickly because it was too frustrating for all of us. We’ve been using online programs instead but it seems to be good only at the start and then it gets boring. We started with Time4Learning and then quit after a few months. We’re now using Splash Math and IXL which seem better. Teach Your Monster to Read is great but is wearing out its novelty. Getepic is so far the greatest online resource that is never tiring for us and is such a joy to use. However, I’m the one reading to them all the time. I’d like to find a game that will challenge and motivate my kids to learn to read in a fun way — sort of like Teach Your Monster to Read but more creative and less redundant. When it comes to reading sentences in that game, I have to come in and help my boys. I would truly appreciate any advice. Thank you very much.
Hi Joei, we just published Dr. Kulman’s response to your question! You can find it here: https://learningworksforkids.com/2017/01/ask-dr-kulman-fun-and-effective-reading-apps-and-games/
We would like a set time vs. a completed game limit. The games on STEAM, ban players who end games early. The players need to have other players “kick” them to end early. How can I enforce time limits with these sorts of games? The games “ban” players for 1-7 days dependent on how often they quit early. This is given as an excuse to keep playing. Total game play can be from 15 minutes to hours for a single game. If not checked, my sons will remain on the game for hours. Also is there a good way to block YouTube?
Hi Kay, Dr. Kulman’s answer to your question has been published! You can find it here.