You should let your child have lots and lots of freedom to do whatever he wants, even if that is often watching television or whatever. Ideally you would have a lot of outdoor places for him to roam --- whether that be a large amount of land that you live on or just a green neighborhood.
This is based on my own experience, because I was allowed to manage my free time. When I got out of school, I had a chore or two, but the rest of the evening was mine to manage. (I was expected to do my homework at some point, though, and make decent grades. In fact I made A's and B's.) But the rest of the time I watched about 2-3 hours of TV, drew a lot, jumped on the trampoline, and in general ran around outside (We lived on five acres).
My parents never sent me to summer camp. The summer was mine. They never made me take piano lessons or join the boy scouts. Nothing.
I graduated magna cum laude, started my own business (which failed) then pivoted to a completely different field (web programming) and taught myself everything, through books, blogs, etc. That was 15 years ago and professionally speaking, I lead a very stable life.
When I hear about today's children being shuttled from school to one extracurricular activity or another, where they have very little unstructured time, I scream on the inside on their behalf. I've known a handful of adults who were homeschooled, and most of them have turned out very poorly. They basically are walking time bombs: quiet and obedient through childhood, then they get out of the house and explode.
As my mother wisely said, "Kids need to be kids." (We had a very strong religious teaching, however, in my household --- firm but not oppressive. I ascribe my own acceptance of that teaching as a key reason I did not just squander all that freedom on drugs, sex, and rock'n'roll. But most of all, I felt very, very loved and accepted as a person, even if I were to screw up royally.)
> I've known a handful of adults who were homeschooled, and most of them have turned out very poorly. They basically are walking time bombs: quiet and obedient through childhood, then they get out of the house and explode.
I don't doubt your account of a handful of adults, but the research seems to point to the opposite conclusion:
> Homeschooled children are taking part in the daily routines of their
communities. They are certainly not isolated, in fact, they associate with—
and feel close to—all sorts of people. Homeschooling parents . . . actively
encourage their children to take advantage of social opportunities outside
the family. Homeschooled children are acquiring the rules of behavior and
systems of beliefs and attitudes they need. They have good self-esteem
and are likely to display fewer behavior problems than other children.
They may be more socially mature and have better leadership skills than
other children as well. And they appear to be functioning effectively as
members of adult society. (Medlin, 2000, p. 119)
I know nearly innumerable homeschoolers, they regress to the mean like any other group, but they also have far more hyper successful outliers.
There are a number of people I know who transcended the station of their birth but I know a disproportionate number of homeschoolers who did from an early age per capita.
All bets are off if the homeschooler is insularly religious. Has a kid at a young age or they became "homeschooled" because they were kicked out of every regular school for extreme violence or other similar behavior.
Depends on the person. I spent every minute of free time I had playing video games as a kid. I had a lot of free time since my parents were very laid back and gave it to me. I wish my parents were more strict and forced me to do other things, literally anything else.
This is based on my own experience, because I was allowed to manage my free time. When I got out of school, I had a chore or two, but the rest of the evening was mine to manage. (I was expected to do my homework at some point, though, and make decent grades. In fact I made A's and B's.) But the rest of the time I watched about 2-3 hours of TV, drew a lot, jumped on the trampoline, and in general ran around outside (We lived on five acres).
My parents never sent me to summer camp. The summer was mine. They never made me take piano lessons or join the boy scouts. Nothing.
I graduated magna cum laude, started my own business (which failed) then pivoted to a completely different field (web programming) and taught myself everything, through books, blogs, etc. That was 15 years ago and professionally speaking, I lead a very stable life.
When I hear about today's children being shuttled from school to one extracurricular activity or another, where they have very little unstructured time, I scream on the inside on their behalf. I've known a handful of adults who were homeschooled, and most of them have turned out very poorly. They basically are walking time bombs: quiet and obedient through childhood, then they get out of the house and explode.
As my mother wisely said, "Kids need to be kids." (We had a very strong religious teaching, however, in my household --- firm but not oppressive. I ascribe my own acceptance of that teaching as a key reason I did not just squander all that freedom on drugs, sex, and rock'n'roll. But most of all, I felt very, very loved and accepted as a person, even if I were to screw up royally.)