Online schooling has been the better choice of schooling method for us this year. It is our first time trying it and it has a lot of favorable advantages. It also comes with some disadvantages. One of them is the increased screen time of our kids which we are trying to keep at a minimum.

We read some studies that tells how much using phones and tablets make kids cranky, giving them the feeling of being tired but not sleepy. It also disrupts focus and basically lacking physical movement. To help control it, we rolled out a process on how they can “earn” screen time. Of course this does not include the school screen time.

The process I am talking about is the use of “coupons” which they can earn by doing tasks independently such as: taking a bath, making bed, feeding pets, etc. Each coupon earns them 10 minutes of screen time.

It worked well for us. The kids bought the idea and abide by it. We rarely go about the argument of getting more screen time once their coupons for the day are all used up.