Latest / The BIG Home Ed Conversations | Home Education / Season Finale: Screen Safety, Fake News & AI: Helping Home Ed Kids Build Digital Discernment

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Season Finale: Screen Safety, Fake News & AI: Helping Home Ed Kids Build Digital Discernment · The BIG Home Ed Conversations | Home Education

0:13
Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of the big Home
0:16
Ed conversations. My name is Kelly Rigg, I'm a
0:19
home educating mum of two and a qualified mindset and ADHD
0:22
coach. I'm passionate about supporting
0:24
parents and neurodivergent families as they navigate
0:27
children not OK at school and ultimately then the transition
0:30
from mainstream schooling into home education.
0:32
I'm here together as always with my lovely Co host Ashley
0:35
Venerio. She's a fellow home Ed mum of
0:37
three and a former primary teacher.
0:40
We created the big Homemade Conversations podcast with what
0:42
began as honest, heartfelt talks around the coffee table, and
0:45
it's now grown into a space where hundreds of listeners now
0:48
tune in for real, unfiltered conversations about alternative
0:51
education, mindset and educational philosophies.
0:55
We cut through the noise and focus on what really matters to
0:57
home educating families now. This season we have been
1:01
sponsored by Strew. It's a home education logging
1:04
app that has really started to take this country by storm.
1:08
We've had lots of people talking about it.
1:10
Essentially, it's a way of kind of keeping track of all of the
1:13
amazing things that you are doing with your children.
1:16
The idea is not necessarily about forward planning.
1:19
It's all about reflection, observations, noticing what's
1:21
going on in your world and seeing all the incredible things
1:23
your kids do as you enlogue things.
1:26
It can obviously use its AI assistant within it to analyze
1:31
what you've been doing. If you want to use it, you can
1:33
toggle it off and that can help to pull through all the
1:35
developmental milestones your children have met whilst they
1:38
have been learning. And it's just, it's really
1:41
starting to come together. I know that Woody and his
1:43
sister, who's a home educating mum based in Wales, have been
1:46
working really hard to listen to people's feedback.
1:49
And obviously we, myself and Ashley have given them lots of
1:51
feedback as we've been using it ourselves these past weeks,
1:54
logging lots of things we've been doing with our kids.
1:55
And I have to say I am loving my feet now.
1:58
I don't know about you actually, but I've got such a lot on there
2:00
now that looks so beautiful and so many photos and things that I
2:03
scroll through and it's just really nice to see all of the
2:07
lovely things that we've been up to.
2:09
What's great going forward is that we've got these features
2:12
that they're working on all the time.
2:13
And as this is the last episode of the season, we're obviously
2:16
precapping what it is. But also to let you know about
2:18
some of the features that it's got coming up, including kind of
2:21
cloud syncing, which is an optional thing for multiple
2:23
devices. And they're improving the study
2:25
point system to make it a bit clearer, to make it a bit more
2:28
usable as a day-to-day tool to put in reoccurring activities.
2:32
They're looking at kind of making sure that AI is able to
2:35
give you learning suggestions and reflections on recent
2:37
focuses to help prompt you other directions.
2:40
And they're also helping to develop like a bookshelf, which
2:41
is actually something Ashley was talking about kind of creating
2:43
herself by scanning books into it as well.
2:46
So there's all kinds of things that it is kind of gradually
2:50
adding and working on. It changes every day, almost
2:53
every day when I log in, like it's, it's tweaked a little bit
2:55
or improved a little bit or something's a bit more sort of
2:58
accessible and easier to understand.
3:00
I know that I've really enjoyed using it and I probably will
3:02
absolutely continue using it for the foreseeable future, trying
3:05
to actually keep track of all the lovely things that I get up
3:07
to with my kids. I'm excited to see how it
3:10
develops. I think that was the great time
3:13
as well. People don't typically think
3:14
about going into summer and having that break period as like
3:19
logging your activities it, it feels like a scholastic thing.
3:22
But I think that now is the right time to start to play
3:25
around with something like this, especially given potential
3:28
changes or very real changes that are going to happen across
3:31
the next year or so. It it's the right time to start
3:34
to see if this is something that could work for you.
3:37
So it's absolutely worth taking some of your downtime over the
3:42
summer to maybe just play with it, give it a go, see how it
3:45
might work for you so that when you hit September and you're
3:49
starting back into your school stuff, you'll be ready.
3:52
You're not trying to learn something new.
3:54
Not that it takes a lot to learn, but you know, you want it
3:56
to be sort of more of a habit. So work on that habit building
3:59
over the summer would be my suggestion because I think it's
4:02
a really helpful thing. And fill it up with all the
4:05
beautiful photos, all the fun stuff you get up to and start to
4:08
notice as well through that really lovely child LED fun
4:11
play, how many developmental milestones they're actually
4:14
hitting just with the normal stuff that they get up to.
4:17
You because. Sometimes that can be really
4:20
helpful as well. OK, so obviously this is meant
4:25
to be the last season of the episode.
4:27
We promised you an episode on Internet safety and security,
4:31
and then we both went off for our annual camp with our big
4:36
home Ed group and basically the real world took over.
4:41
We thought we'd just be honest and say that it's, it's actually
4:44
really important sometimes, even if you have the best intentions,
4:47
you've got a topic, you want a couple of the kids, the site
4:49
that's coming up that you feel you want to cover.
4:52
But actually real life matters more sometimes.
4:57
And I know for certain that this incredible count that we've just
4:59
been on mattered way more than this conversation right now.
5:03
It's not to say that we will not come back around to it and do
5:05
more on it. And we did do a little.
5:08
But we thought instead we'd might talk to you guys today
5:10
about the importance of allowing the world to take over sometimes
5:14
and to allow that real life learning to really shine and to
5:17
do what it does best. But yeah, did you manage?
5:19
Did you manage to do much with Ashley that I know that we did
5:22
both struggle with this one a little bit.
5:25
Well, I just didn't feel natural to be like on it like a week
5:29
away preparing like for a no screen week.
5:34
So then be like, let's talk about how to be safe on screens.
5:37
So, yeah, so basically I think what we did manage was to talk a
5:43
little bit about safety in general, but it did not apply to
5:50
the Internet. Now that said, I have been
5:54
looking at how we are going to work this in to the school year
5:58
because there is a lot that I want to do around computers in
6:02
general. So we we've been really off of
6:06
screens and have used them for very specific reasons, but my
6:09
kids have not like dabbled on. They've not written a paper
6:15
because I'm more worried about their handwriting.
6:17
So everything writing wise is done by hand right now and
6:21
getting that, you know, pen to paper feel.
6:23
So as we've like built that stamina, we've really neglected
6:28
the computer aspect on purpose, but I want to focus on that this
6:33
year. So we're going to do more
6:35
typing, we're going to do more things on the computer, we're
6:37
going to do more research. We're going to do very
6:40
specifically guided projects. But I want us to also loop in
6:45
just the safety around all of that.
6:48
That makes sense, right? Because we're doing it all
6:50
together. So that will happen.
6:52
It just didn't happen yet. But what we did talk about was
6:56
just doubling down on we are in a very open campsite and it
7:02
feels super safe because we're surrounded by a ton of friends
7:07
and every kid is running off in different directions.
7:11
But they sort of naturally kept to that like close bubble until
7:16
like the, the further we got into the week, right?
7:18
They kind of pushed that limit a little more, a little more, a
7:20
little more, a little more. And then the last day we were
7:23
there, I spent 20 minutes looking for my children.
7:26
And that whole time I was telling myself, don't panic.
7:30
They're fine. Nothing has happened, but
7:34
they're still little. I mean, they're not that little,
7:37
but they're still little. And so they, they have, you
7:40
know, we had another conversation about that, that,
7:44
you know, this felt really uncomfortable for me.
7:47
And what, what did it feel for you?
7:50
Did you think maybe you should have let me know which direction
7:53
you were going off in or, you know, stuff like that?
7:55
So we sort of revisited that begrudgingly on our drive home.
8:00
Yeah, the end of camp lecture. Yeah, No, it's so hard, isn't
8:06
it? Because I started out the week
8:08
very much with my kids, sort of reminding them that these are
8:11
the boundaries I feel comfortable with.
8:13
If you are going any further than that, I need you to tell at
8:16
least one adult where you are going specifically, but that
8:21
realistically you have no reason to be going any further than
8:23
that. Like that's a really big
8:24
capture. And we had this lovely big open
8:26
campsite. It's plenty of space and it's a
8:28
big group of us too. So we took over a huge chunk of
8:30
it in general. So it really wasn't any reason
8:33
for them to be going much further.
8:34
But obviously they always push the boundaries of what has been
8:37
recommended to them. And I did find myself getting
8:40
frustrated a couple of times being like, where have you been?
8:43
Like you literally told me you would stay within this area.
8:46
Sorry, I just wanted to go and explore over there.
8:48
And I'm like, OK, well then you just needed to say I'm about to
8:51
go and explore over there. And so we could then make a
8:53
decision, should one of us come with you or should you be doing
8:56
it by yourself? This is the hardest part with
8:59
growing up, isn't it? Because when I always say this
9:01
about the cats going out, like to try and reassure the
9:04
children. And then the way it kind of has
9:06
to come, it's kind of come back to bite me in the butt, which is
9:09
that the cats go further and further every day exploring
9:12
their environment, like exploring the next door
9:15
neighbour's garden, wandering and on the fence, you know, like
9:18
they don't go further than they feel comfortable.
9:20
And they gradually build up their awareness of where they
9:22
are and how to get back. And I think the exact same thing
9:25
happens at campsites, especially when it's that big, because they
9:28
do just start to get comforted and comfortable.
9:31
They know how far away they're, they're going.
9:33
They know the route back. But that works until it doesn't,
9:36
right? Trying to get them to understand
9:39
that we need to at least know the rough direction you were
9:41
going in so it could actually have some hope of following you.
9:45
And they are quite getting on right now, aren't they?
9:47
They're like sort of 10 plus most of them.
9:49
So they are very capable kids. And they were staying in a group
9:52
always as well. So that helps as well.
9:54
But yeah, we definitely had to have a lot of conversations
9:56
around safety communication, like just asking permission, but
10:04
also not so much necessarily always needing permission, but
10:06
just to have a conversation and make sure that we understand
10:10
what they're doing. And I think the same can
10:12
absolutely be applied to online the online world.
10:15
And I found one of the things I found tricky about this is that
10:18
obviously minor are too young currently to be discussing
10:22
obviously the the darkest secrets of the Internet.
10:25
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
10:27
And so I absolutely don't want to be actually letting them know
10:31
that things are there beyond the time that they find it
10:34
themselves. And I'm trying very hard to keep
10:37
this. Isn't it like even vague because
10:40
I know a lot of you listen with your children.
10:42
So now I'm like, I don't even know where I can go with this.
10:43
So if you, if you're feeling a bit uncomfortable right now,
10:45
turn it off. But there are there are things
10:49
that we need to talk about with them eventually.
10:52
And my son is nearly there and I am in no, like I'm not being
10:56
silly or oblivious in thinking that he will not find all those
10:59
things very soon. The hormones are coming, but I
11:04
did have to think to myself, OK, what are they doing online?
11:07
What are the areas that they're doing things on?
11:11
So they've got things like YouTube, they are watching
11:13
videos that are being made by creators.
11:15
Like they do watch sort of Tik Toks and Instagram and stuff
11:18
over my shoulder sometimes. Obviously I'm quite careful
11:20
about what we're watching in those moments, but they are we
11:22
do see the odd thing as well that's inappropriate before I
11:24
can swipe off of it. And so it's, it's recognizing
11:29
what the dangers are in those. So the one of the main things we
11:33
actually ended up doing was we've got, we went onto YouTube
11:36
and we were just watching videos that they normally like
11:38
watching. And what we did is we took some
11:40
time to notice things like the frame change rate.
11:43
So they're the frame rates when they are changing, the angle,
11:48
the closeness, the view, what you're watching.
11:51
And we counted on a 32nd window how often it like zoomed in on
11:55
his face and then zoomed out and then panned to something else
11:59
and kept the video physically moving along.
12:02
And it was 16 * 16 times in a 32nd window that it changed.
12:09
And we were talking to some. They were like, why does that
12:11
matter? And I was a psych.
12:12
Well, how does it make your brain feel like, have you had
12:16
the urge to stop watching this video or does it constantly kind
12:19
of make you go, oh, what's next, What's next?
12:20
What's next? That's what they're doing is
12:24
basically just pulling you in. And I said, and then like we
12:28
talked about the fact that eventually they go make sure to
12:30
like and subscribe to the channel, make sure to go and
12:32
check out my website, make sure to come and buy my product.
12:36
Like, like all of this stuff all the way through.
12:37
I said, this is all influencing you.
12:40
So when we we watch someone doing something, it influences
12:43
us to change our minds about something or to do something
12:46
differently or to think differently about something.
12:50
And we just have to be really mindful of the fact that this
12:52
was super fast-paced videos. And then we like compared it to
12:57
a documentary as well because we just sat and watched something
13:00
that was super relaxing and slower pace and it wasn't as
13:03
stimulating. And they said it isn't as
13:06
exciting, but they remembered more of it as well.
13:10
They actually felt like they took the information in.
13:13
And we've had a few conversations like this over the
13:15
years because it is important to recognize that even just the act
13:18
of watching videos might not necessarily all be bad, but it
13:22
is definitely doing something to the way that our brains are then
13:27
capable of dealing with slower, less exciting stuff.
13:31
So like, for example, sitting and just reading a book can then
13:34
become quite tricky because our brain wants that fast-paced,
13:38
quick feeds entertainment. And yeah, so anyway, so it was
13:42
quite an interesting conversation around just being
13:45
mindful of even just watching that, that there is potentially
13:50
some videos which could encourage you to do things which
13:53
are dangerous. Or like he was watching 1 where
13:56
someone was buying reptiles off the dark web, for example, and
14:01
he didn't understand that that meant that that was wrong, that
14:04
they shouldn't be doing that. That's illegal.
14:06
They shouldn't have been like buying those at all, that
14:08
they're not supposed to be in captivity or they're not safe to
14:11
have in captivity, etcetera. And he just thought they were
14:14
really cool reptiles. And he was just loving learning
14:16
about all these different reptiles this guy was getting.
14:19
And I was just like, this is so frustrating because you're just
14:22
like normalizing breaking the law and and yeah.
14:28
And obviously as as kids who are very keen on conservation and
14:31
caring about animals. When I explained that to him, he
14:33
was devastated. And we did report the account
14:36
and we did obviously do all the things you're supposed to do
14:37
with it. But yeah, we this is a really
14:41
big kind of bugbear for me as YouTube.
14:43
I really don't love it as a platform at all.
14:45
We have managed to weed it out of their life significantly.
14:49
Like it's very, very small amounts of time on it now.
14:51
Thank God. But yeah, I think there's,
14:54
there's a lot to this stuff which they just as a child, as a
14:56
child don't fully understand the consequences of some of these
15:00
platforms and what they do to our development and to our our
15:05
satisfaction levels, our ability to remember things like that.
15:10
They all have got risks attached.
15:12
So yeah, that was I've, I've enjoyed camping partly as well
15:16
for the reason that it actually allowed them to slow down, come
15:19
back into the present. Yeah, I mean, we didn't, we
15:22
didn't look at screens at all. It was amazing.
15:24
And I mean, I think one of the things that we've been focusing
15:28
on even before we sort of picked this topic, but it it's a good
15:33
one to lean into on is also all the fake news and like just to
15:38
your point, like normalizing things that aren't actually real
15:41
or that aren't right. And so I actually subscribed us
15:47
to this Daily News show. It is, I believe, Christian
15:52
based. So I say that to say that anyone
15:54
can can get something from it. But I want to put the caveat out
15:59
there that it is, it is produced by a religious organization, but
16:04
it just goes through the news for the day.
16:07
And it's great because it's totally children appropriate.
16:10
You're not going to hear anything that isn't appropriate,
16:12
But they do tackle things in a way that still doesn't like
16:17
gloss over some issues in the news.
16:20
So I, I was like, OK, this is great because it cuts out me
16:24
having to scavenge for something that like I noticed when we were
16:28
in Florida, my parents have the news on all the time and a lot
16:34
of the things are super graphic or just like explained point
16:39
blank. And the kids were like, oh, like
16:43
eyes bugging out. And I'm like, OK, we can't watch
16:45
this now. They don't, they don't want to
16:49
leave the house. I was really excited to find
16:51
this. I had sort of put it off because
16:53
you have to pay for it, but I can, I can give the information.
16:56
You can put it in the in the show notes so that if you're
16:59
interested in it, you can take a look and it it just fit that
17:03
need really quickly. And that way I can just say, OK,
17:05
like here's something on the Internet, but I vetted it.
17:09
This is why we're watching it. The kids find it interesting
17:12
because there are children in it as well.
17:15
I find it interesting because I'm learning things, but I still
17:18
know because I tend to avoid the news as well.
17:21
And yeah, so it's been working out pretty good as like a way to
17:25
kick start the morning. We'll either watch it during
17:26
breakfast or right after breakfast.
17:28
And if we miss a day, the girls would be like, oh, we didn't
17:30
watch the news. Like we have to watch the news.
17:32
So it is really nice. And then, yeah, we we do the
17:36
Yodo daily podcast that that produces.
17:42
And I think you can just get it on any podcast.
17:44
You don't need the Yodo app or device to do it.
17:49
So that one's a really good one as well.
17:51
Just to kind of get some content that feels accurate and legit.
17:57
So that is the thing where I'm trying to instill in them not
18:02
not everything they see is factual because our kids just
18:06
blindly believe, right? They blindly follow like, OK,
18:09
this adult is saying this, it's true or these kids are talking
18:12
about this. That's right.
18:14
And it, it's, so it's, it's getting into the OK, we need to
18:17
actually Fact Check a little bit.
18:18
We need to look at the sources. We need to look at where this
18:20
contents coming from, what credentials does this person
18:23
have? And it's really interesting.
18:25
This is sort of off topic, but there's a woman that I get a lot
18:29
of homeschool ideas from. I follow her on Instagram.
18:32
We've had a lot of conversations, you know,
18:34
together off the app and she is, she's a big, I guess I would say
18:40
home, home Ed influencer. She was looking for some science
18:45
content. I might have even talked about
18:46
this before. And the she was looking at the
18:49
author of the content and was just like, oh, who is this
18:52
person? And search them?
18:53
And they actually have no science degree.
18:56
And she was like, OK, I don't mind when people put together
19:01
like unit studies or things. I can certainly research a
19:05
couple things and put something together for my kids to learn
19:08
that would be accurate and factual, right?
19:11
But I'm not writing a 500 page science textbook.
19:16
So I think like we were having this conversation and she she
19:20
was also putting out to everyone of like, where is the line?
19:24
Like because I, she put stuff together, I create stuff for my
19:29
kids. We all create stuff for our
19:30
kids, right? And we utilize things from
19:32
different content creators off of like Etsy or
19:35
teacherspayteachers or just at other independent creators.
19:40
But like, if we have this spine, do I want my biology book
19:45
written by someone who has a biology degree?
19:49
Where like, what is that? And so just that conversation,
19:53
it's like, you know what? That's really interesting
19:54
because I blindly trust that when I buy a, a not a unit
20:00
study, but an actual textbook curriculum that the creators of
20:05
that are. Actually knowledgeable and what
20:08
they're doing. And that's not to say that you
20:10
can't find your way there. Outside of that you can self
20:14
educate 100% but. Yeah, absolutely.
20:17
Yeah. Probably someone overseeing that
20:20
content should be listed that it's been reviewed and vetted by
20:23
someone that create that has that correct degree.
20:27
So. So it just goes.
20:29
To yeah, just has a lot of experience too, right?
20:31
Like someone who really knows what they're talking about.
20:33
Like he would expect that it's someone who's either got a
20:35
significant amount of life experience teaching that subject
20:39
or correct knowing about that subject or working in that
20:41
subject. Yeah, you wouldn't expect just
20:43
like, although I know a lot about it, I would not I would
20:47
not say that I should be writing apology textbook.
20:49
Writing apology textbook. Yeah, right.
20:50
So. This this was the thing.
20:52
So then, but then it caused this conversation of like, well, but
20:55
actually there's probably ways to get there where you didn't
20:59
necessarily get your masters in biology, but you know, so, so
21:05
this this kind of created this interesting conversation of
21:09
like, OK, So what are what are we looking for?
21:11
Like, what do I want to see if I'm going to put this content in
21:14
front of my kids? What, what feels good and what
21:16
feels like not enough? And so it was just a really
21:19
interesting point and it was something that I had, again, I
21:22
never questioned. I I just was like, yeah, this
21:25
looks like biology to me. So we are on going to keep
21:30
having conversations like that and I think I'm going to
21:32
actually bring that up as we do things.
21:36
So like when we're doing a specific thing, I'm going to
21:39
say, OK, this this unit study that we're doing was written by
21:43
this person and this is their background.
21:45
Like even just just to start to plant the seed of like you know
21:50
when you read a. Book your sources, yeah.
21:52
Check your sources. I always say to my kids, this is
21:55
the author, this is the illustrator.
21:57
We read the dedication. We we read stuff that's written
22:01
by the author. If there's a note from the
22:02
author, we read that. So, you know, just getting all
22:05
the details, I guess, and then letting them come to their own
22:08
decision, but instilling the habit of like, I don't do that.
22:12
I don't say who wrote this book, I don't say who this
22:15
curriculum's from. And now I'm going to do that and
22:17
I'm going to start researching that myself.
22:18
It takes 5 minutes and you get a lot of information.
22:21
So yeah, just that fact checking.
22:24
I think that's so important in terms of and, and that that
22:28
really does feed into a lot of other things.
22:30
I mean, you think not just where you get your information from,
22:33
but using AI was like in a sensible way, like when you
22:37
first meet someone, like don't always just take someone's word
22:42
for things. Like people have got opinions
22:44
that they masquerade as facts all the time.
22:48
And it's super important to make sure that the people who you
22:51
trust, the people who you're vulnerable with, the people who
22:54
you spend time with are all kind of the, the advice they give
22:58
you, the support they give you is coming from a place of fact
23:01
or knowledge, not just their opinions.
23:04
And I think this is something which as children, I would say
23:06
to my so, one of the things I talked about is sort of sharing
23:09
our data with people as well that it's important to think
23:12
like, do I trust this person? Does this person, do I know
23:15
them? Do I, do I know where they live?
23:17
Do I know what like they're like, what do I know about them?
23:21
And I was, for example, I always joined into my kids about do not
23:25
ever, ever, ever give people your surname.
23:28
Like if you're in a server on a game or something or whatever,
23:31
Like don't tell them your surname.
23:32
Don't tell them what your pet names are.
23:34
Don't tell them where you live. You can say you're in England if
23:38
you want, but don't tell them anything else.
23:40
And, and yeah, just like don't say that you've got a sister.
23:43
Don't say that. You know what I mean?
23:44
Like don't give them any information about you in your
23:47
life. And they're just like, but what
23:49
if they're my friend mommy? Like what if they're telling me
23:51
their pets and they want to know about mine?
23:53
I'm just like, this is so mean because it does feel a bit like
23:55
I'm just saying like, no, just don't tell them anything.
23:58
And I had a big chat with him about the fact that I I met my
24:00
husband online when I was about 16, just in a chat room.
24:04
He was 21. I was nearly 17 by the time I
24:07
met him. I'm met him with my parents.
24:10
It was done as above board as you could possibly make it back
24:13
then. It was weird as hell.
24:15
It was such a weird thing to do. And actually we hit off and
24:19
we've been together ever since. And like, we're 20 odd years
24:21
together now, right? And so I said, it's not all bad,
24:24
like meeting people online, getting to know them, bringing
24:28
them into your life is not necessarily the worst thing you
24:31
can do. And I said, but it must be done
24:33
safely. And I said like one day you
24:35
might get the urge to meet somebody who you've been
24:37
chatting to in a chat room that you're going to know, or you've
24:40
been playing on a server or the game or whatever.
24:41
And you you started playing with that person lots and they find
24:44
out they're reasonably local and you want to try and meet up.
24:48
We can do that, but with us, like do not ever do it by
24:51
yourselves. I tried to meet up with somebody
24:54
when I was a teenager that I shouldn't have done.
24:55
And it scared the bejesus out of me.
24:58
And it's, it's not sensible and it is so unsafe.
25:03
And ultimately they, I was then having a conversation to the
25:06
point of this when he was, I was having a conversation with
25:08
somebody recently that hadn't long met.
25:10
And I was like, oh, whereabouts are you?
25:11
We're here. Like, and my son was like in
25:14
like, mummy, don't tell them where we live.
25:19
And I was like, oh, high 5, good job.
25:22
Like I'm so glad that you are thinking like, no, we don't tell
25:26
people that because that was like great.
25:30
It's sunk in like that, that piece of information.
25:32
I'm like, you don't want to scare them.
25:33
But I said it's all data. This is your information.
25:36
I said, as you get older, if somebody has been, it's what's
25:40
called grooming you for the what information over time.
25:43
Then when you turn 18, they get a credit card.
25:45
They put your favorite pet's name on it like this.
25:48
You know what I mean? They can hack into all of it
25:50
because you've given them all this lovely data about yourself.
25:52
They know everything about you. I said even video chats can't be
25:56
trusted these days because of AI.
25:58
Like they could be using some clever app that means that they
26:00
look like a child would actually, they're still a grown
26:02
up. And I said, you are entering
26:04
into a world that's terrifying in terms of how people can fake
26:09
being something they're not. And I said, so you need to have
26:13
an adult helping you to navigate these things just to try and
26:18
make sure that like if you want to meet them or if you want to
26:20
get to know them more or you feel like you want to get closer
26:23
to them, then we just do that in a way that's safe.
26:25
But honestly, I mean, the way the online, the online world has
26:28
changed since I was a teenager. I am a little bit scared about
26:32
it all. And I know I've got a heck of a
26:33
lot of brushing up to do ASAP because as I say, it is not
26:38
going to be long before they start using the Internet for all
26:40
kinds of stuff. And I really want to make sure
26:43
that I'm in the know about what they're likely to come across.
26:48
And I think there's also like when it does come to all those
26:51
moments when they do start using it for things that you don't
26:54
want to mention. There are actually websites out
26:56
there that someone recommended to me recently, which again, I
26:58
will not mention out loud, but I will pop in the show notes for
27:03
details on which are kind of to do with encouraging children to,
27:07
to seek out love and actual genuine relationships instead of
27:11
seeking out the stuff which obviously it's just for
27:15
entertainment and isn't real and doesn't portray real
27:19
relationships. Since there's all kinds of
27:22
really great stuff out there now which can allow children to
27:24
explore these things safely and in ways that obviously allow
27:28
them as they get older to, to start to understand stuff
27:32
without it being inappropriate and scary and like way too
27:36
intense from too early an age. And one of the things I love
27:39
about home Ed truly is that actually I think a lot of this
27:42
stuff will come a lot later because truthfully there's they
27:45
won't have the same peer pressure to be seeking it out.
27:49
Hopefully not, yeah. Because I mean, I can remember
27:51
literally secondary school, like, I mean, I think I was
27:55
lucky that I didn't really know anything about it until
27:57
secondary school, let's put it that way.
28:00
And yeah, I think it's a shame. And also there's just, there's
28:05
so much more than just that stuff to be worried about.
28:07
There's so much more online that is dangerous.
28:10
So much information out there that's misinformation, fake news
28:14
sites, AI videos that look real, like there's got to be a lot of
28:18
discernment that they're going to have to learn.
28:20
And so we did watch a couple of videos as well that were
28:23
genuine, like real or fake AI or not AI, and you had to try and
28:27
guess which ones are which. And they were really good at it
28:31
actually. But that will change as AI gets
28:33
better. It's only getting better too,
28:36
which is, which is crazy, yeah, But yeah, we've played that game
28:40
too. And now even I'm noticing that
28:43
we're doing it when we are watching stuff on Instagram.
28:47
Like my kids, we love watching cat videos.
28:49
And so they'll do it like, over my shoulder.
28:51
Yeah. And so, well, they'll see me
28:54
doing something that I quickly switch over and I'm usually
28:57
watching homeschool. Stuff, to be honest, but it's.
29:00
Nothing super exciting and so let's watch cat videos.
29:04
So I'll put them up and then we'll play the game of like, is
29:07
this real? Like is this cat really wearing
29:10
that box of and like running around like that?
29:13
Like, do you think our cat would do that?
29:15
Maybe, but like, let's see. So at least it's starting them
29:19
to get them to question like, oh, this could not be real.
29:23
Like they they just didn't even know it couldn't be real.
29:26
Right. So that's that's the thing.
29:29
And the other thing that I've been thinking about doing is
29:33
looking. I know we we kind of come back
29:34
to out school for things is trying to find something that
29:38
maybe talks about like navigating AI or like using AI
29:42
to create things that seems super realistic and like there's
29:47
something like that maybe to get them to even open up their mind
29:51
a little bit more just to understand like, gosh, a lot of
29:54
the stuff I'm seeing isn't even real and that's super annoying.
29:57
And like books are being written by AI.
29:59
I'm finding now more and more that the books that I read or
30:05
even the audio book still be a note like none of this was
30:08
created with the use of AI. And then it leads me to
30:11
question, okay, if it doesn't say that, am I to believe that
30:15
it was potentially or is this just a book that was published
30:19
10 years ago? And so of course it wasn't and
30:21
it doesn't have the notification because it didn't have to worry
30:25
about it then. Like it wasn't a thing then.
30:27
Exactly. So you really have to start to
30:28
look into things and consider. And then I'm hearing even I just
30:33
finished listening to a book yesterday and at the end it
30:36
commented about how none of that book can be used to educate AI,
30:42
which is, it's so fascinating. I, I just question how that's
30:45
even possible, like how it's possible to get it and how it's
30:48
possible to not get it. Like it's so interesting to me
30:52
how what AI has access to, I guess.
30:54
And so even that alone is like something I'm, I think is
30:57
probably country to country based as well.
31:00
So there's a lot to look into here.
31:01
There's a lot to educate ourselves and our children on.
31:04
There is a lot. Yeah, it is.
31:06
It is really daunting. And I think the truth is as well
31:09
that like, when we, I don't know, like there's this, this
31:14
element of sometimes I think the parenting where you're dealing
31:17
with so many things, you're teaching them so much and
31:20
showing them so much. And of course, we talked them to
31:22
them about looking both ways when you cross the road and
31:25
don't wander off with strangers, like a friend of ours, for
31:28
example, another home at least have offered to let my son come
31:30
and see her new puppy, which is in the boot of her car.
31:34
And he paused and he looked at me and I was like, excellent
31:37
stranger, danger alert there. That's, that's what we use.
31:42
That is the. Standard of like.
31:44
Don't let someone take you away with the.
31:46
Promise of a pet. Or the promise of a pet.
31:49
Oh my God, it's so funny. And he just sort of looked at me
31:51
and sort of paused and I was like, amazing.
31:53
I went if she offers you sweets or asked you to get in the back
31:55
seat, run. And I was, she was like rude,
31:59
like not stealing a child, but I was like, no, that's really
32:03
good. Like I said to him, like, thank
32:05
you, sweetheart for pausing then that's fantastic.
32:08
And so whenever I noticed them doing the right thing around
32:10
that, I always praise them lots. My youngest, when she was very
32:14
small, used to really make me laugh because it she anyone and
32:17
everyone should be like, Hi, my name is this my, my little pet
32:22
dog at home is this. And she does start telling them
32:24
like all these little kind of like spiel, the shadow cook
32:26
spiel that she did. And I was like, if you ask
32:28
everybody nicely, she'll give you her credit card details too.
32:32
And she knows eventually she was like, what are my credit card
32:35
details? But I was like, you don't, you
32:36
don't have any. It's just a joke.
32:38
Also, it's definitely given like every piece of information about
32:41
you and one big spiel. I'm just like, maybe we can ease
32:44
up on that a little. But it always used to get a
32:47
laugh, but it just used to make me laugh.
32:53
But like as they get older, they, they do start to recognize
32:56
that actually they don't fully understand why it's so
33:00
important. But, and it's very hard to
33:02
explain sometimes, but it is so important.
33:05
And, and equally like I was not, I was obviously coming up and
33:09
growing up through an age where these things were important, but
33:13
most people didn't realize they're important yet.
33:15
And so I'm very conscious of the fact that I will forget to teach
33:18
my kids things which are absolutely going to be superbly
33:21
important when they become an adult.
33:23
And that's terrifying. And I have to just remind myself
33:26
that they will learn some lessons the hard way.
33:28
Yeah. Like another great one.
33:29
My son was playing on a game on the VR headset on a server, and
33:33
someone basically scammed him into stealing all of these
33:36
dinosaurs that he'd spent ages collecting.
33:38
And he was devastated. They promised him that they'd
33:41
give him a load of money in exchange the Queens that they
33:44
have on there and that they're going to switch it back and they
33:46
give him his dinosaurs back in a minute.
33:48
And then they just logged off and didn't come back.
33:50
And he was in tears for like 2 days.
33:53
He was so devastated. Worked so hard to get them all.
33:56
I was talking to someone else about it.
33:57
I hadn't quite drawn the same connections.
34:00
And she was like, better that better those than his life
34:02
savings. And I was like, that's a really
34:06
good point. Like this is actually a really
34:08
hard life lesson that you might be a nice person, but not
34:12
everybody else is. And someone might trick you into
34:15
doing something and you'll spend a load of money and then
34:18
actually you're going to really regret it.
34:19
And that that absolutely could happen.
34:22
And it's the, it's that stuff that teaches us to be wary, to
34:25
ask questions, to do our due diligence, to check the reviews,
34:28
to get referrals like, you know what I mean?
34:30
Like to not just book any old builder we find online and hope
34:33
for the best. Like it's that stuff that
34:35
actually ensures that we that we do actually get what we pay for.
34:41
And we've all learnt that lesson the hard way at some point in
34:44
our lives. And it is better.
34:45
It happens when they're little, I suppose, as sad as it is.
34:48
Well. He's never going to do that
34:50
again. No, exactly.
34:51
Even if it's even if it's ten years down the road, he'll run.
34:54
Out. He will remember that, yeah.
34:56
So it it was, I think that that's one of the things where
35:00
there there was no physical harm.
35:04
Yeah, no monetary harm. Like obviously was totally
35:08
traumatic and so important in this world, which is so, so
35:11
true. But you know that that lesson
35:14
will stick. So that's kind of the best way
35:16
to learn. And I think the hard part as
35:18
well is that whilst it's important to to learn distrust,
35:23
somehow you're also supposed to teach them how to trust.
35:27
And I, and that, that is the biggest like heads, like messes
35:32
with your head so much because like in the same vet as I'm
35:35
saying this, I'm just like, but I don't want him to literally
35:37
think that everybody who's being nice is actually trying to scam
35:40
him. Um, like, I don't want him to be
35:42
paranoid and to be terrified of taking any risks, but I guess
35:46
it's teaching them how to take calculated ones, to do their
35:49
research, to think about it, to make sure they've done their due
35:52
diligence. It's not to never take a risk,
35:54
but it is just to be conscious of the risks you're taking and
35:57
to make sure that you're being like mindful of that.
36:01
Yeah, yeah. And maybe to pause a minute and
36:04
like, say, you know what, this is interesting, but I'm going
36:07
to, I'm going to sleep on it. Yeah.
36:09
You know, let me, let me take a minute and just kind of go
36:12
through everything and not extra time that person might have
36:15
moved on, right. And then like, OK, this person
36:17
is not going to be, I'll go to the next one.
36:18
We're, we're always so eager. And I think this comes back to
36:20
like bringing it back full circle, like the, the screen
36:23
times. And we were talking about how
36:25
videos are designed to keep us interested.
36:28
And we know this site. We know how that that frame rate
36:31
is really important to pay attention to when you're showing
36:34
kids things and all that. And like we're so used like the
36:38
instant gratification, doing it quickly, let's get it done.
36:40
We want to commit. We don't want to have the person
36:42
walk away or whatever. And and yet actually that that's
36:49
almost been instilled in us and sometimes we make mistakes with
36:51
that. I've certainly done it myself.
36:53
And so I think there is that taking a pause, taking a beat,
36:59
thinking about it a little bit more.
37:01
Let's just wait. If it's meant to be, I'll still
37:03
be there. That that kind of thing.
37:05
Exactly. And.
37:06
Take a pause, step back and think about it.
37:08
Do some research, Read the reviews.
37:10
Exactly. Exactly.
37:11
Read the reviews Exactly. And and believe them too, right?
37:15
Like read the reviews and believe them.
37:17
Like if people are saying repeatedly the customer service
37:19
is terrible, the quality of the product is terrible, don't
37:22
discount all those people are just grumpy.
37:24
Like, believe them, there's. That many?
37:27
Yeah. Yeah, there's lots that you need
37:29
to think about it. But I think obviously coming
37:31
back around to touching on what we also wanted to talk about
37:33
today is our kind of last, last episode of this season, which
37:35
I'm kind of sad about. I'm excited to be back in
37:38
September though. I look, I look forward to us all
37:40
kind of getting on with our next round of topics, but talking
37:43
about how the real world kind of takes over these conversations.
37:46
Obviously we've managed to actually do quite well at
37:47
covering the subjects I think, and there's lots more that we'll
37:49
do in the future. But the real world life thing,
37:53
the fact that actually a lot of this stuff has been done in
37:56
snatched conversations a little bit here and there because real
37:59
life got in the way. And that is such a good thing.
38:02
And sometimes I think we feel really bad or worry about this,
38:05
like if we're moving house or we've had a new baby or the
38:08
stuffs going on that means that we like sort of, I don't know,
38:10
we've lost somebody who's really important to us and everything
38:13
derails. And the home Ed stuff, maybe
38:15
like the topics you're planning or the intentional maths you
38:18
normally do every Tuesday, whatever it is, all kind of
38:20
drops away and you're like, Oh my God, I'm everything's fraying
38:24
at the seams. There's so much learning that's
38:27
happening in these moments when they are just free to do
38:30
whatever it is that they come across.
38:32
And like this week I've seen kids making endless bead related
38:37
things and kites out of paper and they've been using their
38:44
hobby horses relentlessly and going off on hacks to the toilet
38:47
block and making themselves a picnic so they can go and sit
38:50
and have a picnic somewhere pretty shady.
38:52
And we've been learning about sun safety and like the
38:55
importance of boundaries and communicating with adults and
38:58
staying together. Lots and lots of daily
39:00
negotiations around bedtime, yay.
39:02
And toothbrushing, yay. And eating something, please yay
39:06
that it really shows me like they have.
39:09
I've had so many compliments about my son this week and his
39:13
offering to help was the lady that was pregnant.
39:15
He was struggling to pull out the pegs of her tent and he
39:17
offered to help and someone a mum who was a bit upset when she
39:21
was trying to set up her tent. She was on her own and she was
39:23
getting a bit overwhelmed and he came and offered to help and
39:26
asked if she was OK and if she needed some water where there's
39:30
a little one who wanted to play with the water guns.
39:32
There wasn't any more left. He gave up his water gun, let
39:35
the little one have a go for a bit.
39:36
Just so many things like he broke a toy that belonged to a
39:39
different family that wasn't part of our group.
39:42
They're playing with some of the like foam aeroplane things or
39:44
Styrofoam airplanes at last five minutes.
39:47
And sadly, one of them got broken and he took over and
39:49
apologized straight away and was super accountable for his
39:52
actions. And all of these things are
39:56
really like, they've been a massive eye opener for me as
39:58
well. Because sometimes I think when
39:59
they're contained at home and it's just us and we're just,
40:02
we're right up, up in each other's business, you actually
40:04
lose sight of a lot of this stuff.
40:06
Like you don't almost give them the opportunity to be all of
40:08
these things. And I have, I have had a lot of
40:12
eye opening moments with, I have learned a lot about him and
40:15
about my daughter as well. She was absolutely wonderful
40:17
with all the little tiny ones. She helped to take care of so
40:20
many of them. And.
40:21
To stop them from running off or headed them off before they got
40:23
too far or was worried about the fire.
40:26
At one point asked if we could blow out the, the little candle
40:30
that we'd lit in the middle because she was worried about
40:32
the little one that kept wanting to go near it.
40:33
And so many things where she's been super aware.
40:37
And that's been lovely for me to see to kind of remind myself of
40:41
all of their wonderful, wonderful qualities.
40:44
Also give them from to exercise them to, to be in community, to
40:48
do these things. But if we'd stayed home and
40:52
focused on academia, none of those things would have been
40:56
there for them to have an opportunity to do.
40:58
And that, that is so important and it's so beautiful.
41:01
It really is so beautiful. Yeah, it's nice to get these
41:06
opportunities and be able to see how they all interact.
41:10
I mean, this is a full on 7/8 day together with other
41:17
families. Yeah.
41:18
So it, it was definitely giving the opportunity for everyone to
41:23
play with different people, not just go to their go to
41:27
immediately and get to sort of explore around.
41:30
So yeah, I, I, I thought it was, it was great.
41:34
And I'm definitely excited to do it again next year.
41:36
Yeah, I think it's, it's just wonderful, isn't it?
41:39
And I think when when you kind of see people as a lot of the
41:42
mums there were kind of with three kids, one of which was a
41:44
baby is like utter terrorizing them basically.
41:49
And I think so many of them got to see the older ones and how
41:53
they were all kind of functioning.
41:54
And we were able to relax. They were to run off and play.
41:56
And it kind of gave them some hope that in a couple of years
41:59
time, it's going to be way easier and they're going to love
42:01
it and it's going to be lovely. But also, it showed them as well
42:04
that it was OK to ask for help. It was OK for us to step in and
42:08
support them sometimes, that there were other ways to get
42:11
around some of the problems they're facing.
42:12
Like some of them, like really absolutely couldn't be left with
42:15
anybody else. But we worked out that if they'd
42:17
gotten busy playing with something with me, then they
42:20
could sneak away and go do their business and come back.
42:23
Literally. Poor woman, bless her, she
42:25
couldn't even get to the toilet. And yeah, so like, it's there's
42:29
so much there as well in, in seeing the future of their
42:33
children's education, how they'll grow and develop their
42:36
skills in this community and how supportive and inclusive it is.
42:41
But yeah, it's, it's a tough old life stage when you've got loads
42:44
of little ones and they will run in your ragged.
42:49
And I think so many of us lose sight of it as well.
42:50
I remembered like rather like PTSD, like flashbacks, like
42:56
trying to occupy 1 whilst the other one unravels an entire
42:59
toilet roll and then flip back and goes the other way and
43:02
they're the ones doing something terrifying.
43:04
Instead it's like OK, this is. Never.
43:07
Ending never ends. So it helped to ground me again
43:10
back into remembering that like other people are going through
43:13
different life challenges and it's important we support each
43:16
other. But anyway, I guess all that to
43:18
be said is just to remind everybody who's out there who
43:20
might be kind of looking ahead at the sunlight, thinking we've
43:22
got a lot on. We're not going to get down to
43:24
our usual stuff. Just take some time, notice in
43:29
the moment or later when you get a chance to reflect all of the
43:32
beauty in what they were actually doing, not just what we
43:35
felt like they should be doing in that moment.
43:38
And yeah, that stuff's sometimes I think actually a heck of a lot
43:42
more important than the academic, academic kind of side
43:46
of things. Yes, OK, academia is wonderful
43:50
and gives us so many opportunities and and things,
43:52
but also being able to operate in part of a community, being
43:55
respectful, kind, considerate, thoughtful, interesting,
43:59
creative, etcetera. All of that stuff is just so
44:03
vital. Exactly.
44:07
I think we'll wrap it up there for the season, but obviously
44:09
we'll be back in September. Kurt, we've got a loose plan for
44:12
what the topics are going to be, but I won't tell you yet because
44:14
it might change. But ultimately, I really wish
44:17
you all a wonderful summer. Thank you all again for
44:19
listening to this season. It's so fun being out here
44:22
talking to you all the time and letting you guys know what we're
44:25
up to. Let us know what your favorite
44:27
episodes have been. Please do leave us a review,
44:30
comment, etcetera, because it really helps us to know what
44:31
you've loved, what kind of episodes you want to see more
44:34
of. Drop us a line on Instagram,
44:35
whatever makes sense. But we could really do with some
44:38
recent five star ratings. No hint, hint.
44:40
So do get on and do that for us, please.
44:43
But yeah, we'll see you all again soon.
44:45
Thank you so much for yet another wonderful season.
44:51
You've been listening to the Big Homed Conversations podcast.
44:55
Thanks for tuning in. Don't forget to subscribe, leave
44:58
a review and share with a friend.
45:00
Follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Big Home Ed Podcast
45:04
for updates. Also check out our website at
45:07
Big Home edpodcast.com. We'll be back this September for
45:12
a new season. We can't wait to see you then.
45:14
Thanks for listening.