kids and the internet

I'm wracking my brain to figure out the right amount of internet for our kids. We are primarily a Mac family, and on our Macs, we can very easily control which websites they can visit. We have recently added a couple of PCs to the mix for Osmo. In case you haven't figured it out, we have a ridiculous number of computers, running and not, at our house. Between my husband and I, we are working on 4 at this very moment. We seem to have become a magnet for all of our friends' (and their friends') outdated computers and parts. So anyway, I'm pondering the world of email addresses / internet access for the kids. It would be useful for Osmo to have his own email address. However, if he has one, his incredibly social younger sister who is only 8 thinks she NEEDS one! Yikes.

So, I'm not too worried about Osmo and the internet. I will always check in with him and his computer frequently just to see what he's been up to. In fact, I got on my computer the other day and saw that he'd googled "world's hardest math problems." And then he clicked on a link for "super-impossible math questions". Now, he's scribbling in a notebook, trying to figure out the millennium math problems, while watching his favorite college football team on TV with the sound off, and listening to a professional basketball game on his headphones. I asked him if all of these things going on in his head at once were confusing. He seems to be slightly more successful at multi-tasking than his tired mom.

There have been studies about the connections between math and music abilities. This week, Osmo had his Dad quiz him on complex math equations while playing a song he had memorized on the piano. He had no problem keeping the tempo steady while figuring out the answer, but slowed down a little while he said the answer aloud. I need to get the video camera out and tape him - the grandparents will get a kick out of that! He also crossed his hands and played the parts in the opposite octaves.

We had parent-teacher conferences at school this week. While we've always worked with his teachers to make sure that he is appropriately challenged at school, I commented that I don't really worry about it. Not only is he in a Montessori school, so he can work at his own pace, and he chooses work that is interesting and challenging but he is constantly finding ways to challenge himself. It's like breathing to him. And if he isn't sufficiently challenged at school, he comes home from school and works on any math or physics problems he can find/create, writes music, reads, or invents a new language