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Common Sense Media improves the lives of kids and families by providing independent reviews, age ratings, & other information about all types of media.

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Parent's Guide: watch Common Sense Media's Smart Screen Time Tips advice video to help you make informed decisions with your children.

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Raising Digital Citizens

The internet is a wonderful place for learning and entertainment, but like the world around us, it can pose dangers if precautions are not taken. Allowing free access puts your child, your computer and your personal data at risk.

Remain positively engaged: Pay attention to and know the online environments your children use. Surf the web with them. Appreciate your children's participation in their online communities and show interest in their friends. Try to react constructively when they encounter inappropriate material. Make it a teachable moment.

Support their good choices: Expand your children's online experience and their autonomy when developmentally appropriate, as they demonstrate competence in safe and secure online behavior and good decision making.

Keep a clean machine: Safety and security start with protecting all family computers with a security suite (anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall) that is set to update automatically. Keep your operating system, web browsers and other software current as well, and back up computer files on a regular basis.

Know the protection features of the websites and software your children use: All major internet service providers (ISPs) have tools to help you manage young children's online experience (e.g., selecting approved websites, monitoring the amount of time they spend online or limiting the people who can contact them) and may have other security features, such as pop-up blockers. Third-party tools are also available. But remember that your home isn't the only place they can go online.

Review privacy settings: Look at the privacy settings available on social networking sites, smartphones, apps and other social tools your children use. Decide together which settings provide the appropriate amount of protection for each child.

Teach critical thinking: Help your children identify safe, credible websites and other digital content, and be cautious about clicking on, downloading, posting and uploading content.

Explain the implications: Help your children understand the public nature of the internet and its risks and benefits. Be sure they know that any digital info they share, such as emails, photos or videos, can easily be copied and pasted elsewhere and is almost impossible to take back. Things that could damage their reputation, friendships or future prospects should not be shared electronically.

Help them be good digital citizens: Remind your children to be good "digital friends" by respecting personal information of friends and family and not sharing anything about others that is potentially embarrassing or hurtful.

Just saying "no" rarely works: Teach your children how to interact safely with people they "meet" online. Though it's preferable they make no in-person contact with online-only acquaintances, young people may not always follow this rule. So talk about maximizing safe conditions: meeting only in well-lit public places, always taking at least one friend and telling a trusted adult about any plans they make - including the time, place and acquaintance's contact information. Remind them to limit sharing personal information with new friends.

Empower your children to handle issues: Your children may deal with situations like bullying, unwanted contact or hurtful comments online. Work with them on strategies for when problems arise, such as talking to a trusted adult, not retaliating, calmly talking with the person, blocking the person or filing a complaint. Agree on steps to take if the strategy fails.

Encourage your children to be "digital leaders:" Help ensure they master the safety and security techniques of all technology they use. Support their positive and safe engagement in online communities. Encourage them to help others accomplish their goals. Urge them to help if friends are making poor choices or being harmed.

More Ways to Keep Your Children Safer and More Secure Online

Keep your home computer in a central and open location: If your computer is in the open, you can physically monitor your children while they are online.

Be aware of all the ways people connect to the internet: Young people have many options to connect to the internet beyond a home computer. Phones, tablets, gaming systems and even TVs have become connected. Be aware of all the ways and devices (including what they do at friend's houses) your children are using, and be sure they know how to use them safely and responsibly.

Talk to other parents: When and how you decide to let your children use the internet is a personal parenting decision. Knowing what other parents are thinking and allowing their children to do is important and can be helpful for making decisions about what your children do online.

Know the rules: Not all online services are for kids. Even some of the most popular social networking services and other sites are meant only for use by people 13 and older. There are many terrific sites designed specifically for younger children that provide a safer, more secure and age-appropriate environment.

Stay current. Keep pace with new ways to stay safe online: The online world is ever changing. New services with great features continually emerge. Knowing about them and how young people use them can help you better understand the digital life your children experience as well as any concerns you may have for your children.

Consider separate accounts on your computer: Most operating systems allow you to create a different account for each user. Separate accounts can lessen the chance that your child might accidentally access, modify, change settings and/or delete your files. You can set up certain privileges (the things that can and can't be done) for each account.

If you know of a child in immediate risk or danger, call law enforcement right away. Report instances of online child exploitation to the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children's Cyber Tipline.

Additional Resources

ConnectSafely.org has basic guidelines for teens and parents about cyberbullying, sexting, social networking, and more.

iKeepSafe.org seeks to give parents, educators, and policymakers the information and tools which power them to teach children the safe and healthy use of technology and the internet.

NetSmartz is a safety resource from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) for children aged 5 to 17, parents, guardians, educators and law enforcement that uses activities to teach internet safety

Lookout Mobile Security & The Online Mom's Generation Smartphone: A Guide for Parents of Tweens & Tweens has resources to help families talk to their kids about mobile security and safe smartphone use.

OnGuardOnline.gov is the Federal Trade Commission's main consumer-facing page to educate everyone on staying safe and secure online.

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Raising Digital Citizens - Stay Safe Online

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The internet is a wonderful place for learning and entertainment, but like the world around us, it can pose dangers if precautions are not taken. Allowing free access puts your child, your computer and your personal data at risk. Remain positively engaged: Pay attention to and know the online environments your children use.

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Digital Citizenship | Online Safety | Cyberwise | California

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Digital Citizenship | Online Safety | Cyberwise | California

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Online safety & digitial citizenship and literacy info for parents & teachers. CyberWise is the go-to source for BUSY adults who want to help kids use technology safely and wisely. Free resources, middle school curriculum, and more!

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Microsoft OneNote: Basics and beyond

Office

Feb 08, 2017

Dec 01, 2017

See Microsoft OneNote in action! We show you how to use OneNote for collaboration and offer best practices for increasing your productivity. Find out how to create a OneNote notebook, manage your task list, and share notes in meetings. See how OneNote integrates with other Office apps, and learn how to access OneNote from your Windows, iOS, or Android device.

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See Microsoft OneNote in action! We show you how to use OneNote for collaboration and offer best practices for increasing your productivity. Find out how to create a OneNote notebook, manage your task list, and share notes in meetings. See how OneNote integrates with other Office apps, and learn how to access OneNote from your Windows, iOS, or Android device.

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How to enjoy YouTube with your kids without feeling overwhelmed and confused. Advice from Common Sense Media editors.

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Use our social media guide for parents: tips, advice, and the latest research to navigate the social media landscape and help keep your kids' online interactions safe.

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In this section, you can find...

Educational computer games that introduce kids to key ideas in media and digital literacy. These games are a great way to start a conversation on media issues in the home or classroom, and you can play most of them right here on our website.

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Educational computer games that introduce kids to key ideas in media and digital literacy. These games are a great way to start a conversation on media issues in the home or classroom, and you can play most of them right here on our website.

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Check if your student is eligible!

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7th and 8th grade students may apply for College Bound if they meet one of the following requirements:

During 7th or 8th grade, household income from all sources (taxable and nontaxable) is less than or equal to the amounts on the chart.

Household Side

Anuual Income Guidelines*

Monthly Income

Weekly Income

*Household income must be less than or equal to this amount.

Student is currently in foster care or a dependent of the state.

Student's family receives basic food/TANF benefits.

Still have questions? We have answers!

Download the Intro to College Bound flyer.

Contact us by email at collegebound@wsac.wa.gov or by phone 888-535-0747.

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During 7th or 8th grade, household income from all sources (taxable and nontaxable) is less than or equal to the amounts on the chart. Household Side Anuual Income Guidelines* Monthly Income Weekly Income *Household income must be less than or equal to this amount. Student is currently in foster care or a dependent of the state.

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Look at student grades, attendance, and food balance

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After High School Resources

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After High School - Covington Middle School Library

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Fix Chromebook problems - Chromebook Help

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Use the guides below to fix common Chromebook problems.

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Google Family Link - Direct Notice to Parents

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Stay in the loop as your child explores on their Android device

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District machines have settings already in place, and you can add them at home.

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Kids love the all-knowing Google. Your kids likely use Google to help them find everything from information for homework assignments to funny cat videos, and everything in between.

Sometimes kids can take a "wrong turn" on Google and end up in a dark part of the Internet where they shouldn't be. Some kids may innocently stumble upon inappropriate content while other kids seek it out intentionally. Either way, parents are often left wondering what they can do to prevent their children from searching for and finding "bad sites" via Google.

Thankfully, Google has some parental control features that parents can implement to at least help reduce the volume of crap that ends up in search results.

Let's take a look at some Google parental controls that you can enable to help keep your curious kids from ending up on the wrong side of the tracks:

What is Google SafeSearch?

Google SafeSearch is one of the primary parental control options offered by Google to help parents police search results. SafeSearch helps to filter explicit content out of search results. It is mainly designed to target sexually explicit material (images and videos) and not violent content.

How to Enable Google SafeSearch

To turn on Google SafeSearch, visit http://www.google.com/preferences

1. From the "Search Settings" preferences page, place a check in the box with the label "Filter explicit results".

2. To lock this setting so that your child can't change it, click the "Lock SafeSearch" link.

If you are not already logged into your Google account, you will need to do so in order to lock SafeSearch to the "on" position.

Note: If you have more than one web browser on your system, you will need to perform the Lock SafeSearch process above for each of the browsers. Also, if you have more than one profile on your computer (i.e. your child has a separate user account to log into a shared computer) then you will need to lock down the browser from within the child's profile.

Cookies must be enabled for this feature to work as well.

When you have successfully turned SafeSearch either on or off, you will receive a confirmation message in your browser.

If you want to check the status of SafeSearch to see if your child has somehow disabled it, look at the top of any search results page in Google, you should see a message near the top of the screen that says that SafeSearch is locked.

There are no guarantees that SafeSearch will block out all bad content, but it is at least better than not having it turned on. There is also nothing to prevent your child from using a different search engine to find bad content. Other search engines such as Yahoo, have their own SafeSearch-like features that you can enable as well. Check their support pages for information on their parental control offerings.

In addition to your computer, you will probably also want to enable SafeSearch on any mobile device that your child uses regularly, such as your smartphone, iPod touch, or tablet. For instructions on how to enable SafeSearch on a variety of mobile devices check out Google's SafeSearch Mobile support page.

As we all know, kids are going to be kids and try to test their boundaries.

We put up one roadblock and they go around it. It's a constant cat and mouse game and there will always be some internet door that we as parents forget to lock, and that will be the one that the kids get through, but we do the best we can.

If you want to take a look at some other ways to implement Internet parental controls, check out some related articles below:

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Kids love the all-knowing Google. Your kids likely use Google to help them find everything from information for homework assignments to funny cat videos, and everything in between. Sometimes kids can take a "wrong turn" on Google and end up in a dark part of the Internet where they shouldn't be.