Facebook for Homeschoolers?
Over the Easter holiday break, our youngest daughter, (16 years old) finally joined Facebook. She had been resisting joining, partly because of all the negative press she had received from her dad and me about it. And she had held off for a very long time. But things had reached a point where she was one of the last few of her friends to not be on Facebook, and it was affecting her social life.
Some Things We Discussed and Made Decisions On
So after lots of discussion, the three of us decided that the time was right. We worked out in advance some things like:
- how long she would spend on Facebook each day
- how much participation she would have
- how she set her privacy settings
- how to decide how much posting she would do
- how many photographs she would upload
- why she should log off everytime she had finished with Facebook
Facebook is a Social Connector
I was very glad that our daughter listened, and worked with us, and Facebook is proving to be a great asset in her social life. She can read about events, invite friends to events, and keep in touch with people in an easy, gentle way.
When my daughter got her phone a few years ago, we had the same level of monitoring and guiding her through using a phone wisely. And when she got Twitter, it was the same thing.
One advantage our daughter has is that she is the fifth child. So she’s the fifth one to get a phone, a computer and access to various Internet services. Philip and I are experienced in dealing with a teenager, and we know about cyber safety.
We know what the dangers are and we can warn her about them. We also know how to monitor her gently without getting in her face. But really, a lot of the credit goes to her; she has been graciously willing to go at snail pace. She’s a sweetie about it all.
Technology Concerns
A lot of parents quite rightly have concerns about technology. And if they don’t, it’s often because they are not fully aware of all the serious dangers that children and young people can be exposed to if they are not supervised and guided.
Because of what I’ve seen, I wrote Cyber Safety for Homeschool Families to help parents be aware and protected. I’ve priced it extremely economically, so that it is within everyone’s budget.
It’s geared especially for homeschooling parents, on how to keep your children safe on the Internet. And how to handle things so that any problems will be short-lived and dealt with appropriately.
The cyber-world is an integral part of our modern lifestyle and we owe it to our children to keep them safe and to teach them how to keep themselves safe.
Click on the link or the picture for more details or to buy the book:
Cyber Safety for Homeschool Families
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