Explore the Uncategorized Archives at Simply Coding for insights, tips, and resources on coding, programming, and tech trends. Learn and grow with us!

Stay Safe on Social Media

/0 Comments/in /by

3 Easy Tips to Make Sure Your Kids Are Social Media Safe

Whether it be Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, social media can be a really fun way to interact with friends. It provides a platform for sharing experiences, keeping up with trends, and maintaining connections with loved ones. As much fun as they can be, we need to always remember there are real threats to using these tools. Social Media can be dangerous too, especially for children who might not fully understand the risks. Cyberbullying, online predators, and exposure to inappropriate content are just a few concerns that parents need to be aware of.

So, how do we protect ourselves, and make sure our kids are protected too? Here are a few practical tips to help teach your kids about social media safety while fostering a sense of responsibility and awareness.

1-Don’t let young kids roam free

First things first, if your child is under the age of 13 make sure all of their accounts and passwords are connected to your device or computer. This is a critical step in ensuring their safety. By having total access to their accounts, you’re in a better position to oversee their activities and manage potential risks.

However, this doesn’t mean you should micromanage or invade their privacy by reading every message they send or receive. Instead, focus on being a guide and a protector. You should have total access to them. I’m not saying you should log on and read their messages, but you should be able to block or unfollow anyone that you feel could be a danger to them. It’s important to trust your kids, it’s even more important to make sure they are safe.

Remember, there are some nasty things on social media, and you never know what is happening if you don’t have full access to your children’s accounts. Social media is full of content that can be inappropriate, harmful, or even predatory, and it’s difficult to know what is happening if you don’t have full access to your child’s accounts. So be smart, don’t allow your kids under 13 to have total reign over their accounts.

2-Stay private

Privacy is one of the best tools for ensuring safety on social media. Always encourage your kids to set their accounts to private, which allows only approved friends to view their posts. This simple step can significantly reduce the risks of strangers gaining access to their personal information or photos.

REMEMBER: IF YOU ALLOW PEOPLE Social Media SafeTO FOLLOW YOU THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW, YOU ARE NO LONGER PRIVATE. Make sure you monitor the people your child allows to follow them. If you don’t know who they are, ask. Being social media safe means constant checkups to stay social media safe. If you have any questions on how to make your social media accounts private, this should help. Building an ongoing conversation about social media safety is key to staying protected.

Social media safety also requires consistent checkups. Regularly review privacy settings and ensure they are up to date. Some platforms frequently update their privacy policies, which can unintentionally expose personal information if not managed properly. Take time to explore the privacy settings together with your child and explain why each setting is important.

If you’re unsure how to make accounts private, don’t hesitate to look for guides or resources online to help you navigate these settings effectively.

3-Parody accounts are a wild card

Accounts that are created for memes and other funny internet things are usually accounts trying to build a large following to earn money through ads. Make sure you know what parody accounts your children are following. Once these accounts have a large enough following, they will often post inappropriate content for an easy buck. Don’t fall into the trap of a couple of stupid jokes just to put your child at risk of seeing something that they shouldn’t. Remember being social media safe means preventing the problem before you have to deal with the problem. Don’t let social media teach your children about the birds and the bees.

We’d love to hear about other ways to protect our kids on social media. Leave us a comment and let us know how you do it! Being social media smart is a joint effort.

kids-school

Internet Safety; Is Your Child Safe on the Internet?

/0 Comments/in /by

6 Tips to Help Parents Understand Proper Kids Internet Safety

The Internet can be a dangerous place. Without the proper precautions, your child’s safety could be at risk. From inappropriate content to cyber predators, the risks are real and ever-evolving. With one click even kids can access things that would give most adults a stomach ache. So how can you make sure that what they are viewing is safe?

The best way to combat the dangers of the internet is to know what they are! Educating yourself about potential threats and staying proactive can make a huge difference. Your Kids Internet Safety should be the number one goal. By setting clear boundaries and staying involved, you can create a safe online environment for your child.

Here is a list of the best ways to make sure that your children are safe while using the internet.

1. Computer location is key

Make sure the computer is located in an area of non-privacy, like the front room or kitchen. Having the device in a shared space not only promotes responsible usage but also provides an opportunity for parents to observe their child’s browsing habits in real-time. This prevents kids from wandering the internet (like clicking random links) without parental supervision.

Kids Internet Safety depends much on how daring they are willing to be and they are much less likely to take chances if someone else can see what they are doing. Consider setting up family usage hours to encourage transparency and limit excessive screen time.

2. Be a part of their cyber world

Know what types of social media and forms of entertainment your children use. Stay informed about trending platforms and apps to better understand their online behaviour. Follow their social media accounts and check their posts and comments somewhat regularly.

Make sure you know who is commenting and liking their photos and posts. If you don’t know who someone is, ASK! Encourage open discussions about their online friends and guide them on recognizing potential red flags, such as strangers asking for personal information.

Kids Internet Safety

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Account privacy is most important for Kids Internet Safety

Teach your kid not to share passwords, even with their best friends. You never know who else will find out. Reinforce the importance of using strong, unique passwords for each platform and updating them regularly.

Keeping information private is the best way to stay safe on the internet. Teach your kids to log out of computers, even if they are personal or home computers. Also, make sure to check your search engine settings. Most search engines allow parental controls that will help narrow the list of possible choices that appear when your children are surfing the internet.

In addition, consider enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) on accounts to add an extra layer of security.

4. Keep up with software

Use antiviruses and pop-up blockers. There are plenty of free or pay-for-use pop-up blockers and antiviruses available on the Kids Internet Safety. Regular software updates are essential to patch security vulnerabilities that could put your child’s data at risk.

Antiviruses keep your computer safe from bugs and malware. This is just like putting up a fence to keep your toddler in the yard. It’s a precaution if everything else goes wrong. Additionally, parental control software can help track online activities and block harmful content proactively.

To find the best antivirus for Windows, click here. Of the top ten, nine are pay-for-use, however, if your budget is tight there is a free one too.

Here is a link to the same site but for Mac computers. All on this list are paid, but fear not, here is another link for free Mac antiviruses. Be sure to choose software that suits your family’s needs and preferences.

5. Don’t just ban, understand

One in four children see porn by the age of 12. Try to understand why this is and make sure you stay in constant communication with your children about what they are viewing on the internet. If something goes wrong on the internet, don’t react by blaming your child. Instead, make yourself available for conversation if anything that they stumble on makes them uncomfortable.

6. What is put on the internet stays on the internet

Make sure that your kids know that whatever they put on the internet, even if deleted later, is still on the internet. This makes anyone think twice about whatever they think they want to post on the internet.

Let us know what you think about this list and if you have another way of keeping your children safe. Together, we can make the Internet a child-friendly zone!

#kidsafeinternet

Test Scores VS Skills Set. What’s Better for Homeschoolers?

/0 Comments/in /by

I was at lunch with our Founder and President, Seth Iorg a few months ago and we were speaking to a gentleman who works for a highly reputable online charter school. (I won’t mention the name). But he started to tell us about how this notion that “it’s all about test scores (i.e. ACT’s, highschool exams, SAT’s, etc. ) ” is coming to an end. That all these big wigs and prolific school board of directors, associations aren’t even mentioned schools exams anymore. But the phrase they use now is “College and Career Ready”. Helping kids of todays day and age become ready for college and know exactly what they want or need to study OR prepare them for the careers of the future.

This had quite the impact on both of us. We then decided to coin the phrase underneath our logo and it has now become our company motto! We want to provide a REAL coding (computer programming) PATHWAY for youth so by the time they turn 16-18 years of age, the child knows where to invest his/her time. Is it to pursue college? Is it to go directly into a career that may not require college. Whatever it may be… the parents will feel confident that their good money is not wasted.

Simply Coding, Inc. has been designed around this concept. We put kids in a real coding (html, css, javascript, java, python, etc.) and allow them to create THEIR on portfolios on github of their projects and games to show to future employers, internships, and so much more!

 

Top 5 Things Learned at Great Homeschool Convention

/0 Comments/in /by

Just got back about a week ago from our first Great Homeschool Convention. It was a great time meeting all the wonderful parents there that passed by our booth and to see their passion they have for their kids. What great Great Homeschool Conventionchristian beliefs and friendly people. We learned a few things on our adventure:

  1. WE LEARNED parents want family discounts for our online coding pathways for youth. UPDATE: We have now implemented this and you can add family members to your regular monthly membership and you can always downgrade later if one of the kids don’t like the computer programming kind of thing.
  2. WE LEARNED that homeschool parents are awesome and really care about the skills that their children will learn.
  3. WE LEARNED that every child needs coding! The more and more we think about it, Level ONE is such a must-have for any type of job/career. We looked on monster.com and couldn’t believe the requirements of random jobs that want to see html, css, javascript on the resume!
  4.  WE LEARNED that age is not a great indicator of whether a child is ready to do computer programming or not, but that “typing” is the key component! If your child can Nitrotype 15 words per minute, then he/she will have a good experience learning coding. Usually this is around age 10 if that helps!
  5. WE LEARNED that Twix was the preferred chocolate at our booth, and Baby Ruth came in dead last!

To Your Child’s Success,

Dustin