Safe email for families

[Wesley Fryer]

When I was teaching in an elementary school computer lab in the late 1990s, I actually taught my sixth graders how to register for and use Yahoo email. I cringe at that thought today, especially given the proliferation of spam and dangers online. Our school district at the time did not provide any type of email for students (filtered or otherwise) and that district still doesn't. ePals offers the email service for schools , but what are families to do?

Karen Mongmery told me about Zoobuh today, and for $1 per month it looks like a great option for email. Your kids can just receive email from senders you pre-approve (sort of like "whitelisting a website address") and when someone else sends them an email, the parent gets an email that includes a link to allow or disallow the email to go through to the child.

A couple of years ago, before my oldest child was really reading a lot, I set him up with email. The results weren't good. He got overwhelmed with the number of messages from people, I think, and the filtering setup wasn't ideal. I'm considering giving Zoobuh a try.

Does anyone have other experiences (good or bad) with filtered and moderated email for kids at home?

[Karen Montgomery]

I just paid for a one year subscription for Zoobuh e-mail for my daughter after trying the 30-day free trial. I have been very happy with it especially for the price.

I have seen gaggle.net and have worked with a school district using it. It is a good solution and can be moderated and controlled. My only caution is to thoroughly consider whom will be responsible for monitoring all the e-mails.

[Anita Foster]

We used Gaggle at a system I use to work in. I actually trained 4th graders on using it with their teachers. It was really easy to navigate and a good beginning email for the students to learn. The teachers were in charge of moderating the email between students. I would put it as part of a WebQuest or Virtual Field Trip and have the students respond to me about what they learned. As for home, I am glad you brought this up because I have not even thought about this since my son has not started Kindergarten yet. But it is so funny, he will get on the computer and open a program (normally Word) and begin typing (something he has done since we started doing it for him around age 2, he will be 5 this summer) and say, "I'm just checking my email!"

[Durff]

Doesn't gaggle or gmail filter? A Lutheran school in MO uses it, but our school doesn't have anything. My MS kids usu have their own by the time they get to me. The one student who didn't used mine for awhile whenever the blog wanted it. She has since gotten her own...

[Tonya Witherspoon]

When my daughter was first beginning to read and write she used Kidzmail. It is a great email client that has parent controls to monitor and filter e-mail based on the address book that you set up. The best features are how the child can compose and read e-mail. The compose mail window allows kids to draw pictures and add text only if they want. When they receive e-mail it is read out loud. I'd encourage parents of young children to check it out.

http://www.haranbanjo.com/kidzmail/