My children need to do some research for school. I do have an internet filter but it is rather useless. Ads and things still come through that I am appalled by. Therefore, I still do not let them on there to do research without me. Does anyone know of some safe websites or things I can do so they can safely do research on their own?
I realize this is going to be met with ire, but I make my kiddos stick to Wikipedia. Yes, I know it's not the best source in the world. Believe me, I would never let my college students use it. I know it's downfalls. However, it's the safest place for my (young) children to find information without the hazards of the internet.
I just did a quick google search and found this really cool website: http://ivyjoy.com/rayne/kidssearch.html It has a list of a bunch of kid friendly search engines. I tested it out by typing an inappropriate question and it said that results could not be found, so it should be safe for the kids.
I worry about this as well. For now, my kids will only do research with me right there. I can just think of too many innocent words that umm.. are used completely differently by adults. I do have a crazy block on IE for ds's computer. It will only allow him to view certain content- and the content has to have a rating (so sites that opt out won't load). It's a bit of a pain sometimes, but it does give me some piece of mind. I think it's the content advisor (found through 'tools' then 'internet options', and finally 'content'). I have to input a password to override the blocker.
I got a copy of encyclopedia britanica for the computer, and let DS use that for most things he needs to look up. Otherwise, I actually do the searching for him, and then have a few different sites open on the computer and let him read those. Or, we just go to the library.
I hate to be a bummer but my daughter went on the http://ivyjoy.com/rayne/kidssearch.html website and we used the search engine called "Awesome Library - 14,000 carefully reviewed resources." We wanted to look up info about Pocahontas and a sleezy lingerie photo ad came up about dressing "naughty." This wasn't a pop-up, it's an ad right in the website. I guess nothing is safe!
good web sites and never let them research when you are not in site of the researcher so you can look over their shoulders!
Maryannie- I just used the first search engine 'Ask For Kids' when I checked. I typed in sex and nothing came up at all. It said my search didn't match anything. All the ads on the side were kiddie things. I didn't think to check the other search engines. Maybe you can try the first one and see how it goes? I just looked again and it actually looks like there are no ads at all. It was just a picture. I clicked on a few links and I didn't see ads on them either. Not sure if I just lucked out, but I did a search for Pocahontas. The BBC link looked especially interesting.
