Resources and ideas for planning a class to help adults learn ways to keep kids safe on the internet.

Local church hosted classes:

Child Safety and Internet Safety for Families will be the topic on Sunday, March 3, 9:45 - 10:45 a.m. during a class for parents of young children at Annandale United Methodist Church. A guest speaker from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children will address child safety and internet safety for families. The class, called Parents and Promises, will meet in room 300. The church is located at 6935 Columbia Pike, Annandale, VA 22003. For more information contact Becki Stewart, Director of Christian Education for Children, bstewart@annandale-umc.org

First United Methodist Church, Lakeland, FL has had several courses offered - from learning computer skills to safety on the internet. You can contact Maggie Trask. mtrask@firstumc.org

Contact – he has done this on Power Point and will be happy to communicate with you:
Reverend Stephen R. Streett
Varnell United Methodist Church
P.O. Box 307 Varnell, Georgia 30756
Phone: (706) 694-8023
Fax: (706) 694-8023
stephen@varnellumc.org

Locally—check your sheriff’s office or police department. Many will hold classes on internet safety. Your Parent Teacher Association at your child's school may have resources you can use.

Print resources:

A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Social Media by Adam McLane

Cyber Safety for Families by Paul O’Briant. The Training Kid includes: a CD with step-by-step teaching plans, masters for handouts. Including guidelines for talking to children about Internet bullying, setting family guidelines for use of the Internet. A PowerPoint slideshow and script, an audio recording, are included and more. (see Related Products below to order)

iKids: Children in the Digital Age by Craig Kennet Miller. Children growing up today are completely digital, they've never known anything else. This resource will help families understand their roles as value shapers and churches connect kids to God and one another in meaningful ways. (Discipleship Resources ©2014 ISBN 9780881777048)

Model policies:

Safe Church Guidelines for Social Media - The Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut

Province III Youth Ministry Network - Social Media Safe Church

Policies from North Georgia and Oregon Annual Conferences are on the attached pdfs below. The Oregon-Idaho policy was originally developed by the Indiana Annual Conference.

Web sites:

PEP (Parents Encouragement Program) is hosting a Social Media Safety Night for Parents on February 27, 2013 more information here.  Although the time is close at hand and will be in Kensington, MD, you may find help through PEP. The presenter is Alecia Berman-Dry, technology coordinator and teacher at St. John's Episcopal School and certified i-Safe Web Safety Trainer.

WiredSafety is the largest and oldest online safety, education, and help group in the world. Originating in 1995 as a group of volunteers rating websites, it now provides one-to-one help, extensive information, and education to cyberspace users of all ages on a myriad of Internet and interactive technology safety, privacy and security issues. These services are offered through a worldwide organization comprised entirely of unpaid volunteers who administer specialized websites, resources and programs.

Common Sense Media the nation's leading independent nonprofit advocating for kids. As a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, we provide trustworthy information and tools, as well as an independent forum, so that families can have a choice and a voice about the media they consume.

NetSmartz411  is parents' and guardians' premier, online resource for answering questions about Internet safety, computers, and the Web.

The Kim Komando Show - internet safety search results here and Online Commandments

Federal Trade Commission - Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online video

Channing-Bete - for leaflets on cyber-bullying and internet

WiredSafety - website link on cyperbulling 

North Georgia Annual Conference - Young Clergy Task Force on Social Media created a social media guidelines

Power to Change - 7 Facebook Essentials for Kids blog post

WebRoot -is committed to taking the misery out of Internet security for consumers and businesses worldwide. With a wide range of online security products for home and office, Webroot protects corporate networks and allows consumers to download music, store digital files, bank, shop, surf and search – safely. Founded in 1997, the company provides best-of-breed security solutions that protect personal information and corporate assets from online and internal threats.  Online Safety Basics for Parents

Suggestions from Lake Junaluska, NC, staff:

• A cue for internet use—instead of Googling something, type in the address into the bar. This is safer.
• Go to Download.com—you can download for free—Malware bytes—also Windows has a built in firewall be sure it is active. From this save source you can get AVG or Avant or Avaria. Only one of these needs to be active on your computer.
• Go to Microsoft.com and download Microsoft security and install. It has worked well for us.