Home Parental Control Options

  • This page is intended to provide some basic information for parents who wish to implement additional parental controls and filtering, in addition to the District's filtering, on their child's device while at home. Please note: Arlington Heights School District 25 does not evaluate, endorse, or support the products listed or linked on this page. This information is being presented as a convenience for parents in their efforts to filter their home networks. The preferred approach for parental controls of student devices is to filter and control Internet access using your home network. There are three main approaches to this - you may choose the approach that works best for your family:
     
    1. Utilize the ScreenTime settings for iPad (this is not available for Chromebooks). This is a feature that parents can use to set limitations on the school-issued iPad including app and time limits.
    2. Use any Content & Privacy Restrictions to block or limit specific apps and features on a child’s device — restricting the settings for explicit content, purchases, downloads, and privacy.
    3. Use your router's built-in parental controls - This is generally the lowest-cost method and is built in to most routers but in some cases the setup may be involved. Please do a search for the link to the  manufacturer of your home router for more information (for example, “Netgear parental controls” or “Linksys parental controls")
    4. Use a web-based service such as OpenDNS - This may be an effective option if your router does not have built-in parental controls. Depending on the plan you choose, there may be a cost involved.
    5. Purchase a standalone product that plugs into your network such as Circle by Disney - This may be the easiest option to implement, however, depending upon the product chosen, there may be a cost involved. When choosing a product, please ensure that the product does not require installation onto your child's device directly.
    6. For non-district-issued devices or accounts, you can use Google Family Link to restrict time, manage settings, and monitor usage. This will not work with district accounts or devices. 

     

    Additional Tips for Parents
    • Keep the computer in the family room or another location where you can see what your child is doing.
    • Use Parental Controls to limit the sites your child can access.
    • Limit the amount of time your child uses the computer.
    • Talk to your child about cyber safety and cyber bullying.
    • Remind your children:
      • Never give personal information such as name, birthday, address or phone number.
      • Never download pictures or documents from strangers.
      • Never use any personal information when creating a screen name or email accounts

     

    For additional information please check out