You could stand there. Most parents try that for about a week.
Why a blocklist loses this one
You would have to name every distraction in advance. Your child has to find one you missed. A new site appearing in the world beats your list, and it will, because there is a new one every week and you have a job.
Invert it. For those two hours, name the three sites homework actually needs and shut everything else. A list of what is allowed does not go stale. Nothing new gets past it, because nothing new was ever on it.
That is the whole difference. A list of banned sites is a bet that you can think of everything. A list of allowed sites is a bet that homework needs three addresses, which it does.
The recipe
A program in Parentech is a name, a set of days, a start, an end, and the sites that open.
| | |
|---|---|
| Name | Homework hour |
| Days | Monday to Friday |
| Window | 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM |
| Allowed | docs.google.com, classroom.google.com, www.khanacademy.org |
Add the school's own site, not just the ones you recognise. Then save. That is the whole setup, and you do it once.
At four it starts on its own, with nobody at the computer. At six it ends on its own and everything comes back.
One thing not to worry about: the school Google sign-in keeps working inside the window without you adding anything. Parentech leaves sign-in pages open on purpose, because Google's sign-in walks the browser through addresses that have nothing to do with the site you wanted, and a homework rule that locks a child out of their own school account gets uninstalled by Wednesday.
The part that needs you not to be there
Four o'clock on a Tuesday is the middle of a working afternoon. That is the entire reason this is a schedule and not a rule you enforce.
The window has to start itself, because you are not there to start it. And when a class runs long or the homework needs a site you did not list, you have to be able to fix it from wherever you are rather than from their chair — which means your phone, signed in at parentech.app, one tap.
Free covers all of this on one computer, changed at that computer. The plan covers the second computer and your pocket.
What your kid sees
A minute before it starts, a small notice appears on whatever page is open. That is deliberate: it gives them a chance to save what they are doing rather than losing it, which is the difference between a rule and an ambush.
Then anything not on the list reloads into a page naming the program and the time it ends, with the sites that do open listed underneath. Nothing is hidden from them. There is no countdown ticking in the corner, because a countdown is a thing to argue with.
What you get afterwards
A report for each window: minutes on the listed sites, minutes away from the screen, and every site that was turned away, with a count.
The count is the useful part. Twenty minutes away as one break is a kid who went to get a drink. Twenty minutes as fifteen separate attempts is a kid who never settled once, and that is a conversation worth having with a number on the table instead of a feeling.
It also tells you when your list is wrong. A site turned away eleven times on a Thursday is usually not defiance. It is the site the teacher set and you did not know about.
What this does not reach
- A phone under the desk. Parentech guards Chrome on that computer.
- Time away means Chrome lost focus or the computer went idle. It cannot tell a bathroom break from a game on a tablet, and it does not pretend to.
- The window is same-day. For one crossing midnight, make two.
- It follows the computer's clock. If the clock is wrong, so is the window.
Questions parents ask
Can they end it early?
No. Ending early takes your PIN, on the computer or from your phone. It ends on its own at six.
What if homework needs a site I did not list?
Enter your PIN on the block page and open that site for 15 minutes or an hour. Then add it to the program properly, so next Tuesday is not the same conversation.
Is this the same as a class session?
Yes, with a clock. A class session is started by hand and runs for a length. A schedule is the same program starting itself at a time on the days you choose.
Does the report tell me what they read?
No. It records the hostnames of sites turned away, never what was typed or read on a site that opened. Nothing they browse leaves their computer.
What happens on a day with no homework?
The window still runs, and that is usually fine — two hours where the loud sites are shut is not a punishment. If you want it off for the day, end it early with your PIN. It comes back tomorrow on its own.
Setting up the sites it needs
Allow only Google Docs · Allow only Khan Academy
The same idea at other hours: the two hours before you get home, nothing after nine, and a fortnight of revision.
More on how the window works: Set a schedule. What it costs: pricing.