Online MODG assessments must be taken from the student's Family Site account, rather than the parents' account. To create a student Family Site account, the student must have a unique email address, so that the site can distinguish them from other users. However, if you prefer not to have your child have their own email address, there are a few alternative options.
Use an email to which the student does not have access
There is no requirement that students themselves must be able to access the email address associated with their account. For this reason, many parents choose to use email addresses to which the student does not have access (such as a parent's alternate email address), or to create a new email for the student but retain control over it themselves. This latter approach has the advantage that it is easy to hand off to the student once they reach a suitable age.
Use an alias for the parent's email
Most major email providers allow parents to create "aliases," i.e. email addresses that look different from your main address, but are still delivered to the same inbox. As these addresses appear to be unique, they can then be used for student accounts. Provider-specific instructions:
- Gmail: Aliases in Gmail are particularly easy. Simply take the "username" portion of your email address (the part before the @ sign), then append a + sign and anything else. Gmail ignores the plus sign and everything that follows when it decides where to deliver mail. So, for instance, "yourname@gmail.com," "yourname+something@gmail.com," and "yourname+somethingelse@gmail.com" are all equivalent.
- iCloud: This page details instructions on how to set up email aliases for your iCloud account. Be aware, however, that iCloud limits you to three aliases per account.
- Outlook.com: Instructions for creating email aliases with Outlook.com can be found here.
- Yahoo.com: Yahoo refers to these as "disposable email addresses." Instructions for setting them up can be found here.
Monitor a child's email account
For slightly older children, some parents might prefer to allow the child access to their own email account, but still keep an eye on what's going on. It is generally possible, with most email providers, to automatically forward every received message to a different address. That way you get a copy of every email your child's account receives. Do note, however, that, if the child has access to the account, they generally have the ability to disable forwarding, so this approach involves a certain level of trust.
Child-specific email providers
A number of services exist which purport to provide email specifically for children. Some of these services include features such as allowing mail to/from only certain allowed addresses, profanity filters, etc. Though MODG does not have any specific provider recommendations, these are certainly a viable alternative for parents looking to give their children limited access to the internet.