I agree with all the PPs. You being ready to apologize doesn't make the other person ready to accept it. You are done. You did what you could and now it is up to them. Some people are never able to forgive. You can't help that. :grouphug:

The shorter you are, the lower your overall blood volume thus if they take X amount from my dd (4'10") and that same amount from her friend (5'3") it will impact my dd more than it will the taller girl. So if my dd weighs more, she can more easily cope physically with the blood loss. :001_smile: I donated blood for my own surgery at 16. You had to weigh 110lbs waaaay ;) back then and no one checked. I passed out. Then they brought up the weight issue! :001_huh: As an Army brat raised in Germany, I am no longer allowed to donate. I found that out 2 years ago at a blood drive at my church. I was stunned. Apparently, the military's source for meat in the late '70s - early'80s was was possibly tainted with mad cow. So, I could be a carrier! Oy!

Yes, I read that. I was just wondering because of the social worker who told me the reports were completely anonymous, even to CPS. That really didn't make sense to me. (Thus, I felt lied to and am now not inclined to "trust" CPS. Seems to be an on-going issue for me in this thread! :lol: )

That doesn't even make sense! Calling in a concern that ends up being innocent is not filing a false report. Calling CPS every 3 months with bogus baloney to harass your neighbor is. If CPS is in the business of investigating, surely they can suss out which is which. :confused: (I am not an alarmist by nature, but feeling like I am being lied to makes it hard to trust *anything* coming out of CPS, kwim?)

I totally second Dharma. We tie-dyed shirts for July 4th last year and they turned out great! I have ordered many things from Dharma and the service is amazing. I had never tie-dyed before and they answered all of my questions over the phone. The kits are really convenient and provide all you need and plenty of it. They come with instructions, too.

I have always wondered about this. What we were told by the social worker was that calls were anonymous, even to CPS workers. That just doesn't sit right with me. What is the safeguard against superfluous and harassing calls? What if the information given in the original phone call (address, particularly) isn't correct? How would they call to get the correct information if it is all so anonymous? (I feel like she lied to us, but I honestly don't know.)

I agree with not bringing it camping. I have never brought it while camping. Mostly out of fear of tragedy befalling it, lol!

I bring mine, wifi or no. I upload pictures and video to it each night. No playing on it, though, by me or the dc. (I think it is harder on me... :tongue_smilie: ) (We went to Disneyland in 2006 and it was the first time I ever brought a laptop. I uploaded photos every night. As we were loading our bags in front of the hotel to go home, I dropped my camera and lost all the photos on it. To this day, I am still thanking God that I was uploading every night. I lost some, but a mere fraction of what I could have lost!)

When ds9 was 3, a new neighbor on the street called CPS on us. (I had lived there for several years at that point and I knew and was friendly with all of our neighbors.) Anyway, I was cleaning out my van and ds ran into the (extremely quiet and small street) and ds18 (then 12) ran out in one direction while I ran in the other to "cut him off" and grabbed him. That was on a Friday. On Monday, CPS was at my door with a report that my ds was "running in the dangerous and busy street multiple times unsupervised." :001_huh: Dh was home so I let the social worker in. I asked her if she honesty thought the street on which we lived was busy at all. (The only traffic was cars who lived on the street. It was short and didn't go anywhere, kwim?) I asked her if the caller was so concerned, why didn't they get my ds out of the street instead of calling CPS. She said that the report said I retrieved him from the street! (Which begs the question - WHY ARE YOU HERE???) She never looked at any of our house at all except the living room where she was sitting. She talked with my dc, but it was very conversational and dh and I were there. She left and we received a certified letter stating the allegations were unfounded. Duh! I was shaken and rattled horrifically after that but it really wasn't actually traumatic. I think all the horror stories didn't help but rather made it bigger than it was. OTOH, dh's ex (with whom we are friends) was at work one night when her ds7 called the police because he thought he was home alone. Dss was babysitting but he has Aspergers and was plugged into his computer downstairs. The police showed up and found the house an unholy disaster, filthy, with a baby in a dirty diaper, and the daughter showed the police an exposed wire (and shocked herself on it in the process.) The police called CPS who came out several days later. In the interim, the baby burned his whole palm on a stove burner. CPS found there to be no issues in the home and closed the investigation. Those are my limited experiences with CPS. Could something horrific happen? Yes, it could. Is it likely? Not really. CPS must do millions of investigations a day and out of all of those, there are actually very extremely few horror stories of innocent people being ravaged. It happens, to be sure. But I am no more worried about that than I am about being wrongfully arrested and convicted of a crime I didn't commit. It happens. But it is so rare as to not make my list of "Things to Worry About." :001_smile:

Going all the way back to the OP, :D , when our 4th was born, the nurse asked us if he was our first. Dh replied that he was our 4th. Her jaw dropped and she squeaked out, "Are they all YOURS?!" at my gobsmacked dh. He rather cooly informed her that they were... :lol: In terms of marriage, I strongly believe in marriage and strongly believe in my marriage. At the end of the day, that is the one that matters to me. If others choose to not marry, that is their business, not mine. Personally, I believe marriage provides benefits and stability, particularly to children, but that is my belief, nothing written in blood. If others feel differently, it isn't my place to try to convince them otherwise, just as no one can convince me that my marriage is unnecessary or superfluous. :D

Do I file a DOI on my dd16 (next week :D ) at the district if she is a Running start student at the local community college? Her "high school counselor" for purposes of Running Start is at the local high school but she isn't actually enrolled at the high school. Does she need a release of attendance? I am confused... :confused: (I asked at the district office and the gal helping me was super friendly and tried really hard to find answers, but she is a summer temp and was basically "desk warming" while the "real occupant" was at lunch. :tongue_smilie: Come to think of it, between the district office and the high school, I dealt with 5 or 6 different folks who were all really helpful and friendly and never acted at all put off by the fact that we homeschool. When they realized we were like monkeys doing a math problem trying to sort out eleventy million different things, they were only too happy to help. :D )

:iagree:

I'm all for showers for every baby and even every wedding. (Never had a wedding shower and my dd gave me a baby shower when I was pg with #6. Not exactly a real shower, but wow, so sweet!!!) Anyway, I am seriously, seriously OLD SCHOOL. I do NOT believe in the mentioning of gifts AT ALL on any type of invitation. I think it is so beyond tacky it makes me shiver. When one receives an invite, if they are so inclined, they may call the host/hostess and inquire about registries and/or wishes/desires. Outside of the one way mentioned in this thread, I can't imagine any way of asking for cash that isn't beyond rude and tacky. Ugh. The reality is, many people offer cash gifts to newlyweds. It is quite common. So to ask for it boggles my ever loving mind. Let people who would give cash do so and that should be the end of it. (All of this is strictly IMO. I freely confess to being really antiquated when it comes to invitations and gift requests. I love giving gifts. I hate feeling obligated. I will buy gifts for people I have never met if one of them works with dh and gets married or has a baby, lol. Yes, I love giving gifts. But if you invite me to a shower and ask for cash, I will probably :svengo: .)

:grouphug: I hope sleep doesn't elude you. Your son will have such a wonderful time! I saw that on FB and was totally :confused: . We have a couple and use them for mashed potatoes and many other things, as well. Vintage?? :001_huh:

Oh! I like that point!! :iagree:

What is the percentage of the school age population in a homeschool situation? (Those who turn in a DOI and aren't using K12 or a virtual academy or some other public school related option that would actually put their child in a public school stat.) Of that percentage, what percentage of homeschool families are experiencing educational neglect? IOW, how do the numbers compare between public school "failures" and homeschool "failures?" I ask because why do I have to jump through hoops, prove proficiency, stand on my head, etc., because some minor fraction of the over all population might not be educating their dc? All the regulations in the world aren't going to prevent dc from falling through the cracks. It is lousy and seriously stinks. But it is a reality. And cracking down on all families in the hopes of weeding out that occasional family seems like a huge waste of time and resources, especially when the institution burdened with that oversight has a proven failure rate of its own and needs to focus on the problems with which it is faced. My dd's soccer coach wanted families to show up to games 90 minutes early. My father is the asst coach and he asked him WHY do you want them here SO early? The answer was that he was hoping people wouldn't be late. My dad informed him that those who would be late would still be late and all he was doing was penalizing the families (the overwhelming majority of the team) who are always on time. Just sayin'... ;)

Never thought about it. :D In our house, it would never come up as I have to do an entire load of bath towels unto itself multiple times a week. (Incidentally, we use all white for ease of washing, too. But I still can't mix them as I have TOO MANY bath towels! :lol: )

Dd15 has always been allowed to do her school work in her room. Ds18 was never allowed to because he did absolutely nothing. IOW, it varies by the teen. ;)

I find it gets easier when they can read! :D I have ADD and I get overwhelmed and exhausted because of my inability to be hyper-organized, or even regularly organized. <sigh> I am 10 years in and have who knows how many years left. I never ever think about that or I will do what Veritaserum did when her dh suggested restarting her part-time business. :tongue_smilie:

Yes, this. People who neglect their children's education do it in public schools, private schools, home schools, charter schools, etc. Our public school system is regulated all over the place, 6 ways from Sunday and almost a third of the students aren't graduating. How many graduates read at a 4th grade level and can't figure out the percentage off at a store without a calculator? Regulations make people feel better and feel like the gov't is proactive, but as far as actual improvement, I am highly dubious. I don't follow an unschooling philosophy for the most part, but I have seen it in action with great results. I have seen "school at home" done with crappy results. Regulations won't change that but would really hinder anyone trying to truly teach their children in a manner that doesn't adhere to a standard protocol.

Nothing is to be feared like choice in education! Heaven forbid parents and families find the best mode of education for their children. I am so over listening to the all the freaking bickering. All that matters (it seems like) is money and power and control. The success and/or failure of the student is collateral. :glare: (Ftr, I live in WA and while I won't use the public schools, the charter schools, the private schools, and I left the virtual academy, I still want ALL of them available as options for other families who need or want them. At the end of the day, I just want to see more children succeed. And that will look different from one child to the next, even within one family.)

We do music lessons during school hours but Scouts and sports and so forth are in the evening and not part of a homeschool group. I refuse to go to museums, zoos, science centers, the fair, etc. when schools are on breaks. Those types of things we always schedule during school hours. But those tend to happen once a month, so no big deal. If we tried to schedule regular, weekly, outings (activities, whatever) during the school day, good heavens, nothing would get done! :001_huh: (We have a hard enough time without interference.... <insert the bag over my head here>)

In our state, using a virtual academy means that legally, you aren't labelled a homeschooler. But that is a legal label. In all practicality, when you choose the curriculum, teach the material, and correct the work, in your own home, you are schooling at home, which is easier stated as "homeschooling." I personally believe there need to be legal clarifications between the two, but for social discussion purposes, such as "where does your child go to school" - "oh, we homeschool" is perfectly appropriate. Clear as mud? :tongue_smilie:

We didn't have to prove how we spent gift money, but we had to stand on our heads to prove it was, in fact, gift money. We had to have signed paperwork for cash gifts (checks dated 12/25) as low as $50. Uh, Christmas gift anyone??? :001_huh: We were stunned at how much of a Hollywood production the whole thing was. They requested the owner of the company for which dh works to submit bank statements, with nothing redacted, to prove our financial situation! :001_huh: :001_huh: :001_huh: If you owned a company, would you submit your financial statements on behalf on an employee with NOTHING redacted?? God bless the man, he did because he cares about dh and our family, but seriously???? We were beyond angry.

:iagree: 100%!! (Especially with the bolded.)