I know! It's heartbreaking, and really scary to think that they would just turn somebody down like that, especially when they plan to use a donor within their own family. I mean, that could be any of us. I HAVE a daughter with mental retardation. That's just insane to me. She's 20 years old now. I can't imagine if somebody had just told me she hadn't deserved to live when she was just a little girl. I hope a bunch of you sign the petition. They're very ambitious with their 100,000 signature goal. But every now and then I'm refreshing it to see how they're doing, and every time I do, they've got more signatures than they did the last time I looked. 6,630 as of now! I know the hive could put a bunch up if they had a mind to. :D

That's too bad...with my homeschool group, we definitely welcome all ages! We're not a schoolish co-op, we do field trips, educational tours, informal get togethers for sports, playdates, fun type classes and so on and so forth, and all ages are usually welcome though we occasionally set something up for specific age groups. We do sometimes get people joining that only have younger kids who know they want to homeschool and want to start right away with meeting people and being able to ask questions and stuff, and I think that's great! And even if they come on field trips and stuff it works out, because other families who joined for their older kids almost always have younger siblings tagging along, too. So everyone benefits. I love that about our group. And we ALL identify as "homeschoolers" no matter where we are on the spectrum.

And compulsory school age here in PA isn't until 8. I still like to think I'm "homeschooling" my son for Kindergarten this year, and that I'll be "homeschooling" him for first and second grades, too, in addition to parenting him. :) Even when I was just teaching my daughter for 4th and 5th grades and he was just doing informal preschool I self-identified as a "homeschooler" with him because it was just my family philosophy regardless of the academics or lack thereof. So, again, I say if they're just playing at it while they bide their time to send the kids off to school, no dice. But if they're self-identifying as homeschoolers because they've made the choice that that is what they want to do for their families and don't intend to send the kids off to school, then what's the harm in it if they call themselves homeschoolers? Good for them, I say!

If those parents you are referring to planned to send their kids to school when the time came for Kindergarten enrollment and in the meanwhile were doing a few preschool or K type worksheets with the kids and calling it homeschooling, I might roll my eyes. But if they plan to keep their kids home and continue homeschooling and are already therefore thinking of themselves as homeschoolers and self-identifying as such, then it would not bother me at all if they called themselves that even if they were doing nothing at ALL academic with their young ones at this point.

You can sign this petition on change.org http://www.change.org/petitions/childrens-hospital-of-philadelphia-allow-the-kidney-transplant-amelia-needs-to-survive I didn't want it to get lost in the other thread. (I know a lot of people are skeptical of online petitions but if you've never heard of change.org it's actually a really cool one that has had an impact on things like getting Bank of America to revoke it's debit card fee, Verizon to revoke it's online bill pay fee and more, and it can't hurt, right)?

I did...I write them all down lol. I've got an ongoing wordpad document that I've kept consistently since my 11 y/o was four or five (with some sporadic ones from the time she was about 3), and every funny or cute thing my 6 y/o said from the time he could talk). In fact, my daughter and I were reading through it yesterday together and cracking up...there were so many I would have forgotten if I hadn't written them all down. I'm so glad I did. :)

LOL!

If there was nothing else to eat it on and I was hungry and I had to? I guess so. Would I prefer to? No. So I guess "other" because it's not like "No way never no matter what," but it's not like "Yeah, sure, why not" either. :P P.S. My favorite thing to eat PB&J on is Martin's Potato bread! After that would be white bread.

'Cause you'll either be old, or dead, and I hope it's old so I can keep on loving you!" -My 6 y/o son the other night as we were cuddling, reading bedtime stories, and chatting about dreams, wishes and idle thoughts. :lol: :001_wub:

Just wanted to say that I found out the trip dates for my area for this summer's Fresh Air Fund trips, and my family has decided to invite back the same two kids we hosted last summer. It will be our third summer hosting for the Fresh Air Fund, and our second summer hosting these two particular children. They were 9 and 6 when we hosted them last year, so they will be 10 and 7 this summer, and we are looking forward to seeing them and seeing how they've grown and changed after a year! We've kept in touch with them since they left, talking to them on the phone probably about once a month or so. They're excited about the prospect of coming back, and they will be returning for a week in early July. I'd love to say I could do two weeks but with my six year old son being as, well, rambunctious as he is, I think four kids for two weeks would be a bit overwhelming for me. Perhaps the following summer I'll feel ready for a two week trip! :D If you have never yet looked at my blog entry pertaining to "Our Fresh Air Fund Experience," I would greatly appreciate it if you would! http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/203635.html Thanks for looking! :)

Even them up if that would give each the correct amount. If that would leave both of them short what they were "supposed" to get, I'd go back to the counter and complain about it.

1. Envy, by J.R. Ward (3rd in the Fallen Angels series). I don't like this series AS much as her Black Dagger Brotherhood (vampire) series but I do like it. 2. Kiss of the Highlander, by Karen Marie Moning (Highlander series). (Okay it's total fluff reading, but whatever! lol. And for the record this series is not as good as her Fever series, which I loved- that one was more paranormal urban fantasy and was highly entertaining with a linear storyline to the whole series, as opposed to more of "typical" romance feel even though she puts a little time travel and magic and stuff like that into her Highlander series, but in the Highlander series each book is really more of a standalone instead of an ongoing storyline). When I did this challenge with my daughter for 2011 we did sometimes count school reading, especially if we were otherwise going to be in danger of falling behind. I have put this on my "list" of books that I should check out! I really enjoyed that series, too. I took my daughter to the movies recently and they showed a coming attraction for the movie and it looked like it's going to be good! I have that on reserve at my library, too, I can't wait to get it!! ETA: Oh and I multi-quoted the wrong person in there somewhere so I had to delete it...but to whoever said she was going back through all of Dean Koontz' old stuff, that's pretty cool! He was always one of my favorite horror writers, too, and every once in a while I'll pick up something more recent of his and find that I still like him. :) That doesn't happen often with writers that I loved as a young teen...in fact I think the only other one is Stephen King! :D

I didn't look at all 5 pages of responses, but seriously, buy some Leslie Sansone "Walk Away the Pounds" DVDs. You don't need any special equipment (maybe some resistance bands and/or small hands weights for some of them and even that can be optional, really). You don't need much room (at most you have to be able to take a few steps in any given direction in your living room). You don't need much coordination (perfect for someone like me lol). It's four basic steps. Walking in place, knee lifts, kicks, kickbacks. She has you do them at varying speeds, positions, etc, she's very motivational, she's got a whole bunch of different DVD's from beginner to more advanced and depending on which one you've done, by the end, you might have walked 1, 2, 3, 4 or even 5 miles. Some of her DVD's incorporate a bit of jogging, some a few kickboxing moves, some a bit of upper body stuff, and so on. I love them. Seriously, look into it. Even my kids sometimes like joining in for a while, I don't have to go outside and freeze, I don't have to worry about little kids keeping up, I don't have to own big expensive equipment, I don't have to already be in supermodel shape just to be able to physically DO the routine, I just pop in a DVD and hang out in my living room. Couldn't be easier. ETA: Okay now I just scrolled back through some responses and see she was already mentioned lol...so just count me as another vote for her!

I've only used it for K (with my son) and 4th, 5th and 6th (with my daughter) so far and like it very much for those grades. I hope you get more answers because I'm committed to using it at least through 8th (I own it used for K-8) and would love to see how people like it for the high school years as I'm sure I'll look into it at some point for those years, too. :) I did pick up a couple of random books here and there for the high school years used from a friend who was getting rid of some stuff she no longer needed but I haven't even looked at any of it yet since I'm just not at that stage yet.

You might want to consider ordering a second DS battery online (I'm just thinking of how MY son would be on a ride that long without his DS haha)

We have exchanged keys with relatives, not "neighbors." And if we did have a neighbor's key, we would never go into their house for any reason barring outright emergency or pet care. And if one of my neighbors had a key to m house, I'd be horrified if I found out they came into my house for any reason barring outright emergency or pet care.

Lynne, well they don't really have to be "random" acts, they can be planned lol. And if you don't leave your house much, maybe yours can be some sort of letter or card a week geared toward either expressing appreciation or cheering someone up so that all you have to do is mail it. And I'm glad that you do get some friendship on these boards, isolation is no fun! Bethany, sometimes I worry that people are just not wanting to post because they are afraid it might be seen as bragging, but I try to view it more as inspiring others to join in, and if others join in, then still others benefit, right? lol. Well anyway thank you for the words of encouragement and keep doing whatever you're doing! :)

Lynne, I would love if someone brushed snow off for me, I hate winter and snow and being cold lol. I posted a list of ideas that are pretty simple that will hopefully help spark some ideas for people who are having a hard time coming up with things! Chelle, That was very generous of your boys! And good idea about leaving the coupons by the items they were good for!

Hm. Well here are some ideas for simple things people can do: When you're at the store, let someone go ahead of you on the check out line. Let someone in ahead of you in traffic. Stand around and hold the door for people for longer than you would have when entering or leaving stores. Smile more at people. Ask them how they are doing and really listen/act interested when they tell you. Take your neighbor's garbage to the road for them or their cans back to their house. If you bake something, bake a little extra and give some to a neighbor. Write someone a random letter or email telling them something you like or appreciate about them. Make a phone call or write a letter telling someone in your family or a friend know that you just wanted to let them know how much they mean to you. If you read and enjoy blogs but never or rarely comment- comment! People almost NEVER comment on my blog and I can tell you first hand I really get a kick out of it when they do. :) If you're in a supermarket or a dollar store, leave a dollar bill tucked in the toy section sticking out where a kid might see it. If you pay for quarter parking at a meter, stick a quarter in an empty meter and leave it there for someone to find. If you go through a toll or drive-thru for coffee or something, pay for the person behind you. Send your kids on a site like "free-rice" at a random time and encourage them to play because it helps people. Have them draw pictures and cards and mail or drop them off to a nursing home, vets hospital, etc. Go for a walk with your kids and bring a bag and pick up some litter along the way. Reach out to someone you know who has kids who might not get babysitting often and offer to watch their kids for them sometime this month if they want a night out for mom and dad time, or if she wants a break to herself, or whatever. Spread random acts of kindness by challenging your family, friends or facebook friends or whatever to each perform 1 random act of kindness this week and report back to you...if they all do something, you'll know it's all because of you. :D Clean out a closet and donate items to Goodwill. Hug and compliment your spouse for no reason at all. Do someone else's chore for them and tell them you did it for them just because. Do you live in an area where you tend to see homeless people in certain spots? Put together a care package with some food items in case you see them, and give it to them. Leave a book in a public place with a note that you're just passing it on. The next time you are tempted to say something negative or criticize something about someone- bite your tongue and just...don't. Send an anonymous (or not) letter or card (or picture the kids made) of appreciation to your local police or fire station thanking them for their service to the community. There are tons more ideas out there online, too! :)

Apparently, I am horrible about remembering to start this thread on a Sunday (perhaps in part it's because these threads are also getting very little response these days...where are all of you?) Is it that everyone is having a much harder time than they thought thinking of "acts of kindness" to do? There are lots of "idea lists" online to take a peek at, and some of them don't even involve leaving your house...writing nice letters and emails, leaving nice blog comments, making small online donations, supportive forum messages, and so on and so forth... Anyway! Has anyone done anything so far this week? Planned anything still to come for this week? Yesterday, I went with my homeschool group to a science museum for a field trip. They had one of those funnel things in the lobby where you could put coins in and watch it circle around and disappear down into the funnel. The kids love watching it disappear down the funnel and the museum keeps the proceeds. Usually I just give my kids a couple of pennies each. Yesterday I found myself giving a whole bunch of pennies, nickels, dimes, and even a few quarters out over and over to pretty much all of the kids from the group so they could keep watching it, playing, etc...they were having a blast and really appreciated it. Some of the other moms gave them change, too, but any time one of them came over I just handed out more. My purse was significantly lighter to carry around the rest of the day lol. So that was how we killed time while waiting for everyone to arrive and finish paying for themselves and so on. ETA: Oh, this thread is for the week of Sunday, January 8th, to Saturday, January 14th, 2012.

I LOVE this response. My 11 y/o daughter, who I pulled out of public school to start homeschooling when she was 8, has become like my best friend and she's (usually) genuinely fun to be with, hang out with, talk to, learn with, etc. My 6 y/o son on the other hand can be a real handful haha...but it's still a joy to get to watch him grow, change and learn and not have him spending the vast majority of his days and years away from me, with somebody else, while I miss out on most of that. That aside, I think that for me (and perhaps with your friend) spending all day every day home alone with kids could quickly have me going stir-crazy; we like to spend a good amount of time out and about out of the house. So I joined a homeschool meetup group (which I since became the organizer of) and it's a very active one, with lots of outings, field trips, tours, get togethers etc, and so one of the things I enjoy the most is being able to go on all sorts of fun outings and activities with my kids and my homeschool group. We like that sort of "get out there and do what we want to do when we want to do it" experience which is fun, educational and sociable all in one. And having the freedom to do so.

I should hope not because my girl is only 11. I see your boys are much older. She, on the other hand, would be perfectly willing to drag a boy to the ground, hold him down, and call it victory LOL. But yes, like you said, to each his (or her) own.

"Wonderful! Do you need help booking a hotel? We do have plans already for part of the time you mentioned, but we look forward to spending some of your visit with you!"

Not from this year, but I do have a list here of all the books my daughter and I read (either together or independently) the year she was in 4th: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/122103.html