heartofdakota.com

I hope this is okay to post here. Please let me know if it is inappropriate!

My 10-1/2 yo dd is looking for an e-mail pen pal. We recently gave her an e-mail address so that she might stay in touch with her extended family and uncle in Iraq. Her account is only able to receive messages from addresses that we put on the approved list. She has been longing to have a relationship with another girl who is like her - which is hard to find. She would love to communicate with another homeschooled girl who has the same values and commitments that she does. (The pen pal she has in the Dominican Republic just keeps asking her about boyfriends and why she doesn't have one! )

From reading all of your posts, I think many of you ladies have the same values that our family does and that is why I felt safe to put this request out here. I think this would be a great way for my dd to develop her writing skills as well as her typing skills! And hopefully it will encourage her on the path she has chosen if she finds other like-minded souls.

Again, I'm sorry if this is off topic and please let me know if I shouldn't have posted this!

I know this is Off-topic. But how did you get her an email where you have to select the addresses she can receive mail from? I want to do that with my son.

Happyat Home,

Are you looking for a pen pal that is 10? And needs to be a girl? I have a 10 yo boy, and an 8 yo girl. So, if you're interested in either, let me know.

My boys all have email. I have it set up for the youngers like you mentioned, that I have to approve the senders. I did it through the email program, which is MSN, our internet browser.

My 14 yr old has a blog...I'm sure she wouldn't be interested in it because it's all about video games and movies. I have it set up to be off the directory, so if you search for it you won't find it. that keeps it a bit more private. I know yahoo has an option for juvenile email accounts, too, that require approval of the senders.

Hi, LeeAnn - 6timeboymom is correct. We just do it through our particular e-mail program. There is a function where you can set it to only accept e-mail from certain addresses. I believe most e-mail systems would have this.

InHistiming, I will PM you!

we just use Yahoo Mail, I don't think they have this...

its usually called a "whitelist" you can set up a rule in most email accounts to put all whitelist names (those in your address book) into your inbox and redirect any Non whitelist names into your spam folder or trash bin.

It is very easy to set up these 2 rules once you find where they are located in your particular email program.