Michelle Duggar's latest ramblings. I fixed it for you

[Lillybee]

I may be wrong, but didn't Josh attend a Christian school for a year or two.

[Dandruff]

I may be wrong, but didn't Josh attend a Christian school for a year or two.

I thought the same thing (I may be wrong too) but don't remember where I might have read or heard it. Maybe one of the early specials?

[Lillybee]

I thought the same thing (I may be wrong too) but don't remember where I might have read or heard it. Maybe one of the early specials?

If our memories are correct, doesn't this make Mullet a big fat liar.

[SPHASH]

If our memories are correct, doesn't this make Mullet a big fat liar.

She already is a liar.

[Luvchild]

I so want to point out her very poor grammar skills in the comments section of her Parentables' homeschooling article. She uses the word "that" too often and starts her sentences with conjunctions. There is no way she is qualified to homeschool her children. Although sometimes I don't actually believe she writes her own articles. I believe she has a ghostwriter who tries to make sense of her ramblings. Maybe the ghostwriter is just lazy.

[Coconut Flan]

I've heard that Josh went to Christian school for perhaps two years also. It might have been in their first book.

[DifferentGurl]

I've heard that Josh went to Christian school for perhaps two years also. It might have been in their first book.

Why couldn't they have sent their kids there instead of homeschooling?! Then the kids would at least been socialized and "inappropriate" content would ( for the most part ) not be shown! Grr... :evil:

[lilith]

Why couldn't they have sent their kids there instead of homeschooling?! Then the kids would at least been socialized and "inappropriate" content would ( for the most part ) not be shown! Grr... :evil:

I thought they joined ATI and started homeschooling when Josh was five. I've read their books and I don't recall a mention of a Christian school.

[Bethella]

I, too, am reasonably certain they mentioned that Josh attended Shiloh Christian School (Jim Bob's alma mater) for kindergarten but I can't find the citation.

[Buzzard]

There is a new parentable essay out on home skooling. I am posting it here so Buzzard can have fun with it if she wants.

http://parentables.howstuffworks.com/fa ... oling.html

Thanks! I'll give it a shot! The grammar... oh wow... Twitching to leave it but I must!

We first heard about godly christian correct homeschooling when Josh, our oldest, was about eight months old. This is to be distinguished from evil worldly homeschooling.

I went to public school all my life, and graduated from public school. Jim Bob went to public school for six years and then transferred over to a Christian school. Homeschooling was new for both of us.

We knew some families that had older children that were homeschooled. We were so impressed with their families. First off, their children seemed so mature and well-rounded, unlike Jim Bob and myself that were educated by the unwashed masses. They were very intelligent, really smart, had I been homeschooled I would know that those are synonyms. But besides the academics, they had such a family unity. There was just such a closeness between the parents and the children – a real, genuine love and respect for one another. Jim Bob and I thought, “That’s what we want. That is the fruit we want to see in our children and that oneness in our family.†If we keep them in the house then we'll be close and love eachother! THATS what went wrong in my family!

So we began to research homeschooling; I had a friend that was a homeschool mother and I really picked her brain about how to get started. I asked her “How did you get started? I don’t even remember how I learned to read. How in the world can I teach my children to do that?†That was really all the research that I needed. If one good Christian woman with no background in education can do it, I CAN DO IT because, clearly, I'm so much better than her!

She made it so simple. She said “Michelle, I’ve done this for a number of years and I’m just going tell you right off the bat, don’t go out and spend a lot of money on a lot of books and curriculum. When your children are young, the first thing you want to do is get a simple phonics reading program.†She told me to ignore all the scientific research about age appropriate lessons and common knowledge about socialization. Its so easy!

There is no exact age to start them learning phonics; some of them may be ready earlier than others. Josh was four. I was so excited to get started by that point. I was chomping at the bit! I mean, for fucks sake, if that smug little shit wants to read "happy bunny loves jesus" 17 thousands times he can do it himself! I’d sit him down at the counter with me and I’d get out his phonics curriculum. We started by spending 15 minutes at a time and then I'd get bored and get a hot chocolate. Sometimes we would go for 30 minutes, and then even 45 minutes. He was very able to sit and pay attention. And so I just really went overboard with him! I started bribing him with pickles to read to himself and it was like MAGIC! By the time I figured out about sweet tea he was writing in cursive!

Josh was reading by the time he was five. I think if I had only known back then what I know now, I would’ve been a little more relaxed and not taken so long with him because teaching your kid really took a lot away from "me" time. But he was absorbing it and he did great and in the end, no more "happy bunny loves jesus" for me!

My friend told me that once they are reading well, you just cannot keep them from learning. And she was right, because that’s what I’ve seen with every one of mine. I The girls focused on phonics first and nothing else. I can’t say enough anything about reading because I havent been involved in a decade but I hear that. That phonics program was the key, and once I really drilled that through to them and they caught it, you couldn’t stop them from learning more and more.

I'm quite sure that my childrens are teh bestest edukated and ready to be producktive members of society. I'm so blessed that I ignored research and relied on a single person's experience to guide my children's lives!

[Buzzard]

http://parentables.howstuffworks.com/fa ... pgn=fbtlc1

Packing begins quite a bit earlier for us so that we can get all of the details down. We The girls start weeks in advance. Usually, we they try to make sure that we've they got enough socks and underclothes for everybody for seven days. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but when you have to have seven pairs of socks for everyone, you multiply that. At home, we grandma does at least one wash every day because we just have enough for a few days. Three of my boys are in the same size right now, so that means I’ve they got to have 21 pairs of the same size sock to make it through a trip. For starters, we John David had to get more socks and undershirts to make sure that everybody had enough of the basics.

And then it’s time to start packing! The kids will go down and pick out the clothes that everyone needs for our trip. Sometimes, we’ll Jana finds out that someone’s leggings have holes in them, and someone else’s shoes have a big hole in them. We One of the girls and a chaperone have to do some last minute thrift shopping online shopping to find just the right size shoes and clothes for everyone.

My daughters have figured out this amazing system for packing. They’ll get a day's worth of clothes laid out. They stack the largest size at the bottom and they just work their way up, making a stack with all of the boys' shirts in it for each day. And then they just roll each bundle up and slide it inside of a plastic bag with a label on it for that day. At the end of the day, they can use the plastic bag as the dirty clothes bag for all of that day’s items.

If we're in a hotel room, all of the dirty clothes and socks go under the sink in the bathroom so that when it's time to gather all the laundry, we hannie just goes from room to room putting everything in the bag. The bag is already labeled, and we’ll she'll just mark "dirty" over the top of the label. It helps us to keep track of everyone’s clothing and see what we have left for the week!

I had to leave the original HORRIFIC grammar, especially the pink sentence. Holy fuck! :doh:

This is yet another question that she didnt answer and instead rambled on about nonsense. I mean, seriously... WTF!?!??!

[Buzzard]

http://parentables.howstuffworks.com/fa ... pgn=fbtlc1

One of the most interesting things was the response we’d get from the crowds when we all walked around together. You see, it isnt about where we are or what we're seeing; Its about how popular and famous we are! We’re a very unusual sight! We’re all blonde or fair-haired, as defined by the SODRT because Jim Bob, grandma, and I all have dark hair, and a really huge group. Our interpreter would try and tell people that this is all one family. And boy, I thought people were going to fall over. They just couldn’t even fathom having a family as large as ours. Even the double stroller was such an eye catcher for the Chinese. I don’t think many people had ever seen one before because they arent as educated and well travelled as us Americans. They just don’t have much need for double strollers because typically most families have only one child as GOD has so ordained that no twins or triplets ever come to exist in China. Every time that double stroller came out, people would crowd around and look in the stroller to see what was in there, sometimes we surprised them and put a random dog we found in there just for fun. Are there really two kids? And sure enough, Mackynzie and Michael would be in the stroller, and they’d all be going “Oh!†and “Ah!†A lot of people would come up and touch their blonde hair. In China, they were not the least bit afraid to come up and just touch your kids’ heads. It was really interesting! I think for next season we should just fly some Chinese families to Arkansas so they can see the true wonder of LOTS of people with blonde hair and too many children!

The Great Wall was a really amazing destination to visit, I guess thats why its one of the "wonders" of the world. Just going up those huge mountains, climbing the massive structure and hearing the history of the Wall was incredible. We got to experience the older part of the Wall one day, and then we went to the more modern tourist area the next day. On the way up, there is a market where they sell souvenirs, and you barter and try to get the best bargains. That was a lot of fun. We spent much more time haggling over a hat for Jim Bob than hearing the history of China, the wall, or the region. The kids especially loved that,trying to get good deals and bargains on stuff to take home because learning wont help them but stuff will! I think the local people got the real bargains, though. We thought we were getting a deal, but really, they probably got the better end of the deal! But it was fun bartering. We came back with some wonderful treasures from China of crappy $16 souvenirs and fantastic family memories.