How Michelle keeps the kids busy on long plane trips.

[BravaAmica]

I never implied that the jet was going to wait for them? Fees for using an airport includes gate fees, luggage moving, etc.

I also don't think chartering a small plane within the US compares to chartering an international flight. A flight from LA to Hawaii is about 5 hours. A flight to Japan would be at least 15 hours for the Duggars. Pilots get paid per hour. Most charters I found online are hourly rates. You basically said they same thing about special rates on commercial flights above that I did before - I just don't see how chartering an international flight would be cheaper for them.

Um, the Duggars didn't pay for shit. TLC paid for it and they probably have a corporate account with a charter service, which are not the rates you see online.

Anyhow, the Duggars flew commercial so this conversation is moot.

[Buzzard]

Agreed. Duggars totally flew commercial. On the show there is a shot of Anna walking around the Galley and the littles crammed into the interior seats of a 767.

[Buzzard]

Also, screen cap so the humpers cant say that Michelle never misspelled her kids name. Geeze... do we have to proofread for Doug Phillips is a Tool AND Michelle Duggar?

[HereticHick]

Are there ANY visible bookshelves / bookcases in the TTH? Have we ever seen any of the teens or adult children holding a book (not counting the bible) when they weren't instructing a little one??

[Gil]

We have reached a new low in ghostwriter competence.

[Jenny]

My readers that are still learning team up with an older child to practice: Johannah, who’s 7 years old, teams up with Jennifer, who's a bit younger and still learning her phonics; and Jordan loves to read out loud to the little ones.

When I was in school (25ish years ago) we had phonics workbooks in 1st through 3rd grades. I don't think learning phonics necessarily correlates to "just learning to read/preparing to learn to read". Even though I was still learning phonics in school in 3rd grade, I could read just fine and was into Baby Sisters Club books.

Maybe this is more poor/editing/proofreading/ghostwriting?

Edited to finish the thought.

[longskirts]

In one episode Jessa was shown reading and in another one Joseph (or maybe one of the other boys, I don't remember) was reading. In the episode that showed Joy-Anna's schoolwork she was reading.

[Beammeup]

I hope they seated them in their own part of the plane so they can raise a ruckas back there and not bother anyone (like they did my high school tour group). I can't imagine that many kids to so few adults on a plane.

I've had to fly many times with little Beammeup, and my preferred ratio for that are 2:1. 2 adults to one kid. That way you aren't stuck with the kid the entire trip ie: you can leave little Beammeup either with Mr. Beammeup or Grandma Beammeup and go to the bathroom in peace without hauling all the gear. I've done one on one, and it is doable, but I can't imagine being that outnumbered.

[sugarloaf]

I'd love to meet someone who has actually traveled with the Duggars on a long flight to see what they were really like. :lol: I just don't believe the stories about how well behaved they are at all times. Small children get cranky, bored, tired, overstimulated, especially when you put them in stressful situations like that.

I hope that someone who works on the crew with the Duggars comes out at some stage and tells us what it looks like with the cameras off. I'd pay to see what an outsider thought of it all up close.

[Mama Mia]

I think it is most likely that she was editing a sentence that included an older child as the "reader" and somehow edited out that name and put in Jordyn's as someone who is read to, and the editor/ghostwriter didn't catch it.

Truthfully, with virtually everyone writing from their phones now, it is amazing that ANYTHING is remotely readable.

[crassy]

Can anyone tell from the photo in the article if they are in first or business class?

Unless they are on a smaller Asian airline, that is not business class. Business class these days has seats that fold down to beds and they are generally not leather but cloth. Most economy seats have those headrests now (at least any long haul flight I've been on, and I fly a lot (between Australia and Canada twice a year with a few stops in between), economy has been like this). Business is generally 2/2/2, economy on larger planes is 3/4/3, this looks like it could be a smaller plane, perhaps between Japan and China that is 2/3/2.

[MrMattyMatt]

Checked the pic - they are definitely in economy.

[slickcat79]

Babble posted their take on Michelle's parentables article, with a notable edit:

The family carries a large bag of favorite books, and the children enjoy reading together. “Johannah, who’s seven years old, teams up with Jennifer, who’s a bit younger and still learning her phonics,†Michelle writes. Even four-year-old Jordyn has fun showing off her reading skills to her siblings.

So, basically, a random blog contributor knows how to spell Jordyn's name and her current age better than her mother. She even edited to make Michelle (or her ghostwriter) sound more comprehensible and better as a parent.

Also, who knows exactly when the Parentables article was written, but Michelle is talking about it within the context of the Asia trip. At that time, Johannah wasn't yet 7 and Jordyn was only 3 :?