What's Going On in Maxhell? A Whole Lotta Nothing, Pt. 2

[Granwych]

5 hours ago, Dandruff said:

Or they could pin a modest blue or pink square on the baby's outfit, and spend the money they saved on burrito meat.

I nearly read that as "burro meat."

[nastyhobbitses]

3 hours ago, HereticHick said:

I want a fundy photographer  to do a glorious mashup of all their trends:

mummified gauze newborn, with mommy & daddy's wedding bands on its toes, lying on a railroad track.

Don't forget a rustic wooden ampersand and artfully distressed cowboy boots somewhere in the shot.

Also, after a high school friend's dad died after being struck by a train (dropped his phone on the tracks and thought he had enough time to go get it, and, well, he didn't), I really began to loathe train track pictures. So unsafe.

[Eternalbluepearl]

14 minutes ago, nastyhobbitses said:

Also, after a high school friend's dad died after being struck by a train (dropped his phone on the tracks and thought he had enough time to go get it, and, well, he didn't), I really began to loathe train track pictures. So unsafe.

That is a horrific story. My goodness. Your poor friend's family. To think, over a cell phone!

[nastyhobbitses]

54 minutes ago, Eternalbluepearl said:

That is a horrific story. My goodness. Your poor friend's family. To think, over a cell phone!

It was horrible. And a lot of people trying to pose for cutesy photos have died because they assumed the train was a long way away, or the tracks were abandoned, or there weren't any trains coming. Train safety is sadly neglected among the general public in this country, and it's needlessly costing lives.

[albanuadh_1]

2 young ladies in Nova Scotia were killed a few days ago by a train. Rumour has it that they were taking selfies. One was 17 and graduating this year and the other was an 18 yr. old German exchange student...

[Flossie]

7 hours ago, nastyhobbitses said:

It was horrible. And a lot of people trying to pose for cutesy photos have died because they assumed the train was a long way away, or the tracks were abandoned, or there weren't any trains coming. Train safety is sadly neglected among the general public in this country, and it's needlessly costing lives.

You mean like this?  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1091064/Selfie-boy-kicked-head-train-conductor.html

(Don't worry, the idiot survived with just a kick in the head by the conductor of the moving train.)

16 hours ago, kpmom said:

In Steve's case maybe that's for the best.  He's the one that almost burned his house down with a crockpot one Christmas Eve.

I'm unfamiliar with this story.  How did that happen?

[albanuadh_1]

I believe Steve was trying to speed up the cooking process in a SLOW COOKER by putting it on the elements on the stove.

 

[uber frau]

And don't forget that this man is an engineer by training.

[mango_fandango]

I kind of get why the wedding band thing is done- you know, size comparison thing. Ok, it is a little weird. Jim Bob did it with baby Josie, again as a size comparison thing- she was so tiny his wedding band fit right up her leg. 

I don't get the baby in gauze thing. I think they only started doing it with Ruthie, and then Drew was put in one too. I expect NR Anna's new one will get the same treatment, and if it's a girl it'll be in an enormous headband.

[Black Aliss]

On 6/12/2016 at 3:01 PM, freejugar said:

Those headbands are ugly and expensive

$34 for a little bit of fabric?

In all fairness, I've seen bikinis for more $, that had less fabric than those headbands.

[Foudeb]

11 hours ago, Black Aliss said:

In all fairness, I've seen bikinis for more $, that had less fabric than those headbands.

I'd imagine the design would be harder though (3D, and meant to enhance assets) rather than just a plain band of fabric with hideous flower on top.

[VodouDoll]

I listen to a lot of homeschooling podcasts and read a lot of HS blogs. Yesterday in the car a podcast host interviewed a woman about how to teach poetry in homeschool, different strategies for different grade levels, recommendations for anthologies and individual writers, how to fit poetry into an overall literature and history curriculum, etc. This poetry teacher started out by listing her qualifications: she homeschooled her own children for 25 years and now teaches other HS parents how to teach poetry, both through webinars and conference appearances.

It made me think of the Maxwells. They artificially delayed Mary's graduation so they could have that Homeschooled For Thirty Years qualification, but just like all the rest of that family's qualifications, what are they doing with it? A fat lot of nothing, that's what. Long-term, experienced homeschoolers have built quite a cottage industry around helping parents who are in the thick of it right now. They run forums where HS parents can talk to each other and ask advice. They self-publish books that, unlike the Maxwells' products, are actually helpful, like Sarah McKenzie's Teaching from Rest or Blueprint Homeschooling by Amy Knepper, or traditionally publish books like The Well Trained Mind. They write curriculum like the Ambleside Online team, Brave Writer, SQUILT, ARTistic Pursuits, and Pandia Press. They run cool subscription sites like The Read Aloud Revival, with live author events and distance learning courses.

Why did the Maxwells purposefully get that nice round thirty years if they didn't intend to monetize it somehow? Why aren't they doing anything? Honestly, the homeschool internet is a pretty exciting and creative place to be right now. They could at least try. Something might come of it.

ETA: Maybe Teri disliked homeschooling so much that now that she's done, she's done. Maybe she's just over it. That could be it, I guess.

[kpmom]

39 minutes ago, VodouDoll said:

 Honestly, the homeschool internet is a pretty exciting and creative place to be right now. They could at least try. Something might come of it.

 

@VodouDoll I think you answered your own question right there.

I think there might still be a place for the Maxwell's MOTH approach but it desperately needs to be updated and brought into the 21st century.

Given that they have a number of family members involved in programming and developing web sites, I can't for the life of me figure out why they haven't done this.

And having Sarah write a post on the benefits of summer scheduling is beyond ridiculous.  What young mother is going to listen to her?

If they get Melanie and NR-Anna involved in posting, and eventually Elissa, then they might be able to start a mommy blog that might tun into something special.  Maybe the dils haven't had all their creativity Maxwelled out of them yet.

[Eternalbluepearl]

28 minutes ago, kpmom said:

If they get Melanie and NR-Anna involved in posting, and eventually Elissa, then they might be able to start a mommy blog that might tun into something special.  Maybe the dils haven't had all their creativity Maxwelled out of them yet.

Yes, a mommy blog written by the Maxwell daughters-in-law! Sarah could author a section on pets starring Ellie. 

[MamaJunebug]

On June 14, 2016 at 6:11 AM, albanuadh_1 said:

I believe Steve was trying to speed up the cooking process in a SLOW COOKER by putting it on the elements on the stove.

 

With all respect, no: he wrapped towels around it, thinking that would increase the cooking heat. 

ETA: John's "gotta new truck"* post is all kinds of "what?!" but still more Maxwelliam than Sarah's original. 

*my earworm du jour is going to be that old Huey Lewis song that begins, "I wanna new drug" but the words will be "I gotta new truck..."

[sparkles]

4 hours ago, VodouDoll said:

I listen to a lot of homeschooling podcasts and read a lot of HS blogs. Yesterday in the car a podcast host interviewed a woman about how to teach poetry in homeschool, different strategies for different grade levels, recommendations for anthologies and individual writers, how to fit poetry into an overall literature and history curriculum, etc. This poetry teacher started out by listing her qualifications: she homeschooled her own children for 25 years and now teaches other HS parents how to teach poetry, both through webinars and conference appearances.

It made me think of the Maxwells. They artificially delayed Mary's graduation so they could have that Homeschooled For Thirty Years qualification, but just like all the rest of that family's qualifications, what are they doing with it? A fat lot of nothing, that's what. Long-term, experienced homeschoolers have built quite a cottage industry around helping parents who are in the thick of it right now. They run forums where HS parents can talk to each other and ask advice. They self-publish books that, unlike the Maxwells' products, are actually helpful, like Sarah McKenzie's Teaching from Rest or Blueprint Homeschooling by Amy Knepper, or traditionally publish books like The Well Trained Mind. They write curriculum like the Ambleside Online team, Brave Writer, SQUILT, ARTistic Pursuits, and Pandia Press. They run cool subscription sites like The Read Aloud Revival, with live author events and distance learning courses.

Why did the Maxwells purposefully get that nice round thirty years if they didn't intend to monetize it somehow? Why aren't they doing anything? Honestly, the homeschool internet is a pretty exciting and creative place to be right now. They could at least try. Something might come of it.

ETA: Maybe Teri disliked homeschooling so much that now that she's done, she's done. Maybe she's just over it. That could be it, I guess.

Steve and Teri were very involved with the Leavenworth homeschool group, even leading it at one point, IIRC. Then, suddenly, they left, most likely because Steve decided everyone else was doing it wrong and he couldn't be in control as much as he wanted. They closed ranks in typical Maxwell fashion. I don't think I ever heard them talk about homeschool coops and the like, just that Teri plunked the kids down with textbooks and left them to their own devices. Whether or not she ever actually TAUGHT them anything is remains a mystery. I doubt it, since she was rather vocal in her defense of textbook learning. So I can't see them advocating anything else or modernizing their approach to appeal to the masses. It's their way or the highway. But it they DID, they'd have to seriously modify their approach because even other conservative Christians find them too extreme. I stumbled on a homeschool site when I first started getting interested in the Maxwells and it seemed like most of the posters thought they had some good ideas, but they were just too out there.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/150618-i-went-to-a-steve-teri-maxwell-workshop-last-night/

I agree that Teri's probably just over the whole thing and it doesn't look like the next generation wants to pick up where the parents left off. Conferences have dried up, the blog couldn't possibly be more boring and while the men seem to be enmeshed in a variety of business and the daughters-in-law are busy raising their broods, I'll be damned if I can figure out what Teri, Sarah, Anna and Mary do all day? Poke their noses into the lives of the "extended" family?

[SassyPants]

What would they do if they had a female offspring like my GD, who hates headbands or any hair accessory and has a head full of curly hair? Even I admit that her hair is a hot mess. My daughter could not care less. She would have been drummed out of the cult on day one. 

[Palimpsest]

On 6/13/2016 at 2:51 PM, mango_fandango said:

Is takeaway the right word? Looking it up, seems it is. To British people, a takeaway is what you guys call takeout. Just seems like odd phrasing to me.

In the US of A (New England) I use "take home message."  I've never heard "takeaway message" except from Sarah Maxwell.

[moreorlessnu]

I'm also from New England, and we (my colleagues and I) use the phrase, "The takeaway is..." all the time.

[VodouDoll]

Maybe getting into the 21st century online homeschool market was what they were trying to do with One Ton Ramp? The problem being, of course, that they charged SO MUCH MONEY to teach people stuff they could learn just as easily from free online tutorials. The Maxwells are not stupid people; I'm just really surprised they haven't done better at grabbing a piece of this large and still growing market. I guess this is what happens when you train all creativity out of your students: they can't come up with interesting and useful ideas when they really should be able to.

[albanuadh_1]

9 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

With all respect, no: he wrapped towels around it, thinking that would increase the cooking heat. 

Oh ok, my mistake. Still, the man is supposed to be an engineer and , for me, that means brains! lol

[mango_fandango]

I just remembered. Tina's birthday today. She's four. No birthday post, but then there wasn't one for Joshua either. They did mention it last year, but really unless they're in the immediate family they don't get a birthday wish. In the years to come I doubt we'll get updates on how Abby, Bethany and Tina take their coffee or whether they're the family's go-to leftover-eater (yes, they really did come up with that one year, I think for John IIRC). 

[SPHASH]

On Friday, June 10, 2016 at 9:06 PM, Dandruff said:

Fortunately for the Maxwells, NR Anna is due to give birth next month and they will have something to post about.  I suppose it will be the usual formula:  SILs help out as the due date approaches, they tell us she's in labor, a blue or pink square is displayed, they announce the name, couple pictures of parents and baby, reaction of family members, then the Maxwell newborn photo shoot.  Did I miss anything?

I predict Anna will be out of bed within two hours of the birth, probably cooking dinner. 

Dont firgeQaa  New post up.  The kord

[HereticHick]

On 6/13/2016 at 7:01 PM, Granwych said:

I nearly read that as "burro meat."

Well, burrito = little burro!

[MamaJunebug]

On June 15, 2016 at 6:19 PM, moreorlessnu said:

I'm also from New England, and we (my colleagues and I) use the phrase, "The takeaway is..." all the time.

JMHObservation, but the Internet (& tv, in most cases) has exposed us all to various regional idioms & John's "takeaway" doesn't surprise me.  Besides, he's the Maxwhelp most likely to have viewed tv.  And he's got musical talent, which increases the likelihood of picking up on different expressions he's heard in his travels.