Jazz Hands, Sparkle Crotch: Erika Schupe Pt. 9

[Koala]

Ericka had Karen get up to help her give them bottles.  Even posted a picture...

[withaj]

I AM SO EXCITED BY THIS DEVELOPMENT. 

I wonder if it's possible that financial concerns meant Erika needed to go back to work. If she's teaching again, that would explain why all the kids are now in school. I have trouble imagining what else could have led them to give up homeschooling. Jeans, jobs for the girls, even, sure... but it seems like she picked homeschooling as her hill to die on. 

 

[alba]

42 minutes ago, Koala said:

Ericka had Karen get up to help her give them bottles.  Even posted a picture...

Wow, that sounds like she thought it was something to be proud of, or at least normal. Not cool. Free Karen!

[mango_fandango]

OMG THEY'RE IN SCHOOL OMG THEY'RE IN SCHOOL OMG THEY'RE IN SCHOOL

The fact that she edited the caption (before anyone commented) means she's probably been trying to hide this for a while. They've gone out for the doughnuts before, but it's always been a part of a bigger "First Day of School!!" album. This year there were only doughnut photos, no photos of the kids with their stationery or Melanie doing cracker math with the little ones or whatever. 

I wonder what Melanie's up to? Past homeschool schedules suggested she and Karen were in the same grade, so she likely graduated with Karen. 

I also wonder what happened to make Erika put the kids in school. I think her biggest thing was house organisation, but that could easily be done by an atheist mom. It was the homeschooling, mentioning the materials used and precisely why she did it, that was her real thing that she could shoehorn religion into. Considering that whole "WHY we homeschool post" being about evil government schools, and how her teacher training opened her eyes to what was being taught in schools... yeah. Now I really wanna know what's going on.

[ILoveJellybeans]

What???? Erika put her kids in school?????? I wonder what happened? Has she changed her beliefs? Has she been forced to due to circumstances? Is she in trouble for neglecting them educationally?

 

What has happened with Erika? Her eldest daughter has a job and they are dressing less modestly, and now this? Hopefully she is lightening up a bit, and will let them have a good childhood full of fun.

[defraudingjezebel]

I read this thread a couple of hours ago for the first time with the school update and I'm still in a minor state of shock. A thread or two back we all speculated that Erika was really feeling the stress of homeschooling the kids as evidenced by her constant posting of articles about how to deal with homeschool/general life stress. We also know that she was friends of the Jeubs, who apparently did the same thing. 

I think the now-changed caption is pretty solid proof of why the great blog cleanup occurred, and why there is much less action on the LFoP FB page. For as heinous as she has been in the past, I have to give her a bit of respect for easing up despite having been super zealous about pants and homeschooling in the past. I still think that her parents (who are close to the older girls) probably used their influence to convince Erika to ease up a bit. 

[withaj]

2 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

OMG THEY'RE IN SCHOOL OMG THEY'RE IN SCHOOL OMG THEY'RE IN SCHOOL

The fact that she edited the caption (before anyone commented) means she's probably been trying to hide this for a while. They've gone out for the doughnuts before, but it's always been a part of a bigger "First Day of School!!" album. This year there were only doughnut photos, no photos of the kids with their stationery or Melanie doing cracker math with the little ones or whatever. 

I wonder what Melanie's up to? Past homeschool schedules suggested she and Karen were in the same grade, so she likely graduated with Karen. 

I also wonder what happened to make Erika put the kids in school. I think her biggest thing was house organisation, but that could easily be done by an atheist mom. It was the homeschooling, mentioning the materials used and precisely why she did it, that was her real thing that she could shoehorn religion into. Considering that whole "WHY we homeschool post" being about evil government schools, and how her teacher training opened her eyes to what was being taught in schools... yeah. Now I really wanna know what's going on.

Emphasis mine.

She actually didn't edit -- she deleted and reposted. I checked the edit history and there was none. She REALLY didn't want to leave a trace...

Curse FJ! We're always here to notice when they don't want us to 

[alexandracabot]

Wow. People were speculating about her sending the kids to school and I honestly didn't believe it. 

I wish she'd blog about why she eased up and changed some of her rules. That would actually be incredibly interesting.

[MsSaylor]

God I hope we get some info on this soon. But it's not looking like she's ready to go public with any of this really. To give up homeschooling and send her kids to school is just such a huge step. Erika we are so proud of you! Give us details PLEASE

[princessmahina]

6 hours ago, withaj said:

I AM SO EXCITED BY THIS DEVELOPMENT. 

I wonder if it's possible that financial concerns meant Erika needed to go back to work. If she's teaching again, that would explain why all the kids are now in school. I have trouble imagining what else could have led them to give up homeschooling. Jeans, jobs for the girls, even, sure... but it seems like she picked homeschooling as her hill to die on. 

 

If Erika got a job, then good for her, but she does not need to be teaching children. Imagine the spelling words those children would be sent home with! Stirophome? Ugh. I doubt she did a very good job with her own kids, but at least there were only a few of them. Thirty or so a year? Nuh-uh. Erika should be a personal organizer. She'd kick ass at that. 

[withaj]

7 hours ago, princessmahina said:

If Erika got a job, then good for her, but she does not need to be teaching children. Imagine the spelling words those children would be sent home with! Stirophome? Ugh. I doubt she did a very good job with her own kids, but at least there were only a few of them. Thirty or so a year? Nuh-uh. Erika should be a personal organizer. She'd kick ass at that. 

Oh, I don't think Erika as a teacher is an ideal situation. However, the fact remains that she did qualify as one, so if she were to seek employment, that's what it would most likely be. Also, if she were teaching early elementary school, her spelling damage would probably be minimal. Styrofoam is a little advanced for a first grade vocab word. Unfortunately, those kids would probably be indoctrinated early to her literal-emoji-speak... *grimace*

[Foudeb]

Hats off to Erika. Doing a reverse face like that must mean eating a whole lot of humble pie and it takes a strong person to admit to a mistake and then proceed to correct it. Best wishes to her and her family, this can't have been an easy move, but it's definitely the right one.

I'm so happy for those little kids. They'll face a bit of a learning curve moving from that homefooling they were subjected to to a proper education - but at least they're now getting a proper education!

Can't help but feel bad for the two eldest. They've spend most of their formative years being sister-moms, unpaid maids and dogsbodies, were rewarded by not getting an education, and now their siblings get one. It must feel very unfair, and it is.

Oh, and Erika teaching? honestly the lesser of two evils. Her pupils will have had proper teachers before her and will have more after her. It'll be a life lesson to them in "how to deal with a person who has authority over you whilst they are being a nitpicking control freak, and still get something out of it" - a lesson many of us have been known to use with our management once in the world of work.

[FunFunFundie]

I'm cynical, but this doesn't seem to me to be a choice that Erika made. She is being very secretive about it, deleting the post where she accidentally let it slip, not answering questions about it (somebody had commented "home from school?!?" just a few moments before she deleted the post). At least with the older girls wearing jeans she said that it was their choice since they are becoming adults. She never responded about the littles wearing pants.

Because she won't address it or even let a comment about it sit on her page, I think she must be feeling a lot of shame, and I think it wasn't her choice. Some things that might have pushed her into it, in my opinion:

1) she needed to get a job because of finances. This would be hard to admit because she has written so much about how you can survive on one small income you just have to put your family first!!!!! and God will make it work.

2) The older girls basically revolted and said things had to change or they would leave/call CPS?/something else. Pointed to Faith Pennington as an example (although I guess it's not likely they know about her).

3) Didn't CPS come out a few months ago? Maybe there was something there that scared Erika into these changes.

4) Bob decided the kids should go to school and all you can do if your husband makes that decision is pray pray pray pray pray that he will change his mind.

 

 

[FundamentallyShocked]

Total speculation, but one common reason that people put suddenly kids in daycare/school and get a job is because of a divorce. I'd hate to think that the Shupes are going through that.

[FunFunFundie]

I wouldn't be surprised if it were a divorce (Bob has always seemed really unhappy to me), but it's really hard to say.  Bob took Erika out of his profile picture a couple of weeks ago, but that could be nothing.  They went to the farm together with the kids a couple of weekends ago.

ETA at least, I assume they were at the farm together.  Bob is in the pictures, Erika is not, but Erika posted the album.

[BiblebeltCath]

21 minutes ago, FundamentallyShocked said:

Total speculation, but one common reason that people put suddenly kids in daycare/school and get a job is because of a divorce. I'd hate to think that the Shupes are going through that.

This was my first thought too. I hope that isn't the case and they have just come to their senses.

[mango_fandango]

13 minutes ago, BiblebeltCath said:

This was my first thought too. I hope that isn't the case and they have just come to their senses.

Hmm. Not gonna lie it crossed my mind too. 

Let's be honest, we've speculated about problems for a while. There was that weird Father's Day message from Melanie (remember that?) about "staying with our family all these years". Plus Erika mentioned somewhere that Bob's family had a history of divorce or something and she wanted to be the generation that broke the cycle. 

Of course, we could all just be riding the Idle Speculation Bus. It may not be divorce. But I am wondering what's made Erika execute such a huge U-turn on two of her big beliefs: skirt-wearing and homeschooling.

[alba]

Hmm. Not gonna lie it crossed my mind too. 

Let's be honest, we've speculated about problems for a while. There was that weird Father's Day message from Melanie (remember that?) about "staying with our family all these years". Plus Erika mentioned somewhere that Bob's family had a history of divorce or something and she wanted to be the generation that broke the cycle. 

Of course, we could all just be riding the Idle Speculation Bus. It may not be divorce. But I am wondering what's made Erika execute such a huge U-turn on two of her big beliefs: skirt-wearing and homeschooling.

Were the girls only pictured in trousers in that one album mentioned upthread that shows their father but not Erika?

If so, and IF they are divorcing, then Erika hasn't necessarily changed her beliefs on skirts-only. If the girls were with their father at the time then it would be his responsibility to enforce the skirts-only rule, which he isn't likely to do if he and Erika are separated.

[Foudeb]

Ah, you guys make a lot of sense. And it is indeed a huge step for her to have taken without something behind the scenes forcing her hand.

Still, I'm hoping it all works out better for them this way. Divorce isn't nice but (imho) not getting an education is worse, let alone being cooped up in that tiny house 24/7.

[alexandracabot]

1 hour ago, FunFunFundie said:

I wouldn't be surprised if it were a divorce (Bob has always seemed really unhappy to me), but it's really hard to say.  Bob took Erika out of his profile picture a couple of weeks ago, but that could be nothing.  They went to the farm together with the kids a couple of weekends ago.

ETA at least, I assume they were at the farm together.  Bob is in the pictures, Erika is not, but Erika posted the album.

Erika was there too. There's a picture of the twins that's a selfie with part of Erika's face in it.

[withaj]

I don't think they're getting divorced. Bob posted a long comment about a news article on his personal facebook page about two weeks ago where he referred to "our daughters" and "mom, dad, and children" as a unit, talking about how life is disappointing without faith (I think it was about the election). Whatever's going on, they're definitely still Christian and I'd wager they're not getting divorced.

[Hisey]

I'll bet Erika is LOVE, LOVE, LOVING having the house to herself for 8 hours while the kids are in school.

Here are my thoughts:

1. The kids took some standardized test required by the state which showed they were far below grade level. (this actually happened to some fundie neighbors of mine and the kids had to return to school)

2. Bob's business is doing badly, and they decided to fire his receptionist and hire Erika

3. Erika realized she just couldn't handle 8 school aged kids and not go bonkers.

My vote is for #3. When the kids were little, she could corral and contain them in bizarre ways (keeping a 3 year old in his crib with a crib tent for long periods in the morning, baby gates dividing different play areas, keeping the littles in their booster seats for a 90 minute lunch period, using dutch doors to keep a child in his room for "play alone time"). 

You just can't do that with older kids. They'll climb right over the partition that separates them from their sister.They'll nag to go out and play, whether it's muddy or not. They don't use booster seats, so they'll climb right out of their chair before they are supposed to. Kids have tons of energy and being inside a tiny house all day is going to make them loud and fidgety. I'm sure they made the place a mess and that this made Erika crazy. I'll bet she is 10x happier now (and more importantly, so are they).

[JillyO]

Woah, woah, woah. I can't believe this!! So excited for the Shupe kids!

I wonder why Karen didn't write a note for Melanie. Does that mean Melanie also doesn't eat dinner with the rest of the family (i.e., has a job)? Otherwise it would be kind of mean if she was the only one not to get a note. Also, I'm so glad Karen had something individual to say about Lacy and Lily. If Erika had written these notes, I'm sure she would have written one for the twins to share. Ugh!

Also, on a BEC note: Holy crap, that ring looks like something one of the twins would like, or possibly Anna Marie. Not a grown ass woman. Sorry, I know this is totally subjective and everything. I just... wow!

 

[older than allosaurs]

4 hours ago, Foudeb said:

Oh, and Erika teaching? honestly the lesser of two evils. Her pupils will have had proper teachers before her and will have more after her. It'll be a life lesson to them in "how to deal with a person who has authority over you whilst they are being a nitpicking control freak, and still get something out of it" - a lesson many of us have been known to use with our management once in the world of work.

It's unlikely she'd be teaching at a public school. It takes time and money for continuing ed to keep your credential current in Washington state, and she has been out of the classroom a long time. There are a number of Christian schools in the area, though, and they may not require credentialed staff. However, I don't see Erika teaching--she never seemed to enjoy the content of homeschooling, just the scheduling--and she does have other skills.

I wish them all well in their new adventures with moderation and outside influences. Maybe the world will turn out to be not that scary after all.

[December]

Whoa, that's pretty major news. Though not as surprising as it might've been a year ago. Good for them -- whatever the reason, it's better that the kids will be able to interact with other kids and receive a proper education. It's a bit sad for the older ones who are too late to really enjoy the benefits of school, but maybe they can at least get their GEDs or start college now. 

I'd be fascinated to learn why the change, especially as they're being so secretive about it. Perhaps it's just embarrassing to address how you came to make a decision you swore you'd never make, and railed against for years in a public blog. But ultimately it just seems like a positive thing all around... must make life easier on the parents, too.