Jazz Hands, Sparkle Crotch: Erika Schupe Pt. 9

[BlessingsVonFundiePants]

How sad this change has come too late for the older girls

[Showtunesgirl]

I know she said that the schedule she posted wasn't her own, but I really want to know what she fills her day with since she apparently doesn't have a spare hour to exercise, despite having more time to herself than ever before. 

 

On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised to find that she used the correct version of "apart" in her blog post. Still *cringe* at all of her *smiles* and *laughs* though...ughhh.

[mango_fandango]

Very true. But Karen has a job now, and she can always do adult education classes later in life. I wonder what kind of "qualification" Karen got? Erika said a while back about she intended her kids to SOAR (her words and capitals) above the requirements for a GED, but that was way back when. Don't know if anything changed. 

[ScorpiousMalfoy]

Wow, I am actually suprised we got a confirmation... This is big, and her calling it a good decision is also amazing. Poor older girls, they got cheated out of proper education -  good thing at least their siblings will get it. Bravo Erica! Now that's something, and to think we get excited about the Bateses wearing jeans...

[Peas n carrots]

W-O-W. I'm pleased to see the kids in public school. It must be so nice for those kids to be able to get out of the house 5 days a week.

I'm dying to know the backstory - she is going to have to spill eventually.

I think y'all called it she is positioning herself to be a home organization guru. Actually, I think she could potentially do really well having workshops and promoting her brand. I'd love to have someone give me tips on being more organized!

[Eternalbluepearl]

I think it's great that the kids can go to school now. I'm shocked and wondering what brought about this change. Erika seemed set on the idea that kids being in a classroom with their peers was wrong because the Bible calls peers "fools." What could have gone against the Word of God and the Word of Steve Maxwell?  It all seemed to snowball once Karen got a job and some pants. 

[Iokaste]

On 1/9/2017 at 6:37 AM, Hisey said:

Seems like Bob is selling his photography. That's nice, but I don't understand selling the shots of his babies and preteen daughters. They are nice pics and the kids are attractive, but would you want a picture of your young teen daughter hanging on some stranger's wall? Or your twin baby girls? I don't understand why fundies go overboard in protecting their kids in some way, but then completely drop the ball in other ways. He even uses the kids' names (one photo of Karen is called "Karen", for example). For that matter, why would anyone purchase pictures of another person's kids, anyway?

https://www.redbubble.com/people/bobshupe/portfolio

That one of Melanie(?), third oldest I think, with the caption "Breaking into the teen years" 

[FunFunFundie]

The thing I don't understand is how this move to public school makes her MORE marketable.  It is really impressive to have 9 kids, homeschool them, and keep your house spotless.  I don't think it's very impressive to have six hours a day at home by yourself, with no kids at home, and keep your house clean.  Who is going to be inspired by her?  Stay-at-home moms with little kids won't have the kind of time she has, I don't think there are a ton of stay-at-home moms with kids in public school who need help managing things.  And, as much as I think her scheduling is important for managing full days, your days just naturally fall into a schedule when you are the only person at home.  I go to the store once per week for grocery shopping but I don't need it to be exactly on Wednesday from 10-noon.

[Bazinga]

8 hours ago, FunFunFundie said:

And Erika isn't working! She's ... spending six hours prepping dinner so that when the kids come home they can do all the housework.

Must be nice. I only dream of having six hours to myself a day (ha!). I have to wonder if this is going to help or hurt her "brand". The people she connected to the most were stay-at-home moms with many children (who homeschooled). They don't have the luxury of having 6 hours to manage their home on their own.

[FunFunFundie]

11 minutes ago, Bazinga said:

Must be nice. I only dream of having six hours to myself a day (ha!). I have to wonder if this is going to help or hurt her "brand". The people she connected to the most were stay-at-home moms with many children (who homeschooled). They don't have the luxury of having 6 hours to manage their home on their own.

Exactly. Who is she going to inspire? It was impressive to homeschool 9 kids, wrangle 4 toddlers, and keep a very organized house. Now she's home alone all day and has to write down a schedule for when she's going to go grocery shopping, and it looks like the kids do the bulk of the housework. What can she teach an overwhelned homeschooking mom, OR an overwhelmed working mom?

[ILoveJellybeans]

Good for her. At the end of the day, homeschooling isn't what makes you a Christian, schooling as we know it didn't exist then. As long as the kids are getting an education, that is fine. Its not for everyone, it is hard work, some curriculums aren't very good, and its better fundies realise this than continue to homeschool far past the point where it just isn't working.

[elliha]

I am so glad for her. I am thinking of registering on her site just to tell her how glad I am she has made this decision. It was clear from the pictures this summer that the whole family was happier and looked more at ease and I think this has been a good decision for all of them. This is proper change and I hope we will get to know more about the whys later on. This probably was hard for her. One guess could be mental health. Erika is at an age when menopause often happens. Some women suffer from depression in relation to that. This could be a possible explanation, that she needs this time alone to feel better and if that is so I am glad she gets that. I come from a family where menopause almost always equals depression so this is very much something I have to "look forward to".

[princessmahina]

She keeps mentioning swimming-- if the kids are actually doing that (and it seems like they are), then that's another big departure from the Maxwellian way of doing things.

If I had to guess about the change, I would think it had something to do with Karen taking the GED test. She may not have done very well on it-- she may have even failed the first time. That might have been a big wakeup call to Erika that what she was doing just wasn't working anymore. 

[iweartanktops]

WOW. So the kids are actually in ebil, brainwashing, government schools! Amazing! I think it all boils down to Erika just couldn't hack it anymore. I think most of us agree that she's not really the type of person who should have nine children in the first place. I think it was getting way too overwhelming for her and the kids. I mean, she barely even let them outside to get some energy out! 

I'm so happy for the kids. They will now hopefully get caught up academically and socially, be allowed to read as much as they desire, make some friends, have some fun, and get some regular activity. Not to mention, a legitimate education. Yay, Shupe kids!  Go forth and learn, grow, and reach your full potential! 

[FunFunFundie]

I do have to say - I think this move is a bad one for her guru-ness, but I'm impressed with Erika that she was able/willing to make the change.  If I had to guess, it would be because one of them has special needs that she couldn't meet.  She could have just kept pushing and pretending like it was working, to their detriment.  Good for her.

[Hisey]

Erika's new post is foolish and irritating. Does she really think her readers will be satisfied with "I'm not telling you why they are back in school, and I'm not telling you what I do all day, but here are my ideas about scheduling and I hope they are helpful! Here they are: plan ahead, don't forget things, and write it down. Hope this post was helpful!"

No, most of her readers come from her old page and know her backstory. They are going to be interested in why her kids are in school and how she spends her day. They are not going to let that go, in order to discuss her "tips."

Her unwillingness to share her own schedule makes me think she is working (perhaps for Bob, as his bookkeeper or something). If she was just being a godly-take-care-of-the-housework woman, then why not share the schedule? Her readers would be sure to approve of it and it would be uncontroversial.

[elliha]

8 minutes ago, Hisey said:

Erika's new post is foolish and irritating. Does she really think her readers will be satisfied with "I'm not telling you why they are back in school, and I'm not telling you what I do all day, but here are my ideas about scheduling and I hope they are helpful! Here they are: plan ahead, don't forget things, and write it down. Hope this post was helpful!"

No, most of her readers come from her old page and know her backstory. They are going to be interested in why her kids are in school and how she spends her day. They are not going to let that go, in order to discuss her "tips."

Her unwillingness to share her own schedule makes me think she is working (perhaps for Bob, as his bookkeeper or something). If she was just being a godly-take-care-of-the-housework woman, then why not share the schedule? Her readers would be sure to approve of it and it would be uncontroversial.

I think the whys will come but she is not really ready to put them into writing. It took her several months to just get to telling people about not homeschooling. 

[Anonymousguest]

I agree with @Hisey her whole thing has been children are wonderful and you should have as many as you can and homeschool them because that is the only thing that is Godly. If you aren't enjoying it or can't handle more children it is because you have failed to adequately plan your day. She has maintained you can and should homeschool through any tough times, if you put your kids in the government's school you have just not tried hard enough and simply need a better schedule, less stuff and more control over your children. 

 

I'm sure this was very hard for her to admit, it means she's probably had to eat a lot of crow already. But it was annoying of her to announce with this blog post. If she was interested at all in having agony kind of connection with her readers she would have started with the "why".

I do think it's odd she didn't give her own schedule but went through the trouble of coming up with a hypothetical one. She's got more time in her day to do less stuff, she should have plenty of time to add in 30-60 mins of exercise, she did that even when the twins were babies. Something must be taking up a portion of her time she didn't mention in the blog.

[formergothardite]

8 minutes ago, Anonymousguest said:

I agree with @Hisey her whole thing has been children are wonderful and you should have as many as you can and homeschool them because that is the only thing that is Godly. If you aren't enjoying it or can't handle more children it is because you have failed to adequately plan your day. She has maintained you can and should homeschool through any tough times, if you put your kids in the government's school you have just not tried hard enough and simply need a better schedule, less stuff and more control over your children. 

This. After years of pushing this agenda, she is just suddenly going to mention her kids are in public school like it is no biggie? Her entire brand was built around the opposite of what she is doing now. I think a nice "I was wrong, this is what changed my mind" is in order, but I rather doubt we will get that from Erika. 

[Eternalbluepearl]

The idea of Erika working is a very interesting one. That would be another huge departure from her former ideals. Hell has really frozen over in that 1100 sq ft house! 

[usmcmom]

I wonder if Erika does not really need to schedule her day, but rather feels the need to mold her day into something that needs to be scheduled. Does that make sense??

Schedules and lists are her security blanket. Suddenly she has found herself with plenty of time to get it all done and has no need to block off her day into 15-minute increments. She probably feels lost without that list and is just thinking of ways to keep making that schedule. 

It makes me think of a little girl who gets a new purse. She has no need of a purse and nothing she MUST carry with her but by golly she is going to carry that purse. So, she goes around the house and fills the purse with all sorts of needless items. 

Or am I the only one that did that?

[AnnieC 305]

Man, you take  break and....  

CPS?  Can someone catch me up with that, please?

[slickcat79]

I fully agree that sending the kids to public school is the best decision for her family. Her ability to homeschool was severely hampered by her own lack of knowledge and her total unwillingness to seek outside help. But she's almost as hypocritical as Zsu. She talks about circumstances that have converged (whatever the hell that means) over the last 18 months, but within those 18 months she was posting about the biblical superiority of homeschooling and playing Judgey McJudgerson about other parents who send their kids to "government school" because their kids might be upset by it. 

I don't think she has any obligation to share whatever family business has caused her to make these changes, but it'd be nice to see her eat that crow publicly. She's actually driven away readers by being so rigid on this issue, and she even agreed with Kelly Crawford that the bible actually instructs good Christians to homeschool. That's a lot to backtrack on with no explanation. I also think that this change will not really do her "brand" any favors, but I hope she continues to put the kids' needs ahead of her desire to be Internet Famous. 

[molecule]

1 hour ago, princessmahina said:

If I had to guess about the change, I would think it had something to do with Karen taking the GED test. She may not have done very well on it-- she may have even failed the first time. That might have been a big wakeup call to Erika that what she was doing just wasn't working anymore. 

This ^^^ was my guess.

I also wonder if Erika is either trying to build a business or is going to school for something herself. For someone who's been so specific about her schedule in the past, the fact that she isn't showing us her actual schedules makes me think she's trying to hide something.

[Gobsmacked]

She is perhaps preparing to work outside as an organiser in other people's houses. An actual job helping as an personal organiser for folk who have hoarding tendencies?

Erika would be very good at that. She would earn a decent salary and have  some flexibility over her working hours.