Piping audio Bible into every room in the house -- why hasn't Steve thought of this?

[ViolaSebastian]

Holy educational neglect, Batman. As my first taste of this woman, I watched a recently uploaded vlog that shows a typical homeschooling day. She starts out by saying that it's Thursday, and it's the first day in the sixth week of schooling. Who the heck starts their week on a Thursday? Her entire house is in chaos, her children look filthy and bedraggled, and one poor kid becomes stressed out and goes to sit outside and get "photon therapy." (Which, I don't blame him, because my cortisol levels are through the roof just watching this chaos). The smaller kids are all over the larger ones, who are trying to concentrate and learn. They don't have desks and they don't even work at the table, just on the sofa on their binders. And the younger ones are being entertained by the television that's on in the same room that the older kids are working. Predictably, at least one of the boys didn't get his work for that day finished. It's heartbreaking.

They left the dishes on the table overnight. Which, typically I would not comment on, but they're paper bowls and plates. How long does it take to throw them in the trash?

[ViolaSebastian]

Sorry to post back to back, but this exchange on the youtube comments has me weirded the hell out.

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I'm just wondering if anything is wrong with claudia

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No, in spite of the things the OB suggested when she was born, she's a perfectly fine and normal sweet girl. She's starting to talk now. If you watch our "going home to Wyoming" video on our vacation playlist, you can hear her singing "Let It Go" and it's so cute! She's thinking about walking also.

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I'm not offended. I thought she was kind of goofy looking myself! Her eyes are really large; she inherited that from my maternal grandmother's side of the family. I think it will be a striking feature when she grows up, too!

Who the heck calls her own child "goofy looking" on the freakin' internet? 

[WonderingInWA]

Asher is the one that freaks me out the most - his dress shoes!  And he walks like a duck, just like Thomas and the dad, Tom.

[WonderingInWA]

AND, just for fun, this is a recent video from her husband.

 

[Granwych]

I'm not snarking on the baby, but concerned-- I wonder if a dr has checked her out--

[quiverofdoubt]

The stupidity. it hurts. ye gods. it hurts.  "how do you know that? people just say data"   um. Yes. data. that's how we find shit out dude.  data runs the world.  I just. the stupid.

11 hours ago, WonderingInWA said:

AND, just for fun, this is a recent video from her husband.

 

 

some of these kids have gone YEARS of their lives, a few their wholes lives, with the bible 24/7. I can only begin to imagine the harm it's done to their brain development, auditory development and their stress levels.  I bet if you scanned their brains you could actually see the parts that developed poorly because of this upbringing.  I say the younger ones because those are who would be the most effected- the children under 5 who have had this since birth. They are the most vulnerable as their brains are doing the most growth.  but i bet it has an effect  even on the adults.  AGH!

I just can't.

[quiverofdoubt]

oh my god.  

ok, so i'm a homeschooling mom.  i meet up with and work with lots of other homeschooling moms (most secular, non homeschooling for religious reasons).  so i have a bit of perspective from that angle. 

i'm barely into their first week of hs vlogs.  i'm terrified.  One of the little girls didn't know what sign she'd be holding up.  She didn't know what grade she was going into! it was 2ND.  If they are doing out of the box by the grade homeschool she should know what grade she is in by the first day of school for crying out loud.

now, many hs kids can't tell you what grade they are in.  mostly because there isn't one answer ("3rd grade math, 2nd grade reading. our civics project is learning about democracy and voting.  we do lots of science projects" would be a normal answer.)  
I thought that might be a one off, but a minute later they are sitting down to do work and her teen age son says "what the heck is algebra? this says algebra but inside says math".  

now to continue to rot my brain with this crap.

don't worry, my preschooler is playing outside so she won't be influenced by the drivel.

[quiverofdoubt]

ok. 15 mins into this crap and i can't do more. at least for now.

1) the ace curriculum is crud. academically worthless.  i'd rather the kids just spent time playing outdoors and completing self directed projects then this.

2) she is literally sitting there coloring in her 4 year olds coloring sheet.  I can't imagine a greater waste of time for someone with 8 kids.  my god. what's the point?  it isn't about a completed worksheet- it's about your kid practicing fine motor and building hand muscles  if he's done then let him go do something else- why the need to finish that sheet for him??? AHHH wow. 

3) please don't judge all homeschool families based on this. please. they are the outliers.

[Foudeb]

I'm just looking at the guy's T-shirt and thinking.... delusional, much?

[quiverofdoubt]

13 hours ago, Foudeb said:

I'm just looking at the guy's T-shirt and thinking.... delusional, much?

which shirt? i'll have to investigate

 

right, my kid will be your kid's boss tee.  right.  I know no hs'ers in person who would wear this. they believe all schooling choices are valid, that you do what is best for your child in the moment.  Also since his eldest is in his teens and doesn't know what algebra is, and his second grader didn't even know she was in second grade....

[quiverofdoubt]

OK. dominating thread here. but I find this family fascinating. but some notes:

1) i'm not going to rag on her for the condition of her house. kids destroy stuff. just destroy it.  my house looks worse than hers a lot of days and i only have 2 kids.  we get to the nitty gritty of dusting surfaces and scrubbing things and the like just a few times a year. 8 kids in a teeny space, at home most of the time? yeah. i'm surprised there's a house left really.

BUT 

2) the bible all the time??? dear god.  the brain damage they are doing. it can't be said enough.  how utterly obnoxious.  those kids must pray for power outages just to get a break from it.  apparently this had gone one for years which leads me to:

3) presumably at least one of their kids was conceived during bible readings.  can you imagine getting in on to the bible? how awkward.  like having sex in a church.

4) her house is actually pretty tidy considering.  i'm thinking those kids do a hell of a lot of chores.  and no real room inside to play to mess it up anyway.  no puzzles/dress up/toys etc in sight for the littles.

5) one of the older boys seems like he has 1 or 2 babies on him all the time. or a lot.  mom rarely seems to be involved much with the baby.  how sad. for both kids.  i mean i'm all for older kids helping out and bonding with siblings.  but he shouldn't have to take on a parental role.  

[JermajestyDuggar]

So I looked at a bunch of their videos. She is good at organizing and she has used every inch of that house for multiple uses. I live in a small house and i hate huge excessive houses but there comes a point when you have to say enough is enough. The house probably worked ok when they had five kids but its just way too small for a family of ten. They all share 1 bathroom? I bet those 5 boys pee outside lot. 

If they don't move, then they need to kick dad's home office out. He needs to go rent a cheap little office somewhere. A little office space is usually not hard to find. They need that extra space so bad for at least a half bathroom and another living space (Rec room) where their kids can actually play indoors. From what I can tell, there's very little playing indoors and they do all playing outdoors. Which is fine. Until crappy weather forces you inside. Plus that rec room would be great for the loud little ones while the older ones did homeschooling. It's just crazy to think of the claustrophobic chaos of that house with the Bible constantly playing in the background. It makes me so anxious just thinking about it. 

[smittykins]

This reminds me of the "Christian home for wayward youth" that punished the inmates residents by locking them in a room with the founder's sermons piped in 24/7.

[metheglyn]

The 24/7 audio bible reminds me of the state radio (read NK propaganda) that's pumped constantly into North Korean homes (at least in Pyongyang) and can't be turned off.  (Note, the clip below, despite what it claims, is actually from a rather interesting documentary called "A State of Mind" from 2004.) If the start time setting on the clip isn't working correctly, start at around 1:40 to see the commentary on the state radio.

 

 

[ViolaSebastian]

I've tried to watch some of these videos, but damn they're boring. No one, and I mean no one, wants a thirty minute explanation of why you choose to have more kids than you can reasonably handle. We don't need to hear about The Matrix, or see a Dilbert cartoon, or have the plot of Idiocracy explained to us, or hear long drawn out stories about your childhood. Seriously, ten minutes, tops, should be more than sufficient to say your piece and move it along. 

 

[Iokaste]

I was wondering when Andrea and her brood would turn up here, it was bound to happen.

I'm torn because on one hand I rather like her(or the persona she presents on youtube), but on the other there are such a huge discrepancies in what is being said and what is being shown. 
There are some good housekeeping and organizational ideas, but everything around her is a mess!
She talks a lot about cooking, nourisment and health, but 2/3 of what is on her menu plan is desserts or snack foods. 
She seems "awake" (No Jill Rodrigues babytalk, Terri Maxwell suppressed depression, Michelle Duggar crazy eyes, etc.), but then she'll go on and on about how clever they all are or get lost in some insignificant detail that has nothing to do with wath she's really talking about.

To me they she seems like someone whos really trying, she likes her life, but is in a dire strait financially and it is taking a toll on her. Classic quiverfull story, actually.  

[WonderingInWA]

Her husband is a piece of work.  He comes across as arrogant and I get the feeling he, like most fundie men, enjoys his position of headship.  I've watched a couple of his videos now and he just makes my skin crawl.

And I agree, most of what they eat is crap.  The oldest boy is already shaped like his father with the beer belly (although obviously not from beer).  I can't imagine having to feed that many people.  She has even said when she makes chicken, she makes one whole chicken (for 10 people!) and makes a bunch of sides.  It's a wonder they aren't all starving.

 

[PennySycamore]

Gosh, for 10 people I'd be roasting a turkey!

Mary White, one of the Founding Mothers of La Leche League and the mother of 11,  contributed this recipe for the first LLL cookbook, Mother's in the Kitchen:

Hasty Tasty Chicken

10 pounds frying chicken or 4 whole chickens, cut up

2 Tablespoons corn oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oven to 375. Pour a couple of tablespoons of oil in baking pans.  Lay (rub, wipe, etc) chicken pieces in oil, turn over; salt, pepper and pop into oven for about an hour.

That's absolutely all you need to do to it.  No flouring, no spattering, no turning, Just sit down and nurse the baby.

                                                                                  Mary White (Mrs Gregory)

                                                                                 River Forest, Illinois

You will notice that Mary used 10 pounds of chicken or 4 whole chickens to feed her brood.

[WonderingInWA]

Not surprisingly, the Mills family is subscribed to Scamaritan Ministries.  New video up talking about finances and how they pay $495/month but rarely go to the doctor.