Counting On Season 8/9/10 2: How low will they go? (CW: Miscarriage)

[tabitha2]

With Bens interest in teaching and Jessas years experience at the Dining table schoolroom Spurge, Henry and  Threewald maybe the next few will be off to a good start at least. 

[Local Gorilla]

Okay, I decided to watch Counting On for the first time in a couple years last night on a whim. But I have never been able to get through a whole episode. It's so awkward and contrived, and watchable only in small segments. Plus, my internet-tv service only recently picked up TLC - it's better for everyone, frankly, to go without it. So exploitative, it weirds me out.

So how far did I make it through this time? Right up to where John David looks into the camera in the most podunk, Gump fashion, and says:

 

"People got to relieve themselves. You want them doing it in a proper place. Otherwise it gets messy."

He might as well have been sitting on a bench, talking about what a box of chocolates is like. Then again, it seems like he might have a hard time coming up with adequate similes. Is he always like this?! I thought he was the Duggar who had it all together?!

[tabitha2]

He is not wrong. That’s John David Duggar...not fancy but  straight to point   Jeremy probably would have found some obscure 15th century reformation teaching about how and when and where shit the Godly way  

[hethamahay]

12 hours ago, neurogirl said:

@hethamahay Wow I'm so impressed right now. Are you this good with faces in real life too?

Sometimes it's just a lucky guess. There will be times I recognize someone in the grocery store that I haven't seen in 10+ years. Then there are other times that someone will recognize me and I keep thinking "who are you exactly?"

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

I was watching late last night and I had a giggle at Jordyn in the kitchen classroom, I can't remember what she was replying to but her answer and her face were just "I'm so over this shit" 

[tabitha2]

It’s was probably staged and she was tired of redoing it. 

[Cheetah]

12 hours ago, Dandruff said:

Did any of those kids, which included teenagers, really need a refresher in multiplying 4 by 10?

Thank You!!!  When I first saw that it was a recipe lesson I thought maybe they'd triple it or something at least a little more tricky (I mean, not that multiplying by 3 is hard for 12 year olds either but still...).   Even including fractions in there didn't make it hard.   

[Markie]

Multiplying recipe amounts by 10 would be fine for grades 4 and 5. He should have had extensions for the older kids. They could have set the problem that they had to feed the guests at John and Abbie’s wedding. Had the kids brainstorm how to determine the ingredient amounts for a group that size and convert to the most applicable measurement; ie, tsp and Tbsp converted to cups. They could share their results and how they got them with the class. They could also predict and estimate how many pots they would need, thus bringing in volume... This would take too long to film, I suppose. I do like how they went to the supermarket to purchase the ingredients. Having some of the kids keep an estimate of what they will have to pay and then the change they will get back would also be beneficial. 

[CarrotCake]

I watch the show on some dodgy streaming site because here the show is 2 years behind.

Since this season, the episodes start with an add for ‘the sexiest online game’ with some very interesting shots from this game. I already thought that was funny but now it starts even with an add for Brazzers.

If the Duggar’s would know this ?

[BachelorToTheRapture]

15 hours ago, metheglyn said:

You have a point, so have an updated version! (Although if her name really does start with "J" I'll be surprised, but highly amused.)

You missed the J in Tyler as well ?

When I was homeschooled things like converting measurements, grocery shopping, and cooking were chores or things we did for fun if it was a food we really wanted. It definitely did not take away from the actual age appropriate math lessons we did. We would sometimes do more complex things too, like "a recipe that says 48 cookies usually makes 36 at the size I make them so if I need 144 cookies and I'm using a recipe that says it makes 96, how do I need to multiply the recipe?" or "estimate how much flour we have. We need 12 cups for recipe a and 8 for recipe b. How much should we buy if were also making pancakes this weekend and it costs $x when it normally costs $y (we also learned to remember prices of some basic goods to know when to get them on sale/what size and brand to buy)?" But we did these as real life situations (that were often during the school day as our book work did not take 7ish hours). Things like this counting as a math lesson for kids of these ages (possibly excluding possibly Josie, although if memory serves multiplying just by 10 shouldn't be a full lesson for someone her age) seems like it's doing them a disservice. 

[Buzzard]

46 minutes ago, Markie said:

Multiplying recipe amounts by 10 would be fine for grades 4 and 5. He should have had extensions for the older kids. They could have set the problem that they had to feed the guests at John and Abbie’s wedding. Had the kids brainstorm how to determine the ingredient amounts for a group that size and convert to the most applicable measurement; ie, tsp and Tbsp converted to cups. They could share their results and how they got them with the class. They could also predict and estimate how many pots they would need, thus bringing in volume... This would take too long to film, I suppose. I do like how they went to the supermarket to purchase the ingredients. Having some of the kids keep an estimate of what they will have to pay and then the change they will get back would also be beneficial. 

They should have calculated how long it would take them to shop, drive, unpack, and cook... "Duggar Time" is ridiculous.

OR... god forbid, they gave the kids a budget and told them they needed to find a recipe, convert it to feed 40 people, and only spend X dollars.

[Bobology]

Ben has been 'tutoring' for a few months. Ben is in the cast of "Counting On" while the others in the lesson sketch* are not. Showing Ben teaching is a way for JB to get TLC to feature his other kids. Like someone here said somewhere, we are seeing more and more of other family members and they will likely start slipping glimpses of Josh in there to test the waters. 

*sketch instead of scene because it is a sketch... practiced, rehearsed, whatever -- a sketch of something somewhat similar to what might actually happen, but really quite different so the Duggars can show us what the Duggars want to show us.

[twoandthrough]

19 hours ago, AussieKrissy said:

I am just jumping in to say nothing I have not said before but just want to say again. Holy crap it scares me how identical Hannie is to one of the male twins in the male set who knows the name. I have always thought this but in the school table pic its like looking at him with long hair. 

And you know lauren's mother breastfeeding in that tent. fuck me. I have had friends who have chosen to modestly breastfeed and never once have i looked at them and felt so fucking claustraphobic......poor baby

Flop it out, be modest, neither makes me uncomfortable as much as that suffocation tent does.....that's some extra speshhulll modest shit right there.

Ehh, there's nothing modest about me breastfeeding without a cover just like that. My breasts are so big that my 15 month old's head still doesn't cover one, so even with the two shirt method, it just doesn't work out for me. I used a cover extremely similar to that (but floral) for the first year nursing her. She now refuses it, so I make sure to feed her before we leave home and pack snacks for her. She didn't mind it for 12 whole months. It's not suffocating the baby by any means. I don't think anyone SHOULD cover like that if they don't want to, whether they're modest about it or not - breastfeeding is natural, and it's great, and blah blah blah, but some of us just aren't comfortable with that. I'm so thankful these covers exist because I wouldn't have left my house for a year otherwise, and I'm a very social person.

[CaricatureQualities]

2 hours ago, Local Gorilla said:

Okay, I decided to watch Counting On for the first time in a couple years last night on a whim. But I have never been able to get through a whole episode. It's so awkward and contrived, and watchable only in small segments. Plus, my internet-tv service only recently picked up TLC - it's better for everyone, frankly, to go without it. So exploitative, it weirds me out.

So how far did I make it through this time? Right up to where John David looks into the camera in the most podunk, Gump fashion, and says:

 

"People got to relieve themselves. You want them doing it in a proper place. Otherwise it gets messy."

He might as well have been sitting on a bench, talking about what a box of chocolates is like. Then again, it seems like he might have a hard time coming up with adequate similes. Is he always like this?! I thought he was the Duggar who had it all together?!

It's that all the Duggar males and Duggar male adjacents think it is their God given duty to be funny all the time and make the womenfolk giggle. Since it is the God given duty of the women to laugh and giggle at all the lame shit the guys do and say a lot of the males seem to have the false belief that they are hilarious. 

All the Dugg boys seem to model their humor after Jim Bob's which is unfortunate for them...but Jeremy has his own sense of humour which is just as unfortunate if for no other reason than it never quits . It's exasperating. 

 

[Buzzard]

2 hours ago, Bobology said:

*sketch instead of scene because it is a sketch... practiced, rehearsed, whatever -- a sketch of something somewhat similar to what might actually happen, but really quite different so the Duggars can show us what the Duggars want to show us.

The littles were also sketching.  It looked like a pizza!

[QuiverFullofBooks]

I can’t imagine having a miscarriage while my mother was breastfeeding.

[mpheels]

10 hours ago, just_ordinary said:

True but looking at this he doesn’t seem to have a clue at teaching. There is more to it than knowledge. That’s why real teachers learn intense amounts of didactic methods and have to do practical teaching under supervision first.

To me it sounds as if his online studying isn’t very successful right now. 

I actually thought he did a decent job given his lack of formal training and the constraints of the setting (multiple kids, age 9-14, and Michelle bobbing in the background). Every now and then I get really sad about missed potential for the young adults in the Duggarverse - Ben actually has a lot of potential as a teacher, if only he had the chance to get a better education himself.

[metheglyn]

2 hours ago, QuiverFullofBooks said:

I can’t imagine having a miscarriage while my mother was breastfeeding.

I agree that that's a very strange thought, and frankly might make it *more* painful for Lauren.

But generally speaking, given that Lauren and Kendra were both the eldest children of fairly young mothers, and both married very young themselves, they could easily end up with multiple siblings younger than their own kids. 

Christina Caldwell, for example, is only 39, and her youngest son (so far) is several months younger than Garrett.

Lana Swanson is 43, so her youngest, born about a year ago, *might* be her last, but might also not be, so there's still a definite possibility that she'll have a grandchild younger than her youngest child(ren). 

(Anna and Michelle don't quite count, since they're in-laws, and Michelle is 11 years younger than Anna's mother, plus Anna's the 5th child, not the eldest.)

Then again it seems like it used to be somewhat more common in the general population, given historical fertility and childbirth patterns. For example, my uncle's closest relative was his own youngest maternal uncle (the youngest of five), and they basically behaved like brothers growing up since they were less than a year apart, but they were also born in the '20s, and my uncle ended up the eldest of 7 himself. It's only since the advent of decent birth control that it's really become quite *so* odd seeming, rather than just uncommon. 

[BlondeIdol]

I really think(hope) that Ben teaching the kids and the store being a fieldtrip isn’t a real thing and all just for the show. The curriculum the Duggars use is very flawed, I don’t need to point that out. However, I don’t think Jackson(?) is necessarily sitting in lessons with Josie off camera. The show makes it seem like none of these kids have been to a grocery store. Like most of the stuff on Counting On, it’s definitely all just for show and scripted out. If those kids really don’t go to the grocery store often enough that going with Ben is considered a legit educational outing then I don’t know what to say. Jessa was making it seem like a big deal. ?‍♀️                                         Most homeschooling families take time out of the day once a week to go grocery shopping just like everyone else. When I was homeschooled putting together recipes and helping Mom with shopping is more of a basic life skill type of thing. Not a math lesson.

[BernRul]

10 hours ago, viii said:

Ben seems like he'd make an excellent teacher. I wish he'd actually do that for a profession, rather than rely on JB and CO. 

Yeah, I thought the same thing. I can picture him as laidback, dorky teacher in a 4th or 5th grade class, who brainstorms creative lesson ideas and all the kids adore him. I picture him as being like Prez from The Wire, if anyone's seen that. 

But I'm going be honest, I have a soft spot for Ben. 

Jackson said that he liked homeschool a lot better than traditional school. But it's not like Jackson ever had a chance to experience anything else, so who knows what he'd like if he could make an informed choice. One thing that most schools will do that his "teachers " don't: most teachers actually try to encourage their students' interests, while Jackson will finish school and just work for JB, regardless of what he might actually want out of life. 

[SassyPants]

10 minutes ago, BernRul said:

Yeah, I thought the same thing. I can picture him as laidback, dorky teacher in a 4th or 5th grade class, who brainstorms creative lesson ideas and all the kids adore him. I picture him as being like Prez from The Wire, if anyone's seen that. 

But I'm going be honest, I have a soft spot for Ben. 

Jackson said that he liked homeschool a lot better than traditional school. But it's not like Jackson ever had a chance to experience anything else, so who knows what he'd like if he could make an informed choice. One thing that most schools will do that his "teachers " don't: most teachers actually try to encourage their students' interests, while Jackson will finish school and just work for JB, regardless of what he might actually want out of life. 

I will admit that I thought Ben and Jessa were easily and quickly doomed  d/t their ages, lack of education/experiences and personalities. As a couple and family, they have been a very nice surprise. Ben seems to have matured greatly in the past few years. I hope he can get an additional, useful and marketable level of education.

[bethover89]

My thoughts from this week:

1) who are all these dogs??? (Reality tv and pets always seems like a bad combo to me)

2) Who picks Spelling as a favorite subject? That indicates to me how basic their education is

3) Jeremy tries too hard to be funny and he’s just not

4) I thought Jackson looked really enthused about math, he needs something more challenging. 

5) I feel like Jana needs a proper vacation away from all these people. She’s endlessly serving others. 

 

[tabitha2]

Jana goes on the Journeys or at least did. Those were her vacations/me time.

[Cheetah]

11 hours ago, Markie said:

Multiplying recipe amounts by 10 would be fine for grades 4 and 5. He should have had extensions for the older kids. They could have set the problem that they had to feed the guests at John and Abbie’s wedding. Had the kids brainstorm how to determine the ingredient amounts for a group that size and convert to the most applicable measurement; ie, tsp and Tbsp converted to cups. They could share their results and how they got them with the class. They could also predict and estimate how many pots they would need, thus bringing in volume... This would take too long to film, I suppose. I do like how they went to the supermarket to purchase the ingredients. Having some of the kids keep an estimate of what they will have to pay and then the change they will get back would also be beneficial. 

5th grade?  Mmm... maybe...?  I dunno... I guess I had g/t kids and did math enrichment for the g/t kids so I have a hard time picturing what an average or slightly below average 5th grader could do but multiplying by 10 seems pretty low to me. 

[metheglyn]

6 hours ago, metheglyn said:

Lana Swanson is 43, so her youngest, born about a year ago, *might* be her last, but might also not be, so there's still a definite possibility that she'll have a grandchild younger than her youngest child(ren). 

Just for the record, I meant "have a grandchild OLDER than her youngest child(ren)." 

Obviously, assuming her children have children she'll have grandkids younger than her youngest children.