Plathville Coming to TLC

[NoKidsAndCounting]

30 minutes ago, mstee said:

I really liked when Moriah and Micah addressed their lack of education to their parents as a barrier to making it on their own. I know the parents were super dismissive about it but I still think it was really important that the kids recognized it and want better for their siblings. 

I thought this was great.  Their mother actually said that she gave them the work and Micah and Moriah just didn't want to do it.  No, Mrs. Kim Plath.  If you claim to be a homeschool teacher, you have to supervise and TEACH the kids.  And you can't leave the older, practically uneducated kids in charge of the younger ones, either.

This is a more extreme example, but if anyone has ever watched a documentary about Amish kids leaving and going out into the world or FLDS kids doing the same, it's really heartbreaking.  Their lack of education combined with limited social skills and a belief that the world is literal Hell is so sad.  It's amazing that some of them have gone on to get their GEDs and even some additional education.  On one of the shows, an Amish woman really wanted to be a dental assistant.  She had to study incredibly hard to pass, and she did it.

I think if some of the "out" Amish kids and FLDS kids can make it, I have a lot of hope for Micah and Moriah.  They already realize their level of education was sub-par, and that's huge.

[feministxtian]

27 minutes ago, NoKidsAndCounting said:

heir mother actually said that she gave them the work and Micah and Moriah just didn't want to do it.  No, Mrs. Kim Plath.  If you claim to be a homeschool teacher, you have to supervise and TEACH the kids.  And you can't leave the older, practically uneducated kids in charge of the younger ones, either.

Homeschooling is WORK. Even with this hybrid stuff that my granddaughter is doing (asynchronous in the AM, synchronous in the afternoon over zoom/google classroom), it takes ALL of my attention in the mornings and most of my attention in the afternoons. There's no way she could be left alone. "Real" homeschooling is even harder. I realize that it's on me to make sure she understands what we're doing in the morning, and provide back-up in the afternoon. I've done it before and realized that it isn't all fun and games and "getting to spend time with your kids". Yes, in SOME cases, homeschooling can deliver a better education for a particular child BUT...in order to do that, mom/teacher has to be involved, on the ball, really KNOWING your kids, their learning styles and how to best deliver the education they need/deserve. I'm still getting to know my granddaughter's learning style, understanding where the holes are in her language understanding, and how to successfully supplement her learning to close up those gaps. By 3pm when her synchronous classtime ends I'm EXHAUSTED!!! I can't imagine trying to homeschool 8, 10, 12 kids and being successful no matter how on the ball mom is...it was hard enough with my bunch back when I was homeschooling them. Now, it's damn hard with just one kiddo! I'm essentially "stuck" for 6-7 hours a day M-F to supervise/teach. There's no way I could do much else besides maybe clean up some, run some laundry, do dishes...that's it. The rest of the time I'm within earshot..and this is ONE kid with teacher-guided class in the afternoon. 

Ok...stepping off soapbox now...

[NoKidsAndCounting]

@feministxtianI'm sure it is really hard work, but you're already doing way more to help your family than Kim Plath could muster up.  She appears not to have even put in the minimum effort for her kids.  I give all of the homeschooling parents/grandparents/guardians out there a ton of credit, especially right now.  

[Laura2730]

Don't know if this has already been discussed, but the Plath family for years went to the same church as the Mortons and fellowshipped with them regularly. Barry Plath was a groomsman in Alan and Katie Smith's wedding (Alan who is now in prison) and they gifted the sword that was used in the wedding as well. On the old Morton blog there are loads of photos, including pictures of Ethan and Moriah when they were little children and of Barry and Kim.

[marshmallow]

I haven't watched the episode and am really curious about the following:

What is the conflict between Ethan and Olivia?

And since someone further up mentioned that there are now three households: does that mean that Moriah and Micah live together? 

Thanks in advance to anyone who may answer ?

[indianabones]

Just now, marshmallow said:

I haven't watched the episode and am really curious about the following:

What is the conflict between Ethan and Olivia?

And since someone further up mentioned that there are now three households: does that mean that Moriah and Micah live together? 

Thanks in advance to anyone who may answer ?

Kim blames Olivia for leading Ethan away from fundie-hood, and was trying to get Ethan to choose between his wife and his parents/siblings. His attempts to have a relationship with both of them, rather than choosing Olivia, put a big strain on their marriage and almost caused them to get a divorce. He came to the conclusion that he needed to focus on his marriage rather than his mom's feelings so he cut off contact with his parents. Immediately after doing so his family moved into a house .3 miles away from them.

Moriah and Micah moved out and into their own home a few blocks away from Ethan and Olivia. They are also not allowed to see their siblings unsupervised (kinda like the Jill Dillard situation.)

[marshmallow]

11 minutes ago, indianabones said:

Kim blames Olivia for leading Ethan away from fundie-hood, and was trying to get Ethan to choose between his wife and his parents/siblings. His attempts to have a relationship with both of them, rather than choosing Olivia, put a big strain on their marriage and almost caused them to get a divorce. He came to the conclusion that he needed to focus on his marriage rather than his mom's feelings so he cut off contact with his parents. Immediately after doing so his family moved into a house .3 miles away from them.

Moriah and Micah moved out and into their own home a few blocks away from Ethan and Olivia. They are also not allowed to see their siblings unsupervised (kinda like the Jill Dillard situation.)

Oh wow, that sounds like such a difficult situation between Ethan and Olivia! And the mom sounds so incredibly dysfunctional in her relationship patterns. 

Thanks for summarizing for me! 

Ok, now I'm curious about another thing, haha. Why did the family move closer to Ethan/Olivia? Was that a reaction to him cutting the parents off? (If so: wow!) 

[QuiverFullofBooks]

10 minutes ago, marshmallow said:

Ok, now I'm curious about another thing, haha. Why did the family move closer to Ethan/Olivia? Was that a reaction to him cutting the parents off? (If so: wow!) 

Small town, TLC money, gorgeous house for sale. Possibly just a coincidence. Or maybe not! 

[waltraute]

There's a world of difference between the words gave and taught. Kim didn't say she taught them, she said, I gave you the work and you didn't do it. That is heartbreaking. Handing over a workbook is not teaching by any stretch of the imagination.

I was a motivated learner and I loved reading but I HATED the SRA reading program that our school used for a couple of years. They were color coded cards printed with stories followed by comprehension questions about the stories. You were to progress at your own pace and work through all the colors in the box. 

It was mind numbingly boring to me, and SRA hour was like torture, I hated it so much. Fortunately, it took up only a small amount of class time and was anyway discarded after 2 or so years. If that had been my only source of education I would not have learned a thing. I was a great student, but that was not my learning style. 

It's a crime how they've hampered their children's education. 

 

[wendy-sparkles]

Not very fundie trying to get your son to leave? his wife! what happened to the sanctity of marriage Kim.

honestly I would be desperate for a prayer closet if I was in a fundie family, how else are you going to get away from them.

[MomJeans]

College-educated fundie parents that refuse to give their own kids an adequate education are the worst kind of hypocrites.  OfKim Plath (I don't now his name) supports his family based on his college education, but denies his kids the same opportunity for stability.

(Also, now I understand why the family moves so much, and mostly stays on the Georgia side of the border- in Florida the K-12 kids would still have to comply with yearly state-testing requirements even as homeschoolers, I believe. In Georgia, homeschool kids only have to complete state testing every 3 years.  I'm guessing that if you move a lot, it's not enforced easily.)

Like FeministXian, I too am now both teacher in the morning, and supervisor in the afternoon for my kids, and it has really opened my eyes that my homeschooling family members who say "oh when you homeschool, you only need to do an hour or two a day" just can't be covering the same amount of material.  

Kim obviously just threw some workbooks at her kids each year, never checked if the books were even used, and called it homeschooling.  

 

Edited November 14, 2020 by MomJeans

[freethemall]

On 11/13/2020 at 12:50 PM, JermajestyDuggar said:

I personally think all TLC family reality shows are at least 25% fake. Some are even more fake. I am always amazed when people assume they are 100% real. I’m sure they are only portraying the family in a way that would get the most ratings. I honestly wouldn’t believe much that happens on the show.

25%? That's generous 

[JermajestyDuggar]

Micah posted a pic with a very pretty girl. I’m glad he’s dating. I would rather date around than be pressured into a marriage with the first person I crushed on. 

[indianabones]

4 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Micah posted a pic with a very pretty girl. I’m glad he’s dating. I would rather date around than be pressured into a marriage with the first person I crushed on. 

She's a former Miss Teen Alabama who's in college, a sorority member, a mainstream Christian, and she's has had a good amount of plastic surgery done... I bet Kim is fuming.

[JermajestyDuggar]

8 minutes ago, indianabones said:

She's a former Miss Teen Alabama who's in college, a sorority member, a mainstream Christian, and she's has had a good amount of plastic surgery done... I bet Kim is fuming.

If she wasn’t fuming when he posed in his undies, she’s fuming now. I think Kim has probably written off Ethan, Micah, and Moriah as lost causes. And will cling even harder to Hosanna, Lydia, and the three littlest girls. She probably expects Isaac to follow in the footsteps of his older brothers and rebel.

Edited November 15, 2020 by JermajestyDuggar

[wendy-sparkles]

I thought it was ominous that Kim, who last season was only worried about Isaac, is now worried for Isaac and Amber. I would hate to be any child she sees at risk of going the Ethan-Micah-Moriah route, even though it does seem like Isaac got some video games out of it.

[feministxtian]

On 11/13/2020 at 10:27 PM, MomJeans said:

Like FeministXian, I too am now both teacher in the morning, and supervisor in the afternoon for my kids, and it has really opened my eyes that my homeschooling family members who say "oh when you homeschool, you only need to do an hour or two a day" just can't be covering the same amount of material.  

This stuff is at least 6 hours a day...the morning schoolwork gets done quickly but we supplement with other Language Arts activities for at least another hour. Afternoons I can do stuff I need to do as long as I don't have to go out. Now, honestly, when I homeschooled, it wasn't 6 hours a day but it was pretty damn close. Thing is, the kids (then) could do self-paced and they didn't have the zoom classes. I think I did about 4 hours with the younger kids and the older ones (6th grade or so) were doing 5-6 hours with some of it on their own. 1-2 hours would be some sort of preschool thing, letters, colors, shapes, sounds, fun stuff. Kindergarten to 2nd grade was probably 3-4 hours. Above that, it was 5-6 hours. But maybe I was an overachieving homeschooling mom...or maybe I had kids that liked to learn...end result...1 master's degree, 1 bachelor's (next year) and a journeyman electrician. Mom was just a dumbass with an AAS

[usedbicycle]

I'm just now getting around to watching the first episode of season 2. I wonder why Ethan and Olivia, and now Micah and Moriah all chose to live in close proximity to the parents. Cairo GA isn't exactly a land of opportunity for professional development or a coming-of-age experience. I think if they all moved away and saw family for holidays a couple times a year it would help keep the peace. Even in the secular world, families who don't get along can agree to disagree over Thanksgiving dinner.

Edited November 16, 2020 by usedbicycle

[JermajestyDuggar]

19 minutes ago, usedbicycle said:

I'm just now getting around to watching the first episode of season 2. I wonder why Ethan and Olivia, and now Micah and Moriah all chose to live in close proximity to the parents. Cairo GA isn't exactly a land of opportunity for professional development or a coming-of-age experience. I think if they all moved away and saw family for holidays a couple times a year it would help keep the peace. Even in the secular world, families who don't get along can agree to disagree over Thanksgiving dinner.

I think Ethan and Olivia bought that house awhile ago. Even before the show. Possibly even before they were married. I don’t know about Moriah and Micah though.

[indianabones]

8 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I think Ethan and Olivia bought that house awhile ago. Even before the show. Possibly even before they were married. I don’t know about Moriah and Micah though.

Moriah moved out when she was 17. I'm guessing it's a combination of Kim and Barry not letting her move out of town and the idea of moving somewhere new being a bit scary and overwhelming.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

The breakfast scene with Ethan and Olivia seemed very fake. Like, why are they filming on that random morning? Why would she let him attempt to make pancakes, when he supposedly has never cooked before, with zero instructions and no recipe? And then get super pissy that he’s talking to her? Just say “I’ll teach you how to make pancakes some other time. Maybe you could go pick up a couple of Egg McMuffins.” How hard is that? 

[Arula]

3 hours ago, QuiverFullofBooks said:

The breakfast scene with Ethan and Olivia seemed very fake. Like, why are they filming on that random morning? Why would she let him attempt to make pancakes, when he supposedly has never cooked before, with zero instructions and no recipe? And then get super pissy that he’s talking to her? Just say “I’ll teach you how to make pancakes some other time. Maybe you could go pick up a couple of Egg McMuffins.” How hard is that? 

After watching the scene, I don't know if I get "fake" from it so much. It started off that way, certainly, with Ethan trying to set up this contrived scene of him being adorably helpless in the kitchen, but I think it actually backfired pretty hard. He probably intended for her to step in and not allow him to attempt pancakes on his own, but she wasn't going to play along. Olivia's frustration read fairly true (to me at least!). She seemed like she didn't want to film that morning, but couldn't back out of it for whatever reason. I wonder if she just assumed they wouldn't use the footage because she didn't help create the scene.

Other thoughts: boy howdy, but the Plath parents do rely on lovebombing to try and fix their relationships with the kids. The boat thing they gave O+E last season, the book for Moriah this episode...it seems like they are very used to being able to sweep conflict under the rug with a gift. Incredibly toxic. I wonder how Moriah would have responded if her mom had just said "It's good to see you, I miss you, your house looks great". I suppose if she were the type to say something like that without judgement or a hidden meaning, she wouldn't have kicked Moriah out at 17, so there's that.

Barry gives me the absolute heebie-jeebies. Can't put my finger on exactly why, but I find him unnerving. There's a lot of cruelty in him, I think.

[CarrotCake]

I just thought it was weird that she was working in the kitchen while he was cooking.

Either say: 'don't cook now, I am working here' or go sit somewhere else while he is cooking.

It is not that hard.

[IreneIssh]

On 11/18/2020 at 1:57 AM, Arula said:

Barry gives me the absolute heebie-jeebies. Can't put my finger on exactly why, but I find him unnerving. There's a lot of cruelty in him, I think.

Yeah, I can't quite figure Barry out. Kim is a familiar type of narcissist for me, but he's something I haven't encountered before.

The way he downplayed his kids problems and chuckled during the conversation with Micah and Moriah says a lot about him. I wonder what he's like without the cameras around. 

Does anyone know anything about Barry's background?

[Tatar-tot]

There is something seriously wrong with the mother.  It is beyond just being a pain.  I really don’t understand the father.  Does he agree with her on discarding the older children?

58 minutes ago, IreneIssh said:

Yeah, I can't quite figure Barry out. Kim is a familiar type of narcissist for me, but he's something I haven't encountered before.

The way he downplayed his kids problems and chuckled during the conversation with Micah and Moriah says a lot about him. I wonder what he's like without the cameras around. 

Does anyone know anything about Barry's background?

I think he works for the Federal Government.