Alyssa & John 5: She's Raising Fashion Conscious Girls

[lizzybee]

Adding as I've gone to watch this youtube video of their DITL that the Webster's poor carseat safety drives me crazy. I'm not usually one to nitpick other parents, but goodness, just tighten the straps and pull up the chest clips PLEASE. That's soooo dangerous* and this is the second video of them in the car I've seen them not care about this. The other one was when Alyssa went to buy running shoes. 

*Chest clips too low can do damage to a child in an accident. This paired with too loose straps can cause them to be thrown from the vehicle in an accident. 

Edited March 9, 2020 by lizzybee

[Bazinga]

2 hours ago, lizzybee said:

I didn’t homeschool but I struggled in math and science and ended up doing summer school a couple of years in a row. Summer school was just a work book with lessons and exercises and when I felt ready I would take a test. I just did that until I ultimately passed everything and completed the class and gained the required credit to graduate. When I long term subbed I did so at an alternative school within the public school system. That was their entire school curriculum. I did more tutoring style work and administered their tests. It wasn’t any more exciting than that and I’m not confident they got anything much out of it either. Any student in the county could opt to go there and do school that way though and I can definitely see the appeal. Once you did all the work you graduated, so when you were done with high school depended on you alone. 
 

 

@lizzybee I cropped most of your post just to make my quote smaller. All that to say, there is a lot of truth in what you say. I am a former public school teacher. So many kids did not fit the typically PS model in the classroom. Now, I realize not all parents have the means or ability to homeschool their children. So no shame in that. In fact, it should be put back on the PS to do a better job with students. In my school, we were hounded to "close the gap". I was told (and I am not exaggerating this), to have any child meeting benchmark assessments, just read in the corner with a book. I was to only meet with those who were struggling to catch them up. While yes, I absolutely agree to give those who are struggling extra help and the best support I could give them, why do those who were doing well not given a proper education? We should be meeting the needs of all our students regardless of how well they are doing. In addition, not all kids are going to learn by the textbook. That is why they send us to workshops to learn different teaching strategies. I remember my school district spending THOUSANDS on this new teaching strategy. All classrooms were outfitted with the latest "things" to help with this strategy. We did it one year (just one), before the principal tossed everything because he didn't see any difference in test scores the following year.

To back track though, homeschooling isn't always the answer either. I'm not trying to bash the public school system. I am well aware that not all PS schools are worthless. Mine just was not a good fit for my family, in my eyes. If I were to move to a different school district, we might be having a different conversation. But like many have mentioned before, homeschooling is a serious business. We are educating our children for their future. It's important to treat it like a legitimate job and take it seriously. I hope for Allie's sake, Alyssa is taking it seriously. She's in preschool correct? This is just MY belief, but children 5 and under should be exploring in a hands on way. Reading lots of books with parents. Learning to manipulate objects and refining their motor skills. I know absolutely nothing about Allie's curriculum, but if it's as bad as others make it sound, I hope Alyssa really thinks about changing things up as Allie gets older. I eventually learned that all-in-one boxed curriculum doesn't really work, because they make it one size fits all. Every subject I teach, comes from different curriculum. Maybe she is just too unsure of herself right now to do that. Anyways, giant vent over.

[nausicaa]

On 3/7/2020 at 6:52 AM, formergothardite said:

Almost everyone I've talked to who has used that curriculum ended up having issues in the long run because little children don't learn by sitting and staring at a teacher on a screen who doesn't interact with them and doesn't pick up when they aren't understanding.

I fell down the Abeka rabbit hole one night and was surprised at just how flat and disengaged those videos are. I thought it was like a video game with questions and activities. But you just watch a teacher teaching other students? That's not enough in younger grades when engagement is so important.

Also weird that these "homeschooling is the only way" types are just using a mimeographed version of classroom teaching. Do they not see the hypocrisy in this?

[nausicaa]

2 hours ago, lizzybee said:

It wouldn’t be right to write Alyssa’s homeschooling off over one example of how she’s doing things, so I’ll withhold total judgment, but for now I’ll just say that I’m not encouraged by her methods here for the kids’ education long term. 

Youre much nicer than me. I'm completely fine with judging Alyssa's homeschooling as de facto shitty. She has no background in education. She doesn't even have an associate's degree. She was so uninterested in academic pursuits, she only took one college class and then dropped out cause like, weddings y'all!!!

She didn't know the freaking CARDINAL DIRECTIONS and spelled medieval as "Mid-Evil." 

She's a complete frigging idiot and would likely struggle in an average public school's seventh grade honors program. It would be laughable that she thinks she's in any way qualified to homeschool if it weren't so tragic. The whole thing underlines how they little her social group thinks of education, especially for girls.

[formergothardite]

21 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

But you just watch a teacher teaching other students? That's not enough in younger grades when engagement is so important.

Yes! Poor Allie is just being propped in front of a screen with no interaction to watch a class, not actually be in a class. There is literally no way this is developmentally appropriate for preschoolers and young elementary age children. 

 

11 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

. I'm completely fine with judging Alyssa's homeschooling as de facto shitty.

Exactly. The fact that she won't even put forth the effort to do educational preschool activities with her child and sticks to putting her in front of a mindlessly boring screen shows how much she values education. In the video "education" seems to be her ignoring her kids while she does her make up and they look bored while staring at a screen. I will judge the hell out of that. 

[kmachete14]

The crazy thing is most people with kids in preschool/ kindergarten (who have the resources) send their kids to school AND take their kids to museums, do crafts, have workbooks, read to them, go to the zoo, watch educational movies, give them learning games on apps, do puzzles, paint, etc. Things that are taught at school (academic and social) are most likely reinforced at home, on the weekends, and during the summer.

These kids only get half the equation. 

Also, Allie is going to burn out quickly if already at her age she associates learning and "Doing school" with sitting still and watching a woman talk on TV. 

[formergothardite]

This is a sample of what Allie is watching. Abeka records real classrooms and the kids just sit and watch the class of children and their teacher. 

Spoiler

 

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

9 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

This is a sample of what Allie is watching. Abeka records real classrooms and the kids just sit and watch the class of children and their teacher. 

  Hide contents

 

 

Wow - that's worse than I'd imagined.

I get the concept of homeschooling if you're going to tailor how you teach to the needs of your child, but this makes no sense to me since it's even less interactive than actual school, not more.  

[nausicaa]

26 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

Wow - that's worse than I'd imagined.

I get the concept of homeschooling if you're going to tailor how you teach to the needs of your child, but this makes no sense to me since it's even less interactive than actual school, not more.  

I was really surprised when I finally saw the videos. There's an Abeka pitch video on YouTube selling the program to parents, and the big selling point seems to be moms saying they could just send each kid to a TV and then announcing "I had so much time for housework!" One mother even goes on and on about getting to have her morning coffee in peace unlike when she did other homeschooling programs. So the hands off aspect seems to be a feature, not a bug. 

I am not against homeschooling, if, as you say, you are tailoring (well thought of) curriculum and doing hands on reinforcement activities, especially with very young children. But this just looks like a cop out for people who had more children than they could handle.

[SassyPants]

I don’t think their daughters’ education is particularly important to the Websters.

Does anyone know if Chad Paine went to school? I always found it odd that a medical doctor would be anti solid education. Also Dan Webster must have some higher level education to be in the US HoR.
 

Why do all these people seem to want to handicap their kids ? 

[AussieKrissy]

6 hours ago, nausicaa said:

Youre much nicer than me. I'm completely fine with judging Alyssa's homeschooling as de facto shitty. She has no background in education. She doesn't even have an associate's degree. She was so uninterested in academic pursuits, she only took one college class and then dropped out cause like, weddings y'all!!!

She didn't know the freaking CARDINAL DIRECTIONS and spelled medieval as "Mid-Evil." 

She's a complete frigging idiot and would likely struggle in an average public school's seventh grade honors program. It would be laughable that she thinks she's in any way qualified to homeschool if it weren't so tragic. The whole thing underlines how they little her social group thinks of education, especially for girls.

ba ha ha I had to google that. I do know them, didn't know they were called that. I was expecting popes and priests to pop up. Goes to show I do learn something new everyday on FJ

edited to add in Australia we (lol some people) call them Never Eat Soggy Weetbix well that's how I remember them. I am pretty sure I was taught that 

Edited March 9, 2020 by AussieKrissy

[formergothardite]

1 hour ago, nausicaa said:

So the hands off aspect seems to be a feature, not a bug. 

I think I watched the same pitch video and it is awful how the big thing seems to be that you can basically ignore you children. Poor Allie is in preschool, yet she is watching boring videos and doing worksheets. It is just sad to think that is her preschool education. It seems like Alyssa is putting no effort at all into her children's education. 

[AussieKrissy]

12 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

I think I watched the same pitch video and it is awful how the big thing seems to be that you can basically ignore you children. Poor Allie is in preschool, yet she is watching boring videos and doing worksheets. It is just sad to think that is her preschool education. It seems like Alyssa is putting no effort at all into her children's education. 

Agreed, my daugter is currently in preschool and comes home everyday covered in paint and glue and sand...She has a blast, she is a better and more educated (than I could ever do) child because of preschool/daycare. I teach her about the harry, marvel and many other universes. Preschool teach her colours, numbers and letters and the rest lol. 

[nausicaa]

2 hours ago, SassyPants said:

Does anyone know if Chad Paine went to school? I always found it odd that a medical doctor would be anti solid education. Also Dan Webster must have some higher level education to be in the US HoR.

Pretty sure Chad never went to an accredited college. Fundie Wiki says he went to a private college and got an associate's in youth ministry? 

It looks like Daniel Webster has a B.S. in engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Edited March 9, 2020 by nausicaa

[lizzybee]

50 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

Pretty sure Chad never went to an accredited college. Fundie Wiki says he went to a private college and got an associate's in youth ministry? 

It looks like Webster has a B.S. in engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Alyssa’s husband? Georgia Tech? I don’t believe that for a hot minute. 

[nausicaa]

Just now, lizzybee said:

Alyssa’s husband? Georgia Tech? I don’t believe that for a hot minute. 

Sorry, I meant Daniel Webster, her father-in-law. I edited my post!

[lizzybee]

Yeah Tech is difficult to get into, requires a lot of effort to succeed, and does a great job of helping their graduates transition right into careers. I have several friends that have graduated from there and every one of them is very successful. It’s a shame that Dan was capable of an engineering degree from GT and didn’t want the same thing or similar for his own children. This cult is so weird. Instead of give them better than we had, it always seems like the opposite. 

[Seculardaisy]

Kelly Jo did a Q & A on homeschool for the show in an early season and stated that she used Abeka videos too and that they were great so that she could care for the other kids and homeschool. So Alyssa is repeating what she learned from her mom.

[grandmadugger]

7 hours ago, SassyPants said:

I don’t think their daughters’ education is particularly important to the Websters.

Does anyone know if Chad Paine went to school? I always found it odd that a medical doctor would be anti solid education. Also Dan Webster must have some higher level education to be in the US HoR.
 

Why do all these people seem to want to handicap their kids ? 

John would have had to have some vo-tech classes if he’s actually working on equipment. You have to be able to pass the EPA safe handling class of refrigerants.  If he’s just office, sheet metal bender, installation, or filter changer he wouldn’t need the classes. 

[neuroticcat]

I suppose abeka videos are a half step up from the Maxwell’s textbook-learning-only approach. Both are sad and depressing...strips away all the benefits of creative individualized homeschooling in my opinion. 

[marmalade]

She just posted a YouTube video about how she homeschools. Allie is using Abeka. I know it gets mixed reviews, so I would love to hear what y'all think. 

[Audrey2]

Oh yikes, that Abeka video! I only made it through the first two teacher examples and all I could think of was fundie teachers with fundie hair!

[formergothardite]

5 hours ago, marmalade said:

She just posted a YouTube video about how she homeschools. Allie is using Abeka. I know it gets mixed reviews, so I would love to hear what y'all think. 

Well, like the other parents who pitch for it claim, it seems the big selling point is how Alyssa can basically ignore Allie. It just makes me so sad that since 3 1/2 she has been made to believe that learning is watching those mindless videos and filling in worksheets. While Allie was four and should have been doing fun preschool activities she was having to learn cursive while watching a preschool classroom. 

Alyssa starts her children's "education" at 1 1/2 by making them watch educational dvds. At least the tiny ones get videos that aren't as boring as poor Allie, but it is just a matter of time until they move to the boring Abeka ones. 

My impression is that Alyssa hasn't one clue about what is developmentally appropriate for children and her main goal is to make things easy for herself. I don't homeschool, but I did stay at home with my kids when they were preschool age and we did all sorts of crafts and learning without making them do boring worksheets and sit and watch a classroom instead of experience one. 

This is another video that shows what the first grade class will be like. It is just bizarre that kids are supposed to learn by just watching this. 

Spoiler

 

 

5 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

Oh yikes, that Abeka video! I only made it through the first two teacher examples and all I could think of was fundie teachers with fundie hair!

I don't think they update the videos that often so these were probably filmed back in the 90's. 

Edited March 10, 2020 by formergothardite

[justmy2cents]

How sad that a child is watching other kids in a classroom with a teacher and can’t participate. From the outside looking in. How very isolating. Having visited my daughter’s classroom from kindergarten on I can see that kids get so much from interpersonal communication. They need to interact with others and feedback from a teacher. Shame on Alyssa.

[AussieKrissy]

2 hours ago, formergothardite said:

Well, like the other parents who pitch for it claim, it seems the big selling point is how Alyssa can basically ignore Allie. It just makes me so sad that since 3 1/2 she has been made to believe that learning is watching those mindless videos and filling in worksheets. While Allie was four and should have been doing fun preschool activities she was having to learn cursive while watching a preschool classroom. 

Alyssa starts her children's "education" at 1 1/2 by making them watch educational dvds. At least the tiny ones get videos that aren't as boring as poor Allie, but it is just a matter of time until they move to the boring Abeka ones. 

My impression is that Alyssa hasn't one clue about what is developmentally appropriate for children and her main goal is to make things easy for herself. I don't homeschool, but I did stay at home with my kids when they were preschool age and we did all sorts of crafts and learning without making them do boring worksheets and sit and watch a classroom instead of experience one. 

This is another video that shows what the first grade class will be like. It is just bizarre that kids are supposed to learn by just watching this. 

  Hide contents

 

 

I don't think they update the videos that often so these were probably filmed back in the 90's. 

Holy fuck Jesus Christ on roller skates. What the fuck did I watch????? It was like a bloody car crash I could not look away. I can’t believe it is real. I kept waiting for some Saturday night live people to pop out. That shot is mind numbing and creepy. Those kids in the class seem to be stepford kids.....