Jessa, Ben and Their Brood: Making a (Diaper) Mountain out of a Mold House

[lookeyloo]

41 minutes ago, Meow Mix said:

I wasn't even homeschooled and my parents always made sure we had a comfortable quiet place to do homework and study.  We weren't squinting at a cell phone or standing at a coffee table staring at a laptop like Gideon does.  

I am old.  We all did our homework in front of the TV!! In the living room, with parents also watching too!  I think back to the olden days - and then I wonder how these kids can survive a real world if they ever need to.  

[Notabug]

5 hours ago, lookeyloo said:

I am old.  We all did our homework in front of the TV!! In the living room, with parents also watching too!  I think back to the olden days - and then I wonder how these kids can survive a real world if they ever need to.  

I'm old, too.  I remember writing an essay for English class when I was 16.  I was in the family room, sitting in a chair, the TV on and 2 or 3 siblings watching and talking.  My baby sister was on my lap and I was bouncing her because she was fussy.  The essay was on Antigone and I got an A.  Even in college and med school, I needed TV or radio for background while I studied.

I will say that we had a formal dining room and we often used the table for big school projects, etc.

[Zella]

1 hour ago, Notabug said:

Even in college and med school, I needed TV or radio for background while I studied.

Yeah I basically lived with my TV on when I was in grad school and writing my thesis. And I've always written papers to music. I have different songs and musicians for different writing moods and tasks. Nirvana and angry Kurt Cobain was always for citations. 😂 

I think everyone's study habits are different. Some people need quiet spaces. Other people need background noises. I think the problem with the Duggars is they don't even know enough about studying to know what they need. 

[Madtown]

Video of Spurg taking his spelling test. Jessa was giving him the words and he was writing them down while roller skating through the kitchen. My favorite part is when he asks if he can be done with school and she says yes. Henry was doing work as well.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Co7rP_7jmOp/

Also, Henry turned 6 this month.

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by Madtown

[Stevie Nicks]

I came here to post about that video. Completely ridiculous. Those poor kids are getting no education at all. 

[AstridM]

9 minutes ago, Madtown said:

Video of Spurg taking his spelling test. Jessa was giving him the words and he was writing them down while roller skating through the kitchen. My favorite part is when he asks if he can be done with school and she says yes. Henry was doing work as well.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Co7rP_7jmOp/

Also, Henry turned 6 this month.

 

She should be ashamed. 

[BetyBee]

Jessa is a great teacher! Combining gym class with spelling saves time 🤣 /s

Henry is a beautiful child. That's all I've got!

[Stevie Nicks]

46 minutes ago, AstridM said:

She should be ashamed. 

I think she's incapable of shame. She probably thinks she's doing great by her kids. 

[Madtown]

10 minutes ago, Stevie Nicks said:

I think she's incapable of shame. She probably thinks she's doing great by her kids. 

Knowing Jessa,  the video was an FU to the interwebs, showing that her kids have a great education. 

[Stevie Nicks]

10 minutes ago, Madtown said:

Knowing Jessa,  the video was an FU to the interwebs, showing that her kids have a great education. 

Mores the pity.. 

[beckie]

How does one write while roller skating? That must have been terribly illegible.

[jacourt]

Spell there or their?  Use a sentence jessa!

[Lady Whistleup]

I saw that video too. The kids are so feral.

[Totally]

How old is Spuege, those words seemed to be aimed at more Henry’s age 🤔

[CalicoKitty]

1 hour ago, Totally said:

How old is Spurge, those words seemed to be aimed at more Henry’s age 🤔

This is the only type of "education" she knows.  One of the howlers (I get them mixed up) was still using basic 2nd grade math flash cards when he was about 13.  Learning was never important in their household growing up.  The kids only had "school" because the state made them.  Roller skating in the house is a Duggar thing, too.  I still cringe when I remember they showed Joy roller skating in the house while carrying a glass casserole dish between the kitchen and the table. The really sad thing is that Jessa feels so superior that she will never change.  I am very disappointed in Ben.  I had hopes for him.  I feel so sorry for these kids.  No hope, no future.

Edited February 22, 2023 by CalicoKitty
typo

[Salacious Kitty]

53 minutes ago, Totally said:

How old is Spuege, those words seemed to be aimed at more Henry’s age 🤔

Spurge is 7, Henry 6.

[Lady Whistleup]

What's worse is Jesa's tone of voice during the "teaching." She sounds bored out of her mind. No excitement. No engagement.

Honestly, she;d do better buying one of those ready-made curriculums.

[MrsKravitz]

4 hours ago, jacourt said:

Spell there or their?  Use a sentence jessa!

I’m thinking he memorized the one on his spelling list. No thinking required. 

[andromeda331]

56 minutes ago, Lady Whistleup said:

What's worse is Jesa's tone of voice during the "teaching." She sounds bored out of her mind. No excitement. No engagement.

Honestly, she;d do better buying one of those ready-made curriculums.

Does she ever get tired of being bored out of her mind?

[GeeGolly]

In addition to Jessa's shit job at teaching, they are on their 3rd set of accent chairs. The first set was white, the next set was gray, now they have a pair of black ones. And their x-mas tree is still up.

[beckie]

I did finally see the video and it was cringe city. At the end, Jessa showed his paper, and said he aced it, but there was at least one that I saw in the quick flash on the screen, that was spelled wrong.

Spurge has talent skating and writing though. It was legible.

[SMama]

Did Jessa give up on the week long birthday gift opening nonsense, or did I miss Henry’s?

I don’t know why but I was initially shocked watching Feral Seewald #1 roller blading and writing. It doesn’t take much for an unfortunate face plant to occur. But Jessa would just grab her phone, record Spurgeon with a bloody face, a few teeth dangling, then do a Scamaritan ad. Just like Michelle and the orchestra pit incident. I always thought Jill was going to be Michelle 2.0, but Jessa snagged that title. 

Edited February 22, 2023 by SMama

[GeeGolly]

Its sad to hear Spurge ask to be done with school. My kids loved school at that age, as did I.

[oliviabenson]

Henry is a beautiful child. Shame he is being raised by lazy Jessa.

[Jynnan tonnix]

11 hours ago, MrsKravitz said:

I’m thinking he memorized the one on his spelling list. No thinking required. 

And all anyone really needs is one of them anyway... If you stick to a single spelling, everyone will still know what you mean, and at least it will be spelled correctly a third of the time.

I swear it seems as though way too many people seem to use that logic.

[Meow Mix]

Henry's speech still seems to be an issue.  That video was just sad.  Of course the leghumpers were all over what a brilliant teacher Jessa is.

[Lady Whistleup]

I wonder why Jessa doesn't buy a ready-made curriculum. There are homeschooling curricula that follow a sequence. Jessa clearly has zero talent for teaching.

[Zella]

7 minutes ago, Lady Whistleup said:

I wonder why Jessa doesn't buy a ready-made curriculum. There are homeschooling curricula that follow a sequence. Jessa clearly has zero talent for teaching.

Because it would be an admission that she doesn't know what she's doing. 

[AstridM]

4 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Its sad to hear Spurge ask to be done with school. My kids loved school at that age, as did I.

Same. Spurge probably would love regular school, too. 

[beckie]

56 minutes ago, AstridM said:

Same. Spurge probably would love regular school, too. 

I don't think Spurge would love regular school. Can't ask the teacher if school can be done for the day.

Henry, on the other hand, I think would not only love, but absolutely thrive in regular school.

[babyhouseman]

17 hours ago, Lady Whistleup said:

What's worse is Jesa's tone of voice during the "teaching." She sounds bored out of her mind. No excitement. No engagement.

Yeah even Michelle has a very expressive face even if it's goofy. Jessa's always had a dry, boring delivery. 

[CalicoKitty]

Did we ever find out why Spurge was wearing a neck brace and in an ambulance?  I'm very surprised Jessa didn't post some kind of follow up--or maybe I missed it.

[Joan of Argh]

6 minutes ago, CalicoKitty said:

Did we ever find out why Spurge was wearing a neck brace and in an ambulance?

Maybe he 💥CRASHED💥 roller skating while doing his schoolwork on a clip board.. 

[Salacious Kitty]

1 minute ago, Joan of Argh said:

Maybe he 💥CRASHED💥 roller skating while doing his schoolwork on a clip board.. 

So, she combined PE with spelling? I guess that's one way of getting school done in under an hour. 🙄

[Joan of Argh]

Way to go Jessa!!!

she’s teaching her children that schoolwork is just a boring nuisance that you have to do until you can go back to the important stuff like goofing around and playing.

She’s teaching those kids that education has absolutely no value and it’s something you tolerate until you don’t have to tolerate it anymore…. She should be ashamed of that video but she isn’t because she’s poorly educated and doesn’t realize how stupid it makes her look.

A dumb Duggar raising another generation of dumb Duggars.   

[lascuba]

On 2/22/2023 at 12:54 AM, andromeda331 said:

Does she ever get tired of being bored out of her mind?

I think she's so used to being bored that she doesn't even know that she IS bored.

17 hours ago, babyhouseman said:

Yeah even Michelle has a very expressive face even if it's goofy. Jessa's always had a dry, boring delivery. 

IIRC, Jessa was in charge of the homeschooling from when Josie was born up until she got engaged. Like so much of that cult's gender roles, homeschooling is just a poor fit for Jessa's personality. She's probably mentally done with it all, but keeping with her habit of cutting off one body part after another to spite the world, she'll never do the logical thing and put her kids in school.

I'm usually a defender of Jessa's dry delivery and mostly expressionless face--I much prefer that to Michelle and Jill's exaggerated perkiness, which I find off-putting.  But that in combination with Spurgeon rollerblading while taking a spellling test (WTF?!)...she can't make it anymore obvious how disinterested she is. Which would be fine if this were about almost anything other than her kids' educations.

[Suzn]

37 minutes ago, lascuba said:

I'm usually a defender of Jessa's dry delivery and mostly expressionless face--I much prefer that to Michelle and Jill's exaggerated perkiness, which I find off-putting.  But that in combination with Spurgeon rollerblading while taking a spellling test (WTF?!)...she can't make it anymore obvious how disinterested she is. Which would be fine if this were about almost anything other than her kids' educations.

I agree with that!  The exaggerated expressions are annoying.

The kids appear to be bright and it is such a shame that their intellects with be stunted.  They will be educated in the most minimal way possible and though people can continue to learn at any age, these early years are being squandered and can never be recovered.  What future does Jessa see for her children?

[Lady Whistleup]

8 minutes ago, Suzn said:

I agree with that!  The exaggerated expressions are annoying.

The kids appear to be bright and it is such a shame that their intellects with be stunted.  They will be educated in the most minimal way possible and though people can continue to learn at any age, these early years are being squandered and can never be recovered.  What future does Jessa see for her children?

I don't think Jessa is thinking towards her kids' futures in a deep way. I think she assumed Ivy and Fern will get married and be their headships' problems, while Spurge and Henry can find some sort of manual labor job. But mostly, it seems to be all about "owning the haters" with Jessa.

[Zella]

55 minutes ago, lascuba said:

Jessa was in charge of the homeschooling from when Josie was born up until she got engaged. Like so much of that cult's gender roles, homeschooling is just a poor fit for Jessa's personality.

Yeah Jessa was both the "organizer" and the homeschool teacher as her jurisdiction.

My theory for a while has been that her enforcer-type personality is why she was assigned those jobs, and it says a lot about how the Duggars view both being organized and education for them to associate either task with needing that personality type. And Jessa has shown herself to not be particularly great at either one. It was a real disservice to her and her siblings for her to be put in that position, but Jessa of course just doubles-down and does a disservice to her own children rather than admit she's not good at it or that her parents were wrong. 

[SMama]

The Feral Seewalds have a father who seemed to value education enough to earn a four year degree. Jessa is lazy, selfish, and willfully ignorant. Time for Ben to step up and be a father. Too bad he is content being JB’s and Jessa’s bitch. Ben is an abject failure as a man and father. Great job, Pa Seewald!

[ozziemom]

33 minutes ago, SMama said:

The Feral Seewalds have a father who seemed to value education enough to earn a four year degree. Jessa is lazy, selfish, and willfully ignorant. Time for Ben to step up and be a father. Too bad he is content being JB’s and Jessa’s bitch. Ben is an abject failure as a man and father. Great job, Pa Seewald!

Bin was also the head teacher at TTH for awhile too. Not sure what he does all day that prevents him from doing at least some schooling. He probably reads the kids some Bible verses and considers that adequate. Jessa doesn’t really know any better but he certainly should so Big Fail on his part.

[lookeyloo]

1 hour ago, ozziemom said:

Bin was also the head teacher at TTH for awhile too. Not sure what he does all day that prevents him from doing at least some schooling. He probably reads the kids some Bible verses and considers that adequate. Jessa doesn’t really know any better but he certainly should so Big Fail on his part.

do we know that he doesn't do any of this?  We saw a video of a couple minutes.  I'm not touting her skills at all - I think they are non existent.  But, what happens the other hours of the day?

[lascuba]

22 minutes ago, lookeyloo said:

do we know that he doesn't do any of this?  We saw a video of a couple minutes.  I'm not touting her skills at all - I think they are non existent.  But, what happens the other hours of the day?

It's certainly possible that the pictures/videos Jessa posts aren't reflective of their normal homeschooling activities. It wouldn't be the first time she posts something staged thinking it would be perceived as cute/quirky/relatable only to be quickly disabused of that notion.

 

[ozziemom]

3 hours ago, lookeyloo said:

do we know that he doesn't do any of this?  We saw a video of a couple minutes.  I'm not touting her skills at all - I think they are non existent.  But, what happens the other hours of the day?

I guess I was thinking we shouldn’t put all the blame on Jessa for what seems to be chaotic homeschooling. But you’re right, for all we know the Seewalds spend time doing things other than roller skating during a spelling test. Jessa is an infrequent poster, who knows what goes on the rest of the time.

[Zella]

Jessa gets dragged a lot, but Ben is equally responsible for what a shitshow that household seems to be. Even if he's the one who handles the schooling and is more competent at it than her, he's also the one who's apparently okay with living within the vicinity of Diaper Mountain, among other crimes against decency. 

I wouldn't want to be in any of these people's houses, but the idea of living under the roof with Jessa and Ben seems particularly sad and miserable. And that's on both of them. 

[Totally]

Did Bin get his degree from a Fundie bible school or an actual recognised accredited school

[Salacious Kitty]

9 hours ago, Totally said:

Did Bin get his degree from a Fundie bible school or an actual recognised accredited school

He got an online degree through Moody. I believe they're accredited. 

[crazy8s]

On 2/23/2023 at 11:36 AM, Zella said:

Yeah Jessa was both the "organizer" and the homeschool teacher as her jurisdiction.

My theory for a while has been that her enforcer-type personality is why she was assigned those jobs, and it says a lot about how the Duggars view both being organized and education for them to associate either task with needing that personality type.

There is an old video of Jessa talking about being the organizer packing person and she states she took over that job because she didn't like how her family packed or didn't like what they packed. something like that.

Maybe there is even less thought to jurisdiction assignments than we have seen. Maybe anyone could just take over anything they didn't think was done to their liking. Of course it would be only the older girls thinking of such things.

[lookeyloo]

13 minutes ago, crazy8s said:

There is an old video of Jessa talking about being the organizer packing person and she states she took over that job because she didn't like how her family packed or didn't like what they packed. something like that.

Maybe there is even less thought to jurisdiction assignments than we have seen. Maybe anyone could just take over anything they didn't think was done to their liking. Of course it would be only the older girls thinking of such things.

Also packing takes time and is dealing with clothes and suitcases and not other people. Or their children as in taking care of babies

[ginger90]

So, she’s pregnant.