Wife Swap? - Page 2

[aaronsmom]

Originally Posted by Cherie2

Do they even get any money on Wife Swap?

Yeah, but I believe it's only $20,000 as opposed to $50,000 on Trading Spouses.

[candipooh]

Bumping this. I couldn't find another wife swap thread.

I usually don't watch this show but a fellow homeschool mom that I know is going to be on today!!

[jenners26]

It just aired here...I'm curious to know what she thought of it. As an unschooler, it was difficult to watch and realize how harshly some people actually judge the way we're raising our kids.

What did you think of it?

[umsami]

It seems like these shows love to do the unschooler vs. the super duper scheduled families. The unschoolers always come off looking bad IMHO. Personally, I thought the unschooling Mom's time machine looked very cool and fun.

[Theoretica]

DH and I actually applied to be on Trading Spouses, it was an interesting experience. We backed out ultimately because we were watching the shows and how they really encouraged pitting everyone against one another, and how the 'new mom' seemed to be the antithesis of the values of the more balanced family. We asked time and again if there were boundaries and lines that could be guaranteed not to be crossed (baiting/abusive language at children, physical contact/encouragement of physical or punitive punishment etc) and they said no...and no and no and no. I couldn't handle knowing my kids might get treated that way, and the waivers etc that have to get signed literally left me with nightmares. I mean, I'm not perfect or anything, and I'd LOVE to share our family values with people who have their priorities a little wacked, but the opposite of me is going to be pretty danged controlling, pretty micromanaging, and pretty unbalanced. But we were inches from sealing the deal before we said no.

But, apparently we were 'fascinating' to the production team. We have a very unique family makeup, we homeschool, we cosleep, we don't vax, we live in the middle of conservative fundie ville, so it's interesting I guess! The money was appealing, that's for sure!

I'm glad we didn't do it though...ultimately I just couldn't live with myself over that one. Don't know how J&K and the others do it every week...

[candipooh]

Originally Posted by umsami

It seems like these shows love to do the unschooler vs. the super duper scheduled families. The unschoolers always come off looking bad IMHO. Personally, I thought the unschooling Mom's time machine looked very cool and fun.

Yes the time machine was very cool, she has a homeschool class that my kids went to a few times and last years them was bassed on the phone booth time machine. The kids LOVED IT!!!

I will post the link to her blog about the show. It is good to hear her opion about it. (her blog link is on the other computer)

[candipooh]

oh and I haven't watched the show yet, it hasn't aired yet in CA.

I am not sure that I want to. I really like Heather a lot and it might tick me off to see her treated that way.

[AnnR33]

I didn't watch the whole thing but it made the unschoolers out to look bad. The other "organized" mom even said they homeschool so "the parents can be lazy and self absorbed!" (or something close to that) which was so infuriating.

The organized mom asked the 10 yr old homeschooler to write 2 paragraphs on his pets and he only wrote a sentence with what looked like poor handwriting. The mom freaked out at the dad that the son wasn't going to be able to get a job, going to fail, etc.
I'm just waiting for someone to ask my 10 yr old to write 2 paragraphs on something so they can "assess" him.

[*Erin*]

i love wife swap! they rerun them during the day on CMT and on lifetime. i caught one the other day-this family-the Haigwoods. to say i was appalled would be gentle. wow. the funk in that house, the raw meat ("high meat" in a jar-AHHHH!!!) everywhere, the isolated, wild-eyed kids having to work 10 hr days. they say they unschool, too.

it would be nice to see a family unschooling or homeschooling and doing a nice job with it instead of the families i've seen where it looks like they are too lazy or too preoccupied with other things to bother. i havent seen the time machine mama one.

[candipooh]

Ok here is what Heather had to say about it.

http://celebrationeducation.com/wifeswap/


It was frustrating to watch. I really wish they would have showed her at her class that she teaches to other homeschoolers. She even teaches homeschool parents during her class. While the kids are off doing an activity the parents get a little lesson on education. She focuses a lot of the Thomas Jefferson Education model of education. They just made her out to be a "whatever" type of person. She really knows about education, she has studied hard and knows a lot. But the show wanted to focus on the lazy homeschooler who doesn't really teach at all mom.

And at the end when the other fam was eating ice cream and made fun of her "now how can we turn this into a learning experience like Heather?" and then they laughed like it was the most rediculace thing in the world. I wanted to throw things.

And funny how they ignored the older teen boy except to show his funny dance. They didn't want the audience to know how successful he is.

I have never met her husband so it was interesting to see him. I really do wish he would have taken the dang class.

I also wish that he would have touched on the point that being what the other mom views as "successful" is not every ones view of successful. Success doesn't ONLY come from making over $200,000 a year and having a maid. Being happy and comfortable in your life is success. There is many different ways to reach that success. Sure her daughters might grow up to be a doctor or lawyer but will they be happy?

[CheapPearls]

I watched last night and was cringing the entire time. I really hope they were just making the homeschooling mom out to be super extreme. The whole thing about not believe in gravity was shocking as well as the kids seemly lack of knowledge in a lot of ideas. I really love the idea of unschooling (wouldn't work for my family but I can still romanticize about it) but it being reality TV they were going to take only the extreme parts to show which just reinforces the society's image of a bunch of crazy families that are screwing up their children. I wish they would do a follow up on the families reactions to how the show was put together.

The time machine did look really neat idea though but I don't quite understand how they do it. It was like they pick up the phone say the name of whoever they are supposed to be talking to them find the country they are from. Of course they shortened it for time so they never really explained it. I would love to hear more about that!

One thing that surprised me was that the teacher mom was allowing the dance lessons to get in the way of school work. Of course the daughters still worked their butts off to have an A/B average but still, her being that focused on school they didn't seem to have much time to do their homework. I wonder if their grades dropped if she would have had them drop dance or just stay up later to get it done.

DH was so angry at both dads. At the homeschooling one for being so inflexible in his dislike on everything "conformist" that he was failing to see the bigger picture and the police dad for being to rigid. He told me that if he ever gets like that to smack him.

I wish they would have focused more on why homeschooling is better rather then bash the crap out of public schools. But then it is "reality" TV.

[AnalogWife]

I couldn't believe how the editors obviously tried to make the unschool kids out to be really unplugged and uneducated. Nice.

[mandib50]

they made the unschoolers seem very ignorant and well ... dumb. and i wish they would have showed the older son too, strange how they completely excluded him.

[zoebird]

when i watched the show, i noted that the way that it was edited demonstrated what i would consider "not-so-great unschooling." but, i didn't know the family OR the kids, and so i don't know whether or not this was the whole picture, and i figured it wasn't because it is tv.

i did notice, btw, that the unschooled kids had a great sense of humor. that demonstrates a great deal of self-possession! i think that there were many times--such as "is this france? is this france?" when demonstrating the time-machine moment (which, btw, is so Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, one of my favs! LOL)--when the boys were totally pulling the "new mom's" leg to get a rise out of her, but edited as if he didn't know. seemed to me, by his tone, that that kid KNEW exactly what he was doing AND what she was doing.

i also found it sad that people would make fun. i mean, while sitting together eating ice cream, there is SO MUCH one can learn. first, one can learn about--you know--their family! they can learn how to relate and communicate. they can also learn a lot about nutrition, about how ice cream is made (i learned this as Penn State. there are SERIOUS classes about making ice cream! LOL), and a variety of other things (even about polymers and plastics for the containers and spoons! duh.

well, i'm going to read her blog now.

oh, and i didn't think that the 'scheduled' mom was a bad person either. i liked her. she was passionate (as was the unschooling mom). she didn't understand the philosophy, so she couldn't get into it. i get that. and, she seemed very driven to me.

but like a PP mentioned, when she stated about her kids being drs while the unschoolers wouldn't be able to hold down jobs--i kinda thought that was ironic.

one of my former high school friends is a Doctor who is currently seeking treatment for drug addiction. she was driven from high school (like those girls), and started taking uppers in high shcool to stay up and study. now she's a doctor, but she can't use her education (lost her license) and she's in treatment. another high school friend never leaves her house because of her mental condition. she was also pushed, and had a break in college. hasn't left her family's home since and can't work from home.

so, you know, just because you get good grades and might become a doctor doesn't mean that you're successful or happy.

it's about meaningful work--meaningful to the person doing it!

[mandib50]

Originally Posted by candipooh

Ok here is what Heather had to say about it.

http://celebrationeducation.com/wifeswap/

her blog was great, thanks for sharing!

[Porcelain Interior]

I watched it, these shows are so over the top.

I think they made the unschoolers look pretty ineffective. Their house was a very unkempt and I think it speaks volumes that the mom spends avg of 5 hrs online a day for seemingly no purpose (though this came from the oldest son, true or not who knows.) and the dad seemed down/depressed and afraid of life. I thought the mom came off intelligent, but aimless, but that could have been editting. I also think she looks like a young Hillary Clinton, and it was bugging me the entire show because I was thinking "man she looks familiar!"

The uber organized/busy family had some great intentions, but I think were way too driven. Driving for hours to attend 4-5 hours of dance class? For what? You can't exactly make a living doing that- which seemed to be a major motivation for mom. At least not very many can. Seemed like a huge waste of time and really stressful. I didn't like their major focus on looks, but again balance? Where is it. Seems lost on every household they put on these shows. Guess that's the point.

Anyway I am worred about the unschooling dad, I think he's extremely depressed. I think the cop dad is massively checked out.

The moms I liked.

[zoebird]

actually, lots of kinds of living can be made from dance.

a lot of people teach and own dance studios; some run conservatories as teachers, art directors, business aspects, choreographers, etc etc etc; some teach in schools (private and public); some are professional dancers; etc etc etc.

there are a number of BFA and MFA programs across the country for dancers to learn the skills that they need to do something with dance. a friend's daughter is doing a dance-education double major and will graduate with a job in a school district.

so even dance can make money.

[mommy68]

Originally Posted by *Erin*

i love wife swap! they rerun them during the day on CMT and on lifetime. i caught one the other day-this family-the Haigwoods. to say i was appalled would be gentle. wow. the funk in that house, the raw meat ("high meat" in a jar-AHHHH!!!) everywhere, the isolated, wild-eyed kids having to work 10 hr days. they say they unschool, too.

Just reading the description of this family made me heave. ugh!!! raw meat and spoiled cheese?