[Tired of dealing with this kid]

This thread is a year old. He is having a graduation party at the end of June but will not be receiving a diploma until he completes the work.

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

If his personal finances are protected why would he have to sell his farm?

 

It could be that he is selling to raise funds to pay back the business debts. He may not HAVE to sell, but he may be doing it anyway just to get some cash. I've heard that he and his wife are both looking for employment to pay back what they owe.

 

Or it could also be that maybe he mishandled his personal finances just as badly.

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

Which thread?  

 

It's on the Landry Academy FB group.

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

Yep. And the person who found he LLC info also found out that their farm is up for auction on 1/17/17.

 

LOL I'm following that same thread. ;-)

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

He filed for LLC in June of 2014 from what was posted earlier somewhere else.

 

 

One of the former teachers said the IRS case happened a year ago. I do hate to think bad but this is really starting to smell and look like fraud.

 

 

Oh yikes. June 2014 is about the right time for him to start getting wind of the IRS situation and for him to register as an LLC instead of losing all of his personal finances.

 

Not good.

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

If the rumors about contractor vs employee status are serious . . . and if they are being audited . . . they could easily owe HUGE back taxes & penalties. If an employer messes up status, the employer has huge liability, way beyond the back taxes themselves. Audits can go back many years . . . The catastrophic consequences of mis-categorizing an employee are one of the many very good reasons that I, as an employer, always err towards categorizing someone as an employee. You could save 10k in taxes each year for a few years by mis-categorizing someone . . . and then end up owing 100k+++ a few years later between all the taxes and penalties, let alone CPA and attorney fees.

 

I will repeat: don't mess with the IRS. They scare me, lol.

 

So, THAT's the sort of incident that I could see tipping this sort of business into catastrophic failure. 

 

Exactly. That is what a couple of the teachers are telling us happened. There is a gray area, but IMO it's just safer when it's not clear-cut to classify them as an employee. I'm actually dealing with this with a client, and I may research it more and recommend employee over contractor, just because of the "what if you get audited and lose" scenario.

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

That likely means that he will not be required to issue refunds for services not provided.

 

Just an fyi for those who have a lot of money tied up there. Unless Landry is super nice (like that restaurant owner upthread) you're probably not getting any money back.

 

Totally stinks all around.

 

 

I get the purpose of LLC's and why it's a good idea to make one if you start a business. But as a consumer, if I see "LLC" after the name of a small business I have little more caution. It stands for "limited liability company" for a reason.

 

That actually isn't what it means. Regardless of whether it was an LLC, an S-corp, a C-corp, or a sole proprietorship, he (or the business) most likely would be filing bankruptcy, which would mean the debts would be eliminated. The only one that will ever see any money is the IRS.

 

LLC simply means that he functions tax-wise as a sole proprietor, but in situations like this, his personal finances are protected from any business issues.

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

According to the state of Tennessee corporate search page, it is (was?) an LLC.  

 

Whew, at least he won't be personally liable for the debts of the business.

 

Such an awful situation.

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

I guess the part I don't understand is that this is a fairly straightforward business model.  It's pretty easy to see where you are breaking even, where you are making a profit, and where you are losing money.  You set up courses A, B, and C.  If you get enough enrollment to cover the cost of the teacher plus a bit of your overhead (which in this case would be mainly the tech to deliver the classes and the web site to sell them), then the class runs.  If you don't get enough enrollment, the class doesn't run.  If you get more enrollment than you need to cover expenses + pro-rated overhead, there's your profit.  The budget is pretty well set at the beginning of the fall, as you'll have a pretty good estimate of your overhead for the year and what you need to cover it.  I can see going out of business because you're not making enough profit to make it worth your while, but that's different than what happened here.  

 

I suppose if the IRS challenges changed the budget mid-year, that would be difficult.  But it seems like the answer would then either be to raise your prices for any new classes accordingly, to cover your teachers' salaries, or to raise the minimum number of students needed to make a class run (and perhaps raise the maximum number of students per class).  What I don't understand is how selling credits for future classes at reduced rates could help - it seems like a recipe for inevitable failure rather than a long-term solution. If you're having to pay teachers more, plus more overhead to cover IRS payments, then you will need more money per student/class in the future, not less.

 

It's a shame Mr. Landry didn't obtain better financial advice.

 

I own a bookkeeping practice. I could curl your hair with what people think are sound business practices.

 

I agree...if he had obtained better financial advice, he would not be in this mess. (And I'd bet money he was a sole proprietor, based on the lack of sound financial advice he received, so he is in deep, deep doo-doo.)

 

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

Wow- I had no idea they were selling them that cheaply. That's a massive red flag. 

 

Me either. WOW.

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

That is the Ponzi-like part of this operation. It was not a true Ponzi scheme (many people received wonderful services), but the huge discount, to encourage people to pay for services they would (hopefully) receive, at some date in the future, is very questionable.  One of the issues may be that they spent the money many customers (including some participating in this thread) had sent them in advance, deposits to be used to pay for future courses. A "Credit" in their account with the school.  Those are not "investments", those are payments sent to get a "Credit" on the books of the school, to be used to pay for future courses. Something is not correct about that

 

It's unearned revenue in accounting terms, which is a liability. It's money owed to someone. Businesses do it all the time (like with a magazine subscription), but the bookkeeping has to be done correctly in order to account for it. I'm thinking their bookkeeping was NOT done properly at all.

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

Are the teachers able to get their lists? I haven't gotten any emails, though I've "talked" to Chris L on FB.

 

Should I text them my contact info?

 

I wonder if that depends on how they used their email. I've gotten some emails from 3 of our 4 teachers that came from their personal emails. I do know that the one teacher told me she couldn't access the gradebook any longer. Sigh.

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

I'm one of the moderators; no likes for me!

 

I hope Landry Academy was incorporated.  Otherwise, Greg Landry could be in serious debt for a long time.  I didn't mention how sad I am for Greg Landry.  He may have made some bad mistakes or not!  Regardless LA was clearly so important to him.

 

Yes. I am kind of scared that they weren't, since it is evident they did not receive sound business advice regarding the employee vs. independent contractor issue. :-( OR how to handle it once they knew that they would owe the IRS. I feel so bad for them!

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

What is especially troublesome is that up till just a few days ago, you could still purchase generic credits on their site and sign up for other things. Yet I KNOW that they have known for months that this was coming (since that's the way these sort of things happen).

I'm trying very hard to think the best of the founders, but it's difficult.

ETA: Their website still says you can register for spring classes. I haven't actually TRIED to register, so I don't know if it works though.

[X - post Landry Academy Financial Problems?]

I'm a little irritated myself, as a parent with students in full-year classes, and as a friend of one of the teachers. I'm in the accounting profession and have reached out to Greg to help if I can.

[Tired of dealing with this kid]

Ftr, I've put my 16 yo in charge of HER education also. She works at a vet, is involved in theater, and has an active social life. I got tired of getting onto her all.the.time. about her school work so I told her its her responsibility to get it done and if she does not it will be her problem because she won't be able to do what she wants to do with her life, which is become a vet tech. That's worked better than all the nagging, etc.

 

This is actually how we have approached it for the most part. However, that's also why he's now having to double-time some courses in order to graduate when he wants to.

[Tired of dealing with this kid]

Is there a reason he can't do CC instead of high school at home?

 

Other than it being a whole HECK of a lot more expensive, not really. It's something I have considered offering to him. I'm not sure if he'd want to or not.

 

He has been responsive today to checking in after each assignment. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

[Tired of dealing with this kid]

If he goes to CC for any degree he will have to take the basic classes. If he can do that there's really no point in him doing it at home except for the cost. But I'd put that on him.

 

Yes, he would take the basic classes. There are only 4 in these degrees - 2 English comps, speech, and math. The rest are all film/video specific.

 

I'm talking about him maybe doing this instead of the Navy after he graduates from high school, not right now.

[Tired of dealing with this kid]

I would graduate him next month after having a talk with him and letting him know that you feel you've done everything humanly possible and that if he wants to continue homeschooling, fine, he knows whast to do. If he wants to go to CC, fine. If he wants to just keep working, fine .

 

So you'd graduate him early? :confused1:

 

Is he unmotivated at work? With chores? With other things or just school work? If its just school work it may be he just isn't an academic person. If he works hard at his job and other things,btgen maybe that's just where his life is headed. There's nothing wrong with that. Some people draw floor plans and some people build the houses.

 

Yes, we are very pro-manual labor, Dirty Jobs, Mike Rowe, etc. around here. :coolgleamA:  He does OK at work...probably because he's getting paid LOL. It's not his dream job by any means, but he does an OK job. He is very unmotivated with his chores. It is not just school work. Heck when he was in elementary school he wasn't even motivated enough to get up to go pee LOL.

 

[Tired of dealing with this kid]

Come to find out, our local CC has a whole film/video production department. I think I've gotten the wheels turning in his head a bit....

[Tired of dealing with this kid]

My thought on the film work was that making it a course might turn it from a fun activity into something that is something with deadlines and obligations that you conflict over.

 

Oh I see, gotcha. I offered to let him drop it, but he says no, he wants to still do it. It's on online course, so at least it's not me coming up with the deadlines. It would be just like if he were to go to public school and I enforced him completing that work.

[Tired of dealing with this kid]

What I meant about Three Musketeers is that he seemed to be stalled on it. If he is, switch him to something else. If he's doing that instead of all his other work, I would think he'd get further than two chapters.

 

At my house, kids sometimes say they are working on something when really they've been looking at websites, comic books or rpg manuals. Is Three Musketeers a safe answer ? Fwiw at times I've had to put kids at a more central and observable place rather than bedroom or basement, especially when on a computer.

 

Gotcha. No, he's definitely not stalled on it.

 

His assignment sheet is written out in a particular order. That particular week he had done one assignment: read 2 chapters of that book. Some weeks he will skip assignments, but that book is one of the ones he always does. He HAS read further than 2 chapters by this point...he's up to like chapter 56. But in that one week, that is ALL HE DID the entire week.

 

He does not have a computer at his desk. He does have an iPod touch, and even without internet access it is a problem, so we are taking steps to set him up for success while not removing it entirely since it has his music on it. There really isn't a place for him to do his school on the main level where I am. We've tried that and what a mess. He talks to us the whole day LOL or is interested in what we are doing for school. So the checking in after each assignment is a compromise for that.

 

[Tired of dealing with this kid]

 

My own kids often don't work well when I just hand them a schedule and check back a week or two later.  Sometimes they don't do well even if I check once a day.  We all get distracted and need something to call us back to attention.  In this situation, it sounds like you know that staying on task is an issue.  I think you need a lot more checkpoints through the week and through the day.  That might mean you give him a list for the day and say first you need to do math.  Do this lesson and bring it back to my.  You have an hour.  At the end of the hour, check the answers, give him a 10 min break and move him to the next thing.

 

This is EXACTLY what I told him would be happening this morning. Finish the assignment, bring it to me (or tell me what you read about, if there is nothing to physically produce), and I will give you the next assignment. I will set a timer based on the assignment, so I can check up on you if it's taking a bit too long. I told him it's exactly what happens in public school except the time slots are different.

 

 

Maybe Three Musketeers needs to be set aside in favor of a different novel.  Maybe the film class can be a fun activity rather than an official course.

 

I'm confused. Are you saying to set aside these things for things better suited for him? He's not struggling with Three Musketeers...he chooses to read that over doing his other assignments. And he wants to do the film course. I have given him the option to drop it, and he says he doesn't want to. Or am I misunderstanding what you're suggesting here?

 

Could he dual enroll at a CC and you count those credits towards your high school diploma too?

 

Yes, he can, and I've considered it. That gets so pricey though. But it is something I'm looking into.

 

Consider if this older kid needs to be a higher priority for a season.  

 

Yes, he is already one of my main priorities school-wise. The younger kids kind of get the shaft.

 

I haven't seen much mention of how your dh is able to back you up.  For a son at this stage of life, I think there is a lot of potential motivation behind dad saying something needs to be done.  If dh is away at work, this can be tough to arrange, but it can really help.  (Using email to issue daily assignments and report progress might be of use here, if dh can be copied on the emails.)

 

Let's just say that's a whole other can of worms entirely. Dad isn't around much. I am essentially Mom and Dad. Dad tries but doesn't have the relationship that I do, so his efforts to motivate don't really go anywhere either. Perhaps if he were here more??? Hard to say, but I can't live in "what if" zone, I have to focus on what our life IS right now and work with that.

 

On the ADD vs military enlistment - I have to agree with other people that this may be a situation where the ability to enlist should be a lower priority consideration than determining if there is a neurological problem that needs to be addressed.  There are probably several stages of assessment before you get to the point of having something prescribed.  Maybe this is worth more investigation.  

 

Perhaps. The trick is finding someone since he's so old.

 

I think that getting him to the next stage of life might take priority over getting him through a course of study that is prep for a 4 year college.  He sounds like a kid who would benefit a lot from CC.  Class sizes can be much smaller (my kids have often had fewer than 10 people in their math courses) and there is a lot of focus on student study centers and support groups.  It could be a good on ramp to more challenging academics.  I think I would hesitate to send away to college a kid who seems to struggle with self-scheduling - especially at 4 year tuition rates.  (Even paying out of pocket for CC is far less than in state at the local university here.  And we have the option of living at home and doing only a couple of classes at a time.)

 

A 4-year college hasn't really been on any of our radars for him. None of our kids really since we don't stress college unless they choose a career where it's required. We are of the mindset that college only happens if it HAS to. And we cannot pay for it regardless.

 

A thought about the military.  The military can be a great way for young men and women to mature through a structured environment where they are pushed to find new capabilities and given a lot of responsibility.  HOWEVER, it can also be a place where people find that they are stressed out by the hours and demands of their job.  The fact that they cannot just quit and go work somewhere else can be a tremendous emotional burden.  An enlistment is over when it's over.  You keep working for the workcenter supervisor you dislike until one of you transfers (could be a couple years).  There is often not much personal space.  Living conditions for junior enlisted on a ship typically consists of large berthing spaces with ranks of triple stacked racks (think of three bunk beds stacked up).  Storage is limited to the 10in deep locker under the rack and a small stand up locker (think of a half sized high school locker).  Bathrooms are something you might find in a gym with rows of sinks, shower stalls and toilets.  It can be very difficult to find time or a place to be off by yourself.  On sea duty I usually stood a 4-6 hour watch twice a day and also had my regular work to get through (ie, I would spend 8-12 hours on the bridge or at an engineering watch station, then have several more hours of paperwork or maintenance work to get through).  Time spent on requirements for qualifications were often in addition to the watchstanding and regular work.  

 

There are people in the military who use drugs, abuse alcohol, get into debt, marry people they just met, get into fights and find other ways of acting out.  Sometimes it is a reaction to stress.  Sometimes it's because they feel somewhat rootless being away from their family and home networks.  I have been to many proceedings where the captain was hearing from a sailor who had made pretty bad choices.  Some of these bad choices take years to get out from under.  Some follow that person forever.  

 

I can't begin to assess if the military is the right choice for someone based just on a few paragraphs online.  I just wanted to mention that while military service can be incredibly transformative, sometimes it is a catalyst for self-destructive behaviors.  Military service can be a clean slate and a chance to mature and develop, but may also present a lot of opportunities for stumbling in serious ways.

 

COMPLETELY agree. Oddly enough, I asked him about the bunk situation, and he said that's one of the things he likes the most. What???? The kid is almost 6 feet tall. Crazy. But yes, I have often thought of him and his weak character when it comes to the "military life." My older son is dealing with that right now. His "drug" of choice is working out, so I'm thankful, but he is given a really hard time by his peers because of his moral choices. And he struggles mightily with anger. That was present before he enlisted, but now it's just magnified. He was told by his supervisor the other day that if he were a civilian he would have been fired because of his actions when he's frustrated. So I can totally see the military doing the same thing for my 2nd son...just magnifying his character flaws. So *I* would rather not him join because of that, but the choice is still up to him.

 

However, we were just talking, and one thing he said was that he gets distracted by all sorts of movie ideas and how he'd direct this scene and that scene. I gave him some suggestions on how to effectively deal with those distractions, but then I also told him that he should really think about going into film, since it's clearly something he is passionate about.

 

I also talked with a Navy mom this morning (just happened to...had no idea she was a Navy mom), and she said that her son waited a year after high school to enlist, to make sure the Navy was really what he wanted to do. I thought that was a good idea and tossed it out to my son as well. Maybe he could take some CC classes, give it some time, and join later if he really wants to. Especially since he's not like my oldest son, who lived, ate, and breathed the Marines from the time he was 14 on. Lots of guys who graduated with my oldest from boot camp had been to college already, so it's common for sure.

 

So today my 17yo is cleaning up his workspace (another cause of the distractions) and pondering lots of things. I'm going to adjust my graduation requirements a bit based on a military or CC plan (a friend of mine and I were already talking about this with regard to her son, who still "needs" a foreign language....if he goes to CC as planned he doesn't actually NEED a foreign language credit!).

 

[Tired of dealing with this kid]

Many schools grant credit by exam, would you be willing to give him a diploma if he could demonstrate basic knowledge on an exam?

 

I struggled immensely with executive function skills throughout high school, I was perpetually in trouble for not having assignments completed on time or at all. At the same time, I was entirely capable of learning the content in my own way and did well on exams--SAT subject tests, AP's, IB's. College was better partly because grades were more exam based.

 

If he does well with exams then CLEP might even be an option for some college credits.

 

Yes, I have considered that. I think I remember seeing that one of the local high schools will grant a diploma based on ACT scores. I'll have to find that again.

 

[Tired of dealing with this kid]

Why not just have him go to community college and be done at home? CC will accept him and if he is behind, he will have to take remedial classes and it will be up to him to do what needs to be done. He's almost 18, almost an adult, in the eyes of the law. It sounds like you've tried everything and really, IMO, you need to let go and let him be responsible for his own education. He may actually surprise you and step up and do it well. Or he may fail and realize he needs to be more responsible. In either case, you can't follow him around forever, telling him what to do. You've done that and more and none of it has worked.

 

If he was mine, I'd let him work and let him decide if he wants to go to CC or try going straight into the Navy or whatever. And if he can't get into the Navy, that may actuallybe the wake up call he needs to get motivated. You can not MAKE anyone motivated. They have to find that in themselves.

 

You would do this even after junior year? He SHOULDN'T even graduate until next year. Or are you talking about doing this after next year?