Wife Swap - gives homeschoolers a bad name!

[Peela]

I never watch this show but happened to catch it the other day. A homeschool mum was swapping with a high powered workaholic coloured woman...it was very interesting- I am sure many of you have seen it- but wow, I agree with my son that it gives homeschoolers a bad name. The homeschool mum was totally overprotective, her kids had never had friends over, and she was obsessed with medieval culture- probably an SCA fanatic (we are in the SCA here and we see a lot of fanaticism). The kids seemed ok but couldn't use a cell phone.

The other mum put them in school- where they actually made friends and did ok.

The coloured womens kids were taken out of school and homeschooled- dressed in medieval costumes, taught dance and how to make leather shoes. No academics. (I guess it was only a 2 week show and she was trying to show them something- but the dad was freaking). She was so cutesey about it all. Ugh. Out of touch, it seemed to me. Or rather, "touched".

 

The outcome was that the homeschool mum realised she needed to be less scared of the big wide world...and allow her kids to have friends over....and the other family acknowledged that they really needed to spend more time together as a family, which was worthwhile. Even the teenage kids wanted more time with their mum- and she didn't think they would.

 

Interesting. Lots of frama and conflict. But I was not impressed with the homeschool mum as a public example!

 

I will now take my head out of reality TV, and go back to my normal non reality TV, which is how I like my TV.

[DarcyB]

I think it's the whole point of that show.....let's give all families a bad name because we're going to pick the most whacked families to showcase. Not a fan of the show at all.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I think it's the whole point of that show.....let's give all families a bad name because we're going to pick the most whacked families to showcase. Not a fan of the show at all.

:iagree::iagree:

[Hunter's Moon]

They pick the most EXTREME and OPPOSITE families in every single case.

 

Makes for better watching.

[hsmom3tn]

I've seen homeschooling families on that show many times and they are always extreme cases chosen for shock value.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I've seen homeschooling families on that show many times and they are always extreme cases chosen for shock value.

 

That show is ridiculous, but like a train wreck, I sometimes can't stop watching it when I flip through the channels. The homeschooling families on it are all really insular and don't seem to do any actual schooling, even when they claim to be unschoolers.

[radiobrain]

I've seen homeschooling families on that show many times and they are always extreme cases chosen for shock value.

 

:iagree:

 

Every time I have seen the show it seems to have a homeschooler.

 

The last one I saw was with a "mountain family" who were into living like the 1800's and would do reenactments, vs. a work-a-holic woman, with her house husband who's only interaction with their kids was to mouth off to each other and be in the same room while they played video games.

 

I think they make everybody look bad, but if it were people who weren't opposites, where would the conflict, and therefore the whole show, be?

 

Not that I am a fan of these sorts of things, but in the same vein of the Jerry Springer show, you know what you're getting into before you get booked onto the show. It shouldn't be any sort of big surprise.

 

My question is, where are they getting the families for this show in the first place, and how much does it pay? I would hope it pays a LOT.:D

[radiobrain]

That show is ridiculous, but like a train wreck, I sometimes can't stop watching it when I flip through the channels. The homeschooling families on it are all really insular and don't seem to do any actual schooling, even when they claim to be unschoolers.

 

I'm sorry, but I know that filming any actual schooling would be snoozer television. Although, I would like to see some of the professional wives try to teach algebra. That would be entertaining. :D

[mommaduck]

They ALWAYS choose EXTREMES of everything.

[alpidarkomama]

The kids seemed ok but couldn't use a cell phone.

The other mu

 

Hey! Maybe my family has a chance to be on the show! :lol: We don't even *own* a cell phone! :lol:

[DawnM]

DH and I often sit around and think of people we know who are rather extreme and tell a pretend story of how it would be if those families switched wives! :lol: It is the little things that entertain us!

 

But we ourselves are far too mundane and average to be any TV worthy entertainment.

 

Dawn

[Dana]

 

My question is' date=' where are they getting the families for this show in the first place, and how much does it pay? I would hope it pays a LOT.:D[/quote']

 

I think it's about $10,000. When ds was about two, there was a producer for the show posting on quite a few gaming forums looking for families. No one seemed interested, but I did try to hang out places with good signal to noise ratio. :001_smile:

[myfatherslily]

I haven't seen the show in a long time, but I've never assumed that any family was representative of that group of people! Every family is weeeirrrdd in some way or another:)

[elfgivas]

i think the homeschooling family was from SoCal. i remember her posting on a list i was part of at the time about how manipulated it was. the producers need controversy to make a show, and so they create it, and edit out the other bits.

 

fwiw,

ann

[phathui5]

I've never seen a homeschooling family on there that I thought was a good example for the world to be seeing, but maybe some of that is the way the show is edited.

[kewb]

That show is a train wreck. I have only seen it twice (one of those episodes involved a homeschooling family-and they seemed somewhat normal to me) and I don't think any of the families on the show were representative of most people. They are all portrayed as freaks of some kind. That is what gets the ratings.

[mommaduck]

i think the homeschooling family was from SoCal. i remember her posting on a list i was part of at the time about how manipulated it was. the producers need controversy to make a show, and so they create it, and edit out the other bits.

 

fwiw,

ann

A solid reason not to agree to do such a show.

[6packofun]

Yep. That show gives *humanity* a bad name. LOL

[HS Mom in NC]

I've seen a few of those. The problem is in the labeling. They typically choose either extreme child-centered unschoolers or free range parents and call them homeschoolers.

 

Of course, the more extreme, the better the show works. You notice it's never the Classical homeschoolers whose kids are mastering Formal Logic, Latin, and Greek or unschoolers whose kids are basically Thomas Edison types and going to college at 14. (I personally know a few of those.)

 

The free range parents are completely hands off and let the children do whatever they want to and are sometimes called unschoolers of homeschoolers.

 

Once again, as in the rest of life, we can't believe everything we see on TV. Hollywood lied to us AGAIN! Hopefully all the viewers will remember that watching this show.

[Ruby]

My husband and I actually received a phone call to be on the program once. They were looking for a chimney sweep family. I told my husband that there was no way in h*ll we were going to do that show. Not even for the money. I think it was $20,000. I knew for a fact they would make us look like idiots and freaks and I would not put my family under a microscope like that. I guarantee that we would have been paired up with complete opposites. Christian, homeschooling family paired up with ????????? I guess we'll never know.

[HRAAB]

Whenever I've seen homeschooled families represented on that show, they have chosen the most extreme ones they could find. I remember one where the mom was Wiccan and involved in her religion from morning till night and the dad did most of the schooling - if there was any schooling. Just nothing that represents the average homeschooler - religious or not.

[keptwoman]

I saw a UK version with a homeschool family and was so appalled I did some digging. It turns out that the kids were interviewed individually by the production company, although the parents had expressely banned it. They were told to cancel all their social stuff so they looked like they didn't do social stuff, the list just went on and on, it's so manufactured that it bears no resemblence to reality and I have not watched it since.