The Duggar family has never tried to hide how different they are from typical families, and one of the big ways is that all 19 of their children were homeschooled. Many of the Duggar siblings have followed suit now that they’re grown up with families of their own. Although Jill and Jinger have chosen to send their children to school, Jessa and Joy-Anna have gone all in on teaching their kiddos at home. But after Joy shared a peek into her day, some people have a lot of opinions about the way she’s teaching her oldest child, Gideon.
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Joy shared a peek into her day on Instagram.
These days, Joy and her family are staying in California for an extended period of time while her husband, Austin Forsyth, is working there – and luckily, she’s able to be close to her sister, Jinger. That means that even while traveling, they still have to complete schoolwork, as we can see in this clip.
At one point in their morning, Joy can be seen sitting at a table with her oldest son, 7-year-old Gideon, doing school work, from 9 to 9:40 a.m.
Some people believe that Joy didn’t teach Gideon for long enough.
On a popular Duggar-related subreddit, one poster took this video as a sign that she only homeschools Gideon for 40 minutes each day, and many critics aren’t impressed.
“Gideon is supposed to be in second grade and so 40 minutes of ‘school’ a day can’t possibly be enough,” the person wrote.
Other Redditors seemed to agree, with one commenting, “Educational neglect is a serious problem in this country. Its unfortunate. I know that 40-60 minutes of one on one education is adequate for some kids but you know d— well that she wasn’t dedicating that full time one on one while other younger kids are around. She is barely educated herself let alone skilled to provide [education] to a child.”
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Others defended her.
Some users said 40 minutes could be enough for a child Gideon’s age, especially if Joy is including other educational, hands-on activities throughout their day.
“That amount of sit-down school time (reading instruction, math instruction, writing) seems reasonable to me, especially if he’s in first grade,” one person wrote. “Homeschoolers who are actually educating their kids spend time throughout the day doing other educational stuff like board games (math, reading), activities with other kids (social skills), reading aloud (can cover any subject), playing with educational or open-ended toys, educational videos, spending time outside (science, nature, self sufficiency, physical activity), learning to care for their home, field trips (learning about their community).”
It’s also fair to point out that the family is traveling right now, so it’s possible they do more sit-down schooling when they’re at home.
Either way, hopefully, Joy knows what she’s doing. Her kids’ education is in her hands!
