@Keith Martin
Thanks for your honesty in describing your previous history and struggles with your first and second wife!! I wouldnt blame you at all for capitulating to your first wife since i did the same thing: in my last relationship of nearly 5 years with a monogamous woman, now dissolved thankfully (for the best, for both of us) i actually brought up polygamy very early on. So i was.... 27? I wanna say. Too young to know some things i know now, as well as a much reinforced backbone hah. Basically she freaked out, threatened to leave, i conceded, we worked it out... and spent another 4 years with a very nice and charming but ultimately wrong woman for me in yet another monogamy that didnt pan out. Who knows where i would be on my path today if i had stuck to my guns then (or broke up with her and then done what im doing now alot sooner). All that said, i have zero regrets, life is what it is for a reason which is mostly for God to know and for us to find out as we live it. Im happy im at this junction now and not later, at least.
Yes, you speak about the “lost boys” conundrum of polygamy’s “unwanted sons problem”. To this i have given a lot of thought.
My plan is to keep acquiring land in Montana locally to where i end up owning (perhaps even abutting or adjacent to my own future property there, luckily in MT its plentiful and affordable owing to how massive the state is with only 1.2 million people, plus all other things being equal its actually quite a permissive state for polygamy so long as you play it smart and stay well under the radar). Luckily i have plenty of time, since its not like the first sons will be marrying at 18, probably later like early to mid 20s, maybe even later for some if they have a more interesting and storied life arc before settling down.
It will be homeschooling all the way for both sons and daughters, although with drastically different materials and course-loads depending on sex. But lets focus on the sons. I want to teach them the Bible and Christian principles and beliefs as my number one priority (ideally we could actually build a nice little white church on the property, im sure the wives would love that), but i also believe its unfair to children of religious homes to under-prepare them for the real world. After all, God gave us His word codified and sealed in the Holy Book, but He also created reality. All of reality. Atheism? Ironically, God either conceived it or merely created the world allowing atheism to happen and knowing ahead of time it would. Capitalism? Science? The stars and cosmos? Cellphones? Computers? All God.
So i would also teach my sons history, english lit, math and science (basic stuff at first but keep ramping it up), add in machinery and agricultural tech up to pre-teens, and then when they turned around 15-16, depending on aptitude thus far, i would scrap the curriculum and teach them nothing but comp-sci and programming. This would allow them like me to make good money eventually working from home.
Ok, this gives them A LOT to do to keep them busy and learn a profitable (and fun) trade that will serve them well for life. But here’s the kicker, because all my sons would be raised polygamous, strong and masculine young men (at least thats my goal), at a certain point when many had reached their mid teens, i would tell them thus:
“My eldest sons, you are now coming of age, and of course you have siblings of all ages, brothers and sisters going down to the newborns in diapers, but youre at a pivotal time in your lives because very soon youll be men. And i want each of you to have your own homes and your own wives someday and a large happy family of your own, for each of you, and eventually for your younger brothers too when they come of age. And i want to help you achieve that. But it wont be easy, and youll have to earn it. Luckily i have a plan, but YOU are the ones who have to make it happen. I have taught most of you computer skills, and that will take you very far, but youll have to build your own homes, with your own two hands. I will supply a corner of our land for you to build on, the tools and raw building materials. Starting at 18, literally the day after your birthdays, each of you will be assigned to this task. The first home will be of the elsest son, and you will all help him build it, together. Luckily, i have had the eldest son, the second oldest and every 4th son after him (skipping 3 sons inbetween) learn not computer skills, but construction trades. Your eldest brother has spent the last 3 years learning the electricians trade, one of the hardest and most dangerous to do. The second eldest has been learning architecture and CAD. All the other necessary skills you all will need to build an entire home from scratch, and there are many, youll have to learn collectively along the way. Do not question or begrudge this fate i place upon each of you. We have been teaching you Bible stories about men building their own homes your entire lives. This isnt my decree, this is also a test from God to prove your worthiness to Him. Your eldest brother will be the foreman of his own home leading you other boys as each of you becomes 18 to help him build and finish his home, from foundation to chimney. You cant build a palace, but be smart, be savvy and work hard and each of you can have not just a trapper’s cabin but a grand lodge to call your forever home for yourself and your family on some corner of this land. Once you all finish the eldest brothers home, then you all have to build the second-eldests home, where he is foreman of the site, and so on, until each of you has a large home of your own in a corner of our land with many empty acres around you for privacy and peace. You can do this, but you must be humble, smart and work hard, as a team, or else, if you dont want to do this, at 18 you can go out into the world and work on your own and make your own living, make your own path. Ive taught you skills to make money and get by no matter what you choose. And so long as you remain loving faithful and respectful you can always visit home, but at 18 if you want to continue living here, it will have to be in the service of building homes for yourselves and your brothers. Those are your only options, i would say theyre darn good ones, but one is a lot better. At 18 you are free men, you could go travel the world and then go live in Thailand if you truly want and God wishes it, but my advice is this: we love you and we want you to stay locally. The benefits of this are multifold. So bite the bullet, work hard, before you know it with the help of many hands you will each have your own homes here, then you together with all the familys help and using all of our means and connections can also help each of you to find young wives to fill your homes with, one by one starting with the eldest son first. And then when that is achieved, believe me... youll thank God and thank me, in that order, for the bounty youll have earned and get to enjoy......”
I dont know, thats what i got so far. The plan is sort of a rough sketch, im sure itll get better with time. Considering the eldest is still non-existent i would say i have a bit of time to refine it!