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1. There are also books with ancient game instructions. Some come with playing pieces. All come with directions to make your own. Sometimes you can borrow pieces from another game. Cheaper and more compact. I draw on the back of existing games: checkers and backgammon are super easy to do yourself. All-in-one packs are also cheaper and more compact. Don’t forget dominos. So many games you can play with that little box of tiles.

   Books: textbooks can be purchased at used bookstores. The older the better: less propaganda. Also craft books. Non fiction sections are sparse, but not empty. Most of my Bibles came from them.

   Don’t forget ebay for all of the above.

2. Don’t underestimate the power of the lowly jigsaw puzzle.
   We always have one going in the winter.

3. An outstanding online site for used books is ABEBOOKS.com. You can find most anything there and very, very affordable. I have been buying from them for years.

4. My local library has a book sale a couple of times a year. You can fill a paper grocery bag for $10. With creative packing skills, I generally come away from the sale with well over 100 books for $40. And I always find old textbooks for all grade levels and subjects. For a small amount of money I have a wonderful homeschooling library and a large stack of books to read on those cold winter nights!

5. Excellent article on a area often overlooked. I tried Google Translate. It is awesome with so many applications. Thank you.

6. One of my favorite sites is http://abebooks.com they have a lot of items at very low prices.

7. AbeBooks.com is also a wonderful source of cheap books and frequently the seller offers free shipping

8. Regarding languages, simple ASL is very useful. I taught my young children 20-30 common signs. They can sign sooner than they can speak. It’s very handy in church or anytime you want to communicate silently. If you are fortunate enough to speak another language, be sure to teach children naturally in your home. Bilinguals have a valuable skill already, and can learn a third (or fourth) language far more easily than a monolingual adult. I have observed this ease especially in missionaries who need to learn another language. Most people bilingual from childhood have a big advantage.

9. I look at the various alternatives to cable TV, things like ROKU. They always show a few dozen TV shows that I have either never heard of or I’m not interested in. I realize that I am old and out of touch while the younger generation prefers Vampires, super power heroes and movies based on computer games like Mario. But that seems to be all there is. When I look at Amazon, especially their Kindle books (since I own a couple of their Kindle Fire tablets) I find zero books I would be interested in. I read most of the action books like Baldacci’s, Ludlum’s, Flynn’s, Child, Clancy, L’Amour and others. But the Kindle books that are pushed are about girlie men and things that happened before 1860 etc.

   I get it. There are more X generation and millennials than there are old farts like me. But in a country where diversity demands that half the people on TV must be minority even far in excess of their percentage of the population why can’t they have some books (or in the case of the TV alternatives some shows) that appeal to us?

   Anyway, that’s my rant, now my suggestion: I buy books at Goodwill and St Vincent De Paul store. Of the two St. Vinnies is better; better price and they organize their books. I can quickly go to the Louis L’Amour section and see if they have one of the few books I don’t already own. For those of you looking for a new author can I suggest Jack Whyte. He has a couple of series so if you like book #1 you can buy 3-5 more books with the same theme.

   My fire tablet is mostly used for movies and a few books when I travel/camp. If you are in a WiFi area you can check e-mail, and Survivalblog too. It is easy to load whatever you want on a mini-SD card and carry it with you or in the Kindle Fire. A plus is they are cheap. I bought my grandkids all Fires at $39 apiece. That makes them perfect for traveling because if someone steals it I am not out the bigger cost of a laptop AND I don’t put any personal info on them just movies, books and a few pictures. Maybe Mr. Rawles can put a link to them on Amazon.

10. On several occasions I have seen “Casino Played” decks of cards in the aisle at the checkout stand at Dollar Tree. These cards from casinos are in pristine condition and are always $1.00 a pack. Grabbing a few at that price would pay off well to help eliminate boredom. Kids might have a limited number of games they can play with them, e.g. Go Fish, but it could be a much appreciated activity for adults.

11. I appreciate the humor, sitting at windows with ar-15’s chewing jerky… i busted out laughing. Humor is also a good distraction from boredom. Thanks!

12. Using the plastic page protectors allows you to use math pages over and over. Just write with a dry erase pen or a grease pen. Kids can get quite creative when given the choice of work or finding something to do. I found that my children were always able to find ” something to do” when I informed them of a job I would “let” them do if they were too bored.

13. aside from the obvious difficulties with power and internet one could experience grid-down, if it remains possible to use computers and/or Kindles, you can build a massive library for free with a little effort. There had been a site I checked daily called FKB.ME, which would list several free books daily, but I have also found a list at Amazon itself. Rather than a link which could change, I’ll direct you to find the list of Kindle Best Sellers, in whatever method you like, and then at the top next to “Top 100 paid”, you can find “Top 100 free”. You purchase the book, at a cost of $0.00. Check carefully before purchase, occasionally the price has changed. I have however had good luck returning books I’ve purchased before the careful check, as long as you haven’t started reading it. At the price of a few minutes work each day, I’ve ‘bought’ thousands of books this way.

14. Reading this great article, I couldn’t help but compare the childhoods of now and pre 1960. People used their brains then: puzzles, books, telling and making up stories, coloring……….were all normal childhood experiences. Children also played outside-oh the horror! But following a trail, looking for birds, running with the dog, bicycling, and the ever favorite hide and seek were hours of fun. Now, children are indoors with passive “entertainment” fed to them by adults with an agenda. I can only say that cutting the cable, shutting off the phones, and forcing some exercise would benefit the entire family!

    1. Amen, Amen Sandra T. My Mom kicked us kids out the door first thing in the morning. We rode bicycles, ran barefoot through the neighborhood, looked for snakes and turtles, built tree houses, played baseball, went to the park, and on and on. We came home for lunch and then back outside until suppertime. Sure do miss those times, the memories are priceless. I feel bad for the kids today who thrive on video games and assorted “devices”, they seem unable to function unless a device is in their face. Shame on the parents, these youngsters will be traumatized when the WiFi and internet are out.

15. I visited a game room in Kyiv that was in the basement of an apartment block. They had, literally, THOUSANDS of board games available to play and the attendant could explain the rules of many of them. We paid a small hourly fee and played anything that looked interesting. Sadly, finding gently used board games in a small town in the US is a bit of a challenge.

16. For anyone serious about Board Games https://www.miniaturemarket.com is a great place to buy them. I’ve bought nearly a hundred board games from them. They pack them for shipping really well and secure. They also have many sales throughout the year. I’d also suggest looking into Role Playing Game (RPG) books, nothing like D&D to promote creativity and story telling. There are also miniature war games that teach strategic thinking and historical tactics (but they can get costly, but well worth it).

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