Dreary Days
There will be days, depending on where you live, where you will experience days of rain, snow, or other weather phenomena that will relegate you and your family to being inside the house. You could spend this retreat down time time mending clothes, sharpening tools, canning, or planning for when the weather allows you back outside. If you have children, this indoor time could elevate the stresses they may be feeling due to the dramatic changes in their lives. Life without electricity, without a cellphone signal, and without an Internet connection. This will be especially hard for children learning to live a tech-free life. What are your plans for these dreary days?
Mini-Library
Often overlooked survival items are the things that allow us to enjoy down time with the family. Everyone needs a break now and then. If yours is a family of readers, a nice library can be accumulated for very little money. Garage sales usually have a wide variety of books for all age groups. While you are there to buy blankets, clothing, and tools, pick up a few books to read. You can also get them cheap at Amazon and at many online discount book sites. Here are some quick online sources:
Note: Always look below the main listed book price on Amazon for other sellers offering used copies at discount prices.
Amazon Prime ships for free and many discounters offers prices low enough to acquire several books for minimal cost. Personally, I will also always have a Bible nearby. If you will be able to power a Kindle or your laptop, you can download e-books inexpensively or for free. Just holding a Kindle might be the methadone type of treatment your kids need as they wake up to their new post-cell-phone world.
A Roll of the Dice
Board games can be played by lantern light, candle light, or sun light. They can be fun and take up very little storage space. The same can be said of dominoes, checkers, chess, Scrabble, Yahtzee, decks of cards, coloring books and puzzles. One plastic storage tote can hold all the board games or other types of entertainment you and your kids would enjoy. Most games require some math, logical thinking skills, or word skills. For example, Scrabble has both math and vocabulary involved. Yahtzee is a game of strategy and math. Any variation of dominoes involves strategic thinking and math. All card games involve logic and math. These are skills that would be part of any home-schooling situation, which, of course, you would find yourself in since you want your children to be able to read and write.
Don’t Forget Education
Home-schooling isn’t often mentioned in the various survival/prepper blogs. Everyone assumes that we will all be sitting at windows with AR-15s, chewing jerky, and wondering what to do with last night’s slop pail. Granted, that may be a scenario that will play out, but there will come a time when that won’t be the case. Your children will grow up and inherit whatever new America emerges. If they are not educated, they will struggle even more than they did surviving the EMP, social chaos, or whatever happened to thrust them into survival mode. An educated individual is much less likely to be manipulated or suckered into a bad deal or situation. As before, online book sellers have plenty of basic math, science, history, and literature books you can also place in a tub. A good web site for free textbooks is LoveToKnow. You can now find a whole host of math and language work sheets online. A few good sites to visit are
Now, while you have a printer, print out various grade level worksheets and tuck them away for a just-in-case scenario. Don’t forget to stock up on pencils, pens, paper and crayons. Toss a solar/battery-powered calculator into the tub too.
retreat down time MusIcal Creativity
No doubt, you and your family will be creating new ways to do things every hour of every day. It would be a good idea to have some other ways to enhance those creative juices. So far, I have advocated for a library tub, a game tub, and an education tub. Now, you can add a long tub to stack the other three on top of. While you are finding gems at garage sales and auctions, look for a small guitar or ukulele. Look for a flute or small musical instrument. If you can find a small battery powered keyboard, that would be great. While you’re printing out math worksheets, print out some music and some basic how-to instructions for whatever musical instruments you snatch up. Some websites that are helpful include:
- Playing Guitar: A Beginner’s Guide
- Teach Wombat: Giving Your “First Eight Guitar Lessons”
- Music Notes Blog: How to Read Sheet Music
If you don’t find a small guitar, then you won’t need a long tub.
Learn a New Language
There are numerous places online where you can plug-in words, sentences and paragraphs to be translated into any language you want. My favorite is Google Translate (formerly called Babelfish) but you can also use IBM Watson Translator, Elan Languages and duoLingo. You can then print these passages out and begin compiling a binder of common phrases in another language. I know the rhetoric that everyone should speak English if they live here, but what if we are in a bug-in/bug-out scenario where there are individuals roaming the streets who don’t speak English? What if masses of individuals have breached our borders and are now looking for food and shelter? Wouldn’t it be good to be able to understand what they are saying? They won’t expect you to understand what they’re talking about so you would have the upper hand. You could integrate the new language lessons into your home-schooling and place the binder in that tub.
Of course, if your budget allows for it, and you have a battery-powered CD player, or will be able to power your laptop, you could buy any of the language programs you want. You can get these language programs at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Babbel.com, and Rosetta Stone.com. Some of these have free trials online while others want you to buy the whole program. [Editor’s Note: It bears mention that the entire duoLingo program for learning 23 different languages online is now available free of charge! Various members of our family are presently studying three languages with duoLingo. Sadly, it is only available online. But take full advantage of it while the Net stays up.] You can supplement with the online-translation-binder you are creating to put together sentences specific to your needs. It is doubtful the programs will include discussions about stealing, breaking in to a house, or weaponry. I would supplement with the kinds of phrases and words I might actually hear and need to know the meaning of. I would want to know the words for knife, gun, pistol, rifle, money, food, fire, hurt, break-in, and night, or darkness, just for starters.
Years ago, when I was a child, my family landed deep in the interior of Mexico. No one spoke English so I was forced to learn Spanish. This wasn’t the Spanish taught in school, but real Spanish. Many years later I was out with a friend when a group of young Hispanic males came into our location. Understanding Spanish allowed me to tell my friend that it was time to quickly head to the car. The young men were discussing what they planned to do us. We left so quickly, they didn’t have time to react and we avoided harm. Just something to think about.
Learn Basic Skills
If you plan to learn a new skill or to teach your children some basic skills such as sewing, knitting, how to sharpen tools or knives, how to cook, or even fix things, make sure you get the supplies you need now. Use this time to buy thread, buttons, zippers, safety pins, sewing needles, material, yarn, a honing stone, and whatever items you will need to successfully teach the skills you will want to teach. Certainly, over time, clothes will need mending, new clothes may need to be made, knives will need to be sharpened, and any number of other things may need repair.
If you go to Google or YouTube and type in how to repair, you will find a variety of videos and documents you can download to use later. Included in the instructions are the tools and supplies you would need to repair anything from a glass window to a small engine. To keep the budget for these supplies to a minimum, check out sales at local small businesses that cater to your area of interest. Some areas have stores that sell material, thread, yarn and the accessories needed for these projects. They may have better sales than Wal-Mart or Dollar General, although both of those stores have good prices and offer starter kits. One of my best finds at an estate sale was a large cookie tin full of rolls of thread. I paid just one dollar and got 100 rolls of thread in a variety of colors.
Local auctions, often on Saturday nights, offer another cost-effective way to obtain things like used tools, sharpening stones, fishing gear, buckets and a myriad of things you can find uses and teaching moments for. I have seen whole boxes of perfectly good tarps, miscellaneous tools, sewing supplies, and dishware sell for two dollars a box at Saturday night auctions. It’s a good idea to pick up whatever newspaper lists all the garage sales in your area. There are also several garage sale listings on Facebook. I prefer garage sales, estate sales and auctions to those sites where you meet up with some stranger. Too many sad stories have come from people being robbed after meeting up with a potential seller from CraigsList or similar sites.
retreat down time Wrap-Up
Surviving any type of national or local emergency-situation will be a strong test for everyone. Having gone through both Hurricanes Ike and Harvey, I’ve spent weeks without electricity, had to take in flooded-out family members, and dealt with the hours between cutting up downed trees, trying to find food, searching for gas for a generator, and dealing with bored house guests unable to help me do the aforementioned activities. It was a life-saver to have something to fill down time with books, games, and endeavors that did not require power. If you have children who do not know what to do with themselves without their tech gadgets, then you will definitely want to have some alternatives to keep them occupied. Children are not adults. You can berate them into working for a while, but they will not carry the load that an adult will carry. Keeping their down time in mind will actually free you up to be more productive, as they learn to adjust.
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.
Don’t underestimate the power of the lowly jigsaw puzzle.
We always have one going in the winter.
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.
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!
Excellent article on a area often overlooked. I tried Google Translate. It is awesome with so many applications. Thank you.
One of my favorite sites is http://abebooks.com they have a lot of items at very low prices.
AbeBooks.com is also a wonderful source of cheap books and frequently the seller offers free shipping
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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).