Category: Home Schooling

Involving Children in Emergency Preparedness, by A.C.

The following is a summary of a Stakeholder Prepping Podcast. — Something that a lot of us overlook is the idea that preparedness is fundamentally a whole-family-unit endeavor. The effectiveness of any emergency plan hinges not on the dedication of a single individual, but on the cooperation and understanding of the entire family. When emergencies or disruptive events occur, a family unit operates at its most resilient when every member, including children, is an active participant rather than a passive bystander. The core challenge for parents is shifting the family’s mindset away from visualizing doomsday scenarios and toward fostering confidence, …


Practical Multigenerational Housing, by Hollyberry

Editors’ Introductory Note: Outwardly, the topic of this article might seem tangential to SurvivalBlog. But please consider that a natural disaster, a societal collapse, or even just sudden unemployment might throw some odd groups of people together to live under one roof. It might be relatives, or it might be some close friends. Or it might just be “that guy who you know from church” with the well-honed tactical skills. Take this prospect seriously, and plan accordingly. (The painting above is titled The Bedroom, by Pieter de Hooch, dated 1658.) — JWR Proverbs 16:31 teaches us: “A gray head is …


The Survival Mindset: A Two-Decade Retrospective

Introduction SurvivalBlog is now in its 20th calendar year. I began posting the blog in August, 2005.  That was just a few weeks before Hurricane Katrina. Over the past two decades, I’ve had many opportunities to write about what I generally term The Survival Mindset. The following is a mashup and updates to four brief blog essays that I wrote and posted in SurvivalBlog in November, 2005 and in April, 2006: Prepper Angst Many of my recent consulting clients have mentioned the same feeling of unease about the coming years. Perhaps it is just the general predisposition of my consulting …


The War On Human Life – Part 3, by J.B.H.

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) Societal Matters We have less control regarding societal matters than the previously discussed personal matters. But I do believe we can influence some of these things at least within our own families. If enough families change, society changes. The First Step The first step is adjusting how we view these problems. For instance when we view the issue of homosexuality, many view this primarily as a moral failing or disgusting or that they simply don’t like it or it is just a personal choice? These things may be true but, how many …


Rebuilding: The Role of the Post-TEOTWAWKI Librarian, by W.J.

What will be missing during the great reconstruction of America after TEOTWAWKI is the knowledge of how to do it.  Those wonderful how-tos on YouTube will no longer be available unless people have electricity and they have systematically stored them as offline video files.  That will be very few people. There is an occupation that rarely gets mentioned that will be of immense value: Librarian.  With your own library.  Books. Books on how to do everything imaginable, starting with the basics.  How to grow food and care for livestock, obviously,  How to build with stone.  How to do carpentry with …


Homeschooling, a Report From the Trenches – Part 3, by N.C.

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) Resources and Recommendations Sorry, I don’t have a free full curriculum link for you. All new homeschooling parents look for it and I was no exception. Now, with a few years under my belt, I am suspicious of things claiming to be a complete curriculum let alone a free one. Every teacher supplements the curriculum and it’s a surprisingly fine line between supplementing and building. Your job is to keep your child challenged and working at their best. Too rigid a curriculum, or sticking too rigidly to one, will hamstring your child. …


Homeschooling, a Report From the Trenches – Part 2, by N.C.

(Continued from Part 1.) Three principles for educating your child Educating your children is going to take a lot of investment. In beginning stages the things you need are free or cheap but you will need to invest a lot of time. As the student gets older the materials will cost more but each student will be capable of more independent work. Regardless of where they are on that journey some principles will always be guiding you as you parent and teach. I’ll suggest 3: Homeschooling is a way of life. Follow and grow interest. Be brilliant in the basics. …


Homeschooling, a Report From the Trenches – Part 1, by N.C.

I was surprised to see that homeschooling was a topic of interest for SurvivalBlog but given homeschooling’s growth over the last few years, I ought not have been. So first, why should you listen to me? Well, I was homeschooled K-12, graduated college, got two advanced degrees, taught at the university level, and am now homeschooling my own kids. My wife’s much more practical choice of major means that this is the logical choice for us. I am a homeschooling success story and I believe in it enough to shoulder the cost and the work (as my children shoulder the …


Homeschooling Nuts and Bolts – Part 2, by R.B., EdD.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) CURRICULUM—OH MY! This is a truly scary word for beginning homeschoolers, and it really doesn’t need to be. You are the one who gets to decide what is taught. And you need to do that before you look for instructional materials. That means you should know what you’re aiming at. And you DO know, don’t you? Certainly your list at every level should include: 1. Reading and vocabulary. Instruction in reading can begin very early with some children, while others have to wait for reading readiness to develop. That’s absolutely OK. You …


Homeschooling Nuts and Bolts – Part 1, by R.B., EdD.

It is common knowledge that American public education is a failure. We have known for years that our students do not measure up to students in other countries, even very poor ones. For decades we have seen national test scores sink, and employers are constantly telling us they cannot hire workers with basic skills. But most parents still believe their local school is excellent and their children are getting a good education. The schools tell us how good, caring, and professional they are. They have mottos that ooze care and concern that every child should reach his/her potential in every …


Reader Poll: New SurvivalBlog Feature Topics

It has been several years since we’ve conducted an opinion poll of blog readers. Because SurvivalBlog has been published for nearly 18 years, we’ve covered a lot of topics. But, obviously, we’ve missed a few, or we need to revisit a few, to get up-to-date and to cover them in greater depth. So, here is my question to readers: What topics would you like to see covered in SurvivalBlog feature articles, in the coming months? Here are a few topics that came to mind, when Avalanche Lily and I were brainstorming: Herbs — Medicinal and Cooking Wildcrafting with plants and …


Update: A Home-Based Business — Your Ticket to The Boonies

JWR’s Introductory Note: This article is an update and substantial expansion to a piece that I wrote back in December of 2005. — The majority of SurvivalBlog readers that I talk and correspond with tell me that they live in cities or suburbs, but they would like to live full-time at a retreat in a rural area. Their complaint is almost always the same: “…but I’m not self-employed. I can’t afford to live in the country because I can’t find work there, and the nature of my work doesn’t allow telecommuting.” They feel stuck. The recent Wu Flu pandemic proved …


A 2022 Retrospective: America’s Negatrends

In place of our regular Odds ‘n Sods column for this week, we are presenting a late-2022 summary listing of negative societal trends — what I call negatrends — and political machinations, with some apropos links. Please pray daily that our nation collectively repents and returns to a moral and righteous path and that our government is again restrained and respects our rights. – JWR Some Key Negatrends Ongoing urbanization, and its attendant societal ills. Increasing technological dependence of society as a whole and addiction to technology by individuals. Vote-Stealing. Closely tied to this are the Democrat mantras denying positive …


Providing Pictorial Gear Manuals for Your Group, by R.H.

Introduction The generator sputtered one more time, the noise only slightly louder than the un-Christian commentary coming from my mouth. The quarterly test-run for my generator checkout was not going well. I have a Robin 11 HP generator that provides electrical backup for critical circuits in my house through a transfer switch and separate Circuit Breaker box. I can place the generator outside my garage, connect the cable from the generator to the junction box in the garage, start the generator, change the source isolation transfer switch in the basement circuit breaker box and start turning on the breakers to …


Preparedness Principles – Part 2, by Old Bobbert

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Bobbert’s Principle #5 – Principles are never my personal possession I try daily to practice the principles regularly promoted on Sundays as being the right way to conduct my life, and as to how I should treat others, and what to teach my family, But I am also fully aware that these fundamental principles are not owned by any belief system. We can confidently look to any, and every, good and worthy example for enlightenment and information. Additionally, as preppers / leaders, we must never forget that “Being Wrong Does Not Make …