Category: Home Schooling

Letter Re: Some Travel and Bug Out Gear Recommendations

Sir, First, as promised earlier I wanted to follow up and describe the kit I take with me on my trips. As I have mentioned in the past my job takes me overseas all the time, so for the past decade I have spent 80-90% of my time in third and second world countries. As a result the type of kit I take with me becomes important – it has to be packable and lightweight (especially now that the airlines are limiting you to 50 lbs. per bag versus the old 75 lbs. per bag). I have built up a …


Basic Survival Skills for Children, by M.L.

Children play a part in many of our lives. Protecting them becomes an important issue in daily life as well as in an end of the world as you know it moment. However, what happens when adults can’t be there to protect them? What happens when they may need to protect us?             Our government and even many schools across the country, as well as parents and other adults, often do not see the potential in children. I am not talking about the educated potential one might find in the youth of a suburban school, but the potential to rise …


Preparing Your Family for “Interesting” Times: A Covenantal Christian Perspective, by Jim B.

Discerning believers have sensed a decisive change coming for several years. If history truly repeats itself, we are heading into a season of judgment and serious difficulty which may last beyond our current generation. Whether judgment and difficulties are reflected in the current economic crisis, ongoing terrorist attacks, unrighteous leaders or a host of other combined circumstances, many believe we are on the threshold of very perilous times (II Timothy 3). Our family ministry has done significant travel throughout the country over the past ten years, and we never fail to be in awe of the Great Shepherd’s faithfulness toward …


Depression Proof Jobs for a 20 Year Depression – Part 2: Developing a Home-Based Business

Yesterday, in Part1, I discussed the “safe” and counter-cyclical occupations for the unfolding economic depression. Today, I’d like to talk about one specific approach: self-employment with a home-based business. I posted most the following back in late 2005, but there are some important points that are worth repeating: The majority of SurvivalBlog readers that I talk 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 …


Letter Re: Buying Kindle Reader for Accessing Survival References?

Mr. Rawles; Given that even the smallest of windmills driving an automobile alternator can keep a 12 volt DC battery charged, and from that you can run a myriad of small devices, what is your opinion of Amazon’s Kindle [mobile book reading screen] for keeping all the documents you might need, like the entire archives of SurvivalBlog? Amazon is now offering “Version 2” [of Kindle] , which seems easier to load with personal documents. Is it worth it as a backup library, or is it too fragile? – Sandy W. JWR Replies: Buying a shiny new Kindle for that purpose …


Perspectives on Prepping on a Very Low Income, by Kuraly

I was raised in a missionary family, on nine different mission fields around the world. At the age of nineteen, I went out to serve the Lord on my own in the former Soviet Union. I had no formal Theological training, but was accepted by the missionary societies of my denomination because of my experience under my father and my willingness to go to dangerous areas. I married, and my wife and I have now six children. A few years ago, due to some changes in my theology, I fell out of favor with my denomination and had to return …


Letter Re: Alaska as a Retreat Locale

I have read your list of recommended retreat areas and agree for the most part. My wife and child and I are leaving Texas in March and heading north. Idaho and Alaska are the only places we are considering because they are the only two western states that have 100% parental autonomy on homeschooling. As for Alaska not being recommended, I would have to disagree somewhat. Yes, it is not for everybody. Some people don’t like cold and that’s fine by me. However, the issues of supplies and resource shipment I think may become moot. When TSHTF the shipment of …


Letter Re: A Handy Book for Boys

I’ve only recently become a SurvivalBlog reader, but I thought I’d share some info about a book I’ve had sitting on my shelf for quite some time. I’d never really put any thought into its usefulness until lately. It’s called The American Boy’s Handybook. I first caught sight of it several years ago, way back in Elementary School, when I was just a little cuss, not the full sized cuss I’ve grown up to be. Like the title says, the book itself is geared toward the younger generation, ages 8 – 18+. But there is a wealth of information that …


Four Letters Re: A Low-Cost Route to Earning a Bachelor’s Degree

James, As the author [noted, prospective students should consider their career plans before devoting time and money to a specific school or program, virtual or not. For example: I’m employed by a global Fortune 10 company and there is a list of colleges and universities whose degrees are not sufficient as hiring criteria regardless of accreditation. It is a good bet other large companies have similar policies. Ditto for graduate degree programs. Depending on the school, bachelor degrees from online schools or virtual universities may not be accepted for matriculation. If the student plans to pursue a graduate degree they …


A Low-Cost Route to Earning a Bachelor’s Degree, by V/Rs

For many, the cost of a college education can be prohibitive; however the necessity of having a degree can be crucial when a job seeker is looking for work. Oftentimes, a college degree is used as a discriminator in the hiring process. Those with years of experience and talent may not even be considered for a position simply because they haven’t “filled in the blocks” required by a human resources department. Even if the degree is in an unrelated field, it is usually enough to get a person through the initial hurdles of the interview process. However, even the costs …


Three Letters Re: The Best College Degrees for the Next Depression?

Dear Jim: Why go to college at all? Speaking as a college graduate, unless you are getting a technical degree, you would probably learn more apprenticing in a real business that interests you, and studying on your own and taking courses part time. When you need to apply knowledge right away, motivation is high, and the lesson really sticks. Bonus – you avoid 4 years of immersion in (and contributing to) a politically correct cesspool – often intellectually dishonest to boot. For some professions you do need a degree for technical knowledge. But most of the time a degree is …


Two Letters Re: The Best College Degrees for the Next Depression?

Sir, College is alarmingly pricey. As a child of the 1970s, I grew up understanding that you either got a useful degree or paid your own way. I contend that the most useful education currently is learning a trade. Welding, auto repair or electrician’s certification will pay the bills through the rough times as people choose to repair instead of purchase. As times get better, some of those trade school credits may transfer to a college and you are on your way. What is that architecture degree, but about a year of drafting plus three tortuous years of art…the discovery …


Letter Re: The Best College Degrees for the Next Depression?

James, longer this [economic death spiral] goes on, the more it looks like this is going to be at least a decade before normality returns. So, if you’ve got a teenage kid you’re probably thinking, what kind of career (assuming we don’t totally melt down at a societal level) path he or she should take… I was talking to someone the other day and he told me his kid was studying art. “Oh, I asked, is he any good?” He replied “No, not really.” This family man is spending good money, money that could be put into preparations into a …


Intellectually Self-Reliant Children: From Homeschooling to College, by “Hermeneutics”

Home schooling teaches kids an important virtue, intellectual self-reliance. Home schooling, well done, permits a child to “learn to learn” as well as learn to learn … by himself. A home schooled child, for example, does not learn in peer groups, a common practice in schools today. Rather, by himself, the home school child reads a text, sorts through conflicting facts and information, and makes judgments that ring true to his experience and understanding. A home schooled child struggles intellectually without turning to peers, teachers or authority figures. In short, he thinks for himself. Critics of home schooling often claim …


Fostering the Survival Instinct in Babies and Young Children, by Andrea J.

There has been a great push in this country by child rearing experts and the medical profession that children must be “socialized”. It has been a pivotal buzzword for educators and parents alike. It is a main reason for the negative swell toward homeschooling. Yet, it is my contention that what we need to foster, from birth, is natural instinct. Natural instinct is what we understand as the survival instinct. It is an innate instinct of distrust. It is the instinct that alerts us as we start down a dark alleyway on our way home from work. It is the …