Category: Home Schooling

Letter Re: Self-Sufficiency–How Do We Do It All?

Dear Memsahib and Jim, I am a daily SurvivalBlog reader and contributor, along with my husband. I am very interested in learning more how Memsahib and other retreat women manage to do all that they do. How does a day or week in your life go? How do you can, bake, cook, shear, spin, weave, knit, sew, teach, et cetera and get it all done? We are moving to our retreat soon. I have baked, cooked, knit, learned to spin and weave, and have canned in the past, but not all at once. I forgot to mention clean, wash, take …


Sources for Free Survival and Preparedness Information on the Internet, by K.L. in Alaska

Recent comments in SurvivalBlog provided excellent advice on using the public library. You can gain lots of knowledge with no expense, then purchase only those books you want to keep on hand for personal reference. Also, many colleges and universities loan to local residents, so you can use them too, even if you aren’t a student. If your local libraries participate, a great resource is Worldcat. It lets you search for books from home, then go check them out, or get them through interlibrary loan. What will happen to the Internet when the SHTF? There’s no guarantee it will survive. …


Homeschooling During the Crunch, by Nathaniel

Let’s say that you and your family having been taking the advice provided here by Mr. Rawles and are squared away for the Crunch—you’ve got your bullets, beans, and band-aids, all piled high in a structurally reinforced home out in the middle of nowhere. You’ve got just about every survivalist book ever printed, plus the tools and skills you’ll need to provide for yourself and your family. You also, of course, have the basic life skills that you’ll need to simply stay alive—things like shooting, tracking, cooking, and first aid. Have you thought, however, about the education of your children? …


Reverse the Public School Brainwashing and Keep Your Kids Safe, by Captain Dave

The recent school shooting at Virginia Tech demonstrates a huge underlying societal problem that many of us are either ignoring or are ignorant of. Because society has spent much of the last several decades trying to stamp violence out of schools and out of our children, we end up with kids who are made-to-order victims that will line up to be shot execution style rather than fight back. The answer to school violence is not to arm the campus police, have campus SWAT teams, or class rooms that can double as fortresses, it is to teach our children to protect …


Reader Poll Results: Your TEOTWAWKI Resume — 100 Words and 100 Pounds

Some of these stretched the 100 word limit. (I skipped posting one that rambled on far beyond the limit.) The poll’s premise in a nutshell: “If someday you went to the gates of a survival community post-TEOTWAWKI and pleaded the case for why you should be let past the barricades and armed guards to become a valuable working member of the group, would you get voted in? Taken objectively, would you vote yourself in?”   I am a shoe maker (not just a repairman) can repair saddles tan leather have done ranch work mechanics weld gardening skills set a broken …


Letter Re: Advice on Where to Learn Practical, Tactical Skills

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Dear Jim: As my confidence in the dollar depreciates and my desire for skills increases, I’m wanting to convert FRNs into hands-on knowledge. What weeknight or weekend workshops would you recommend? Are there any places where you can learn Army Ranger skills without joining the military? Animal husbandry, and so on? – Spencer JWR Replies: There is a tremendous wealth of free or low-cost classes available–enough to keep you busy every weekend of the year if you are willing to drive a distance. If you have time and just a bit of money, you can get some very well-rounded training …


Prepping for Children, and Teaching Them Preparedness, by RSC

Perhaps the most difficult demographic group to prepare for is children. Their needs are constantly changing as they age, grow, and learn. The sheer number of variables involved can be mind boggling, but with enough planning and foresight all their needs can be met. We have eight children under the age of 12 still at home (with three grown and gone), so this is something we have given much thought to. If you are of child bearing age and still have your God given equipment, you must prepare for infants. Even if you have stocked birth control, it is not …


Letter Re: Preparedness-Oriented Homeschooling Curriculum

Hello Rawles Family, We have been viewing your site for a few months after reading “Patriots” (loved it!) and have a suggested resource for other families. We are long term veteran homeschooling family, self sufficiency oriented, husband former military (Viet Nam), ordained ministers who choose to develop house church networks in view of the likely future. We currently reside in upper northwest Montana after being in other regions gaining broad experience. We wrote a preparedness homeschooling curriculum based on Swiss Family Robinson and a sequel based on Robinson Crusoe. The first year builds academics around family teamwork and the second …


From #1 Son: Stocking up on Home Schooling Curricula

An important item to remember to purchase in advance if you have children is extra home schooling supplies. You may remember trigonometry, but could you teach it to your children without any materials? If you self-quarantine your family because of a flu pandemic it will be nearly impossible to acquire books or other supplies. Post-TEOTWAWKI, after your generation is gone, advanced math and science will be rare and valuable skills.


U.S. Government Issues Guide to Pandemic Preparedness

As reported at NewsMax.com, the Bush Administration had just issued a Guide to Pandemic Preparedness. See:  http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/5/215956.shtml It is interesting that they mentioned both self-quarantine and home schooling. What radicals!  They musta been reading SurvivalBlog or sumthen’… OBTW, why do I get the feeling that if John Kerry had been elected that the message on this topic wouldn’t be quite the same?


Letter From Matt Bracken Re: A Home-Based Business–Your Ticket to The Boonies

Jim, Here is another terrific home business idea which “sells itself,” requires only a minimal investment, has a high profit margin, and can be done in one’s spare time. Install front door peep-holes. A number of years back I was visiting in a large townhouse complex where my wife used to live, and a gentleman rang the doorbell. Upon opening the door, I met the man holding a peephole in his hand. He almost didn’t need to say a word. It literally needed no sales pitch, it “sold itself.” He had the tools etc to do it on the spot. …


Three Letters Re: A Home-Based Business–Your Ticket to The Boonies

Jim: I thought the point was to have a home-based business that could survive in the boonies…?   I don’t see much need for a locksmith, gunsmith, or alarm installer in the boonies where most structures are on huge acres of land with fences and who knows how many dogs on the property, let alone a cantankerous old coot with a heavily worn double-barrel shotgun… <grin>   Even repairs are pushing it when neighbors may be a mile or more away… that is a SMALL customer base.   How many guns near you in the boonies that need custom gunsmithing? …


A Home-Based Business–Your Ticket to The Boonies

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 because I can’t find work there, and the nature of my work doesn’t allow telecommuting.” They feel stuck. Over the years I’ve seen lots of people “pull the plug” and move to the boonies with the hope that they’ll find local work once they get there. That usually …


Odds ‘n Sods: An “Easy” Quiz

I found this short quiz floating through the ether of the Internet: The world’s easiest quiz: 1.) How long did the Hundred Year War last? 2.) Which country makes Panama hats? 3.) From which animal do we get catgut? 4.) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? 5.) What is a camel’s hair brush made of? 6.) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? 7.) What was King George VI’s first name? 8.) What color is a purple finch? 9.) Where are Chinese Gooseberries from? 10.) How long did the Thirty Years War last? …


Letter Re: State Boundaries (Expanding on “The State Line Game”)

Hi Jim, Your comments on building a house straddling a state line brought me back to my Navy days in Pensacola, Florida. It may be difficult to build across a state line but not impossible. There is a bar that straddles the state line between Florida and Alabama called – of course – The Floribama. As I recall it, there was a different last call time on opposite sides of the bar as the two states had different alcohol serving times. In any case, if it can be done with a commercial establishment (particularly a bar!) it can be done …