Studies have shown that children’s study skills deteriorate over the summer break if they aren’t being challenged. With reading in particular, they can fall two or three levels in just that 8-10 week period. Therefore, we’re going to have them doing book reports and research papers, as well as practicing math skills and learning about science and history.

In addition to the academics, I’m planning to kick their survival skill education into high gear. Here’s a short list for what I have on tap:

–Making fire – different types of campfires, ways to get them lit, how to keep them fed properly.

–Shelter building – lean-tos, debris huts, etc.

–Finding north without a compass.

–Locating water sources and purification methods.

–Traps and snares.

–Knife sharpening.

–Edible and medicinal plants.

–Target practice with bow and air rifles.

–Cooking over a campfire.

–Self-defense.

–Situational awareness.

Not only will these lessons teach them valuable skills, they are an opportunity to brush up on some of them myself.

If you have children, I challenge you to do something similar. Summer should definitely be fun but that doesn’t mean they can’t learn a thing or two along the way.

There are, though, a fair number who just read a few books and figured that’d be good enough. They might be very convincing and charming and know all the cool slang terms. But, when push comes to shove, they couldn’t get a decent campfire going if you gave them a Bic lighter and a cup of gasoline.

How can you know the instructor is really legit?

The first thing to do is check out their purported credentials. Just as with anything else, if they sound too good to be true, they just may have inflated the ol’ resume here and there. Most commonly, I see this with military service. They will tell you they are an ex-SEAL / Green Beret / Ranger / whatever. If that’s truly the case, they shouldn’t have any qualms about sharing with you their DD-214, which is their official military service record. Ask to see it. If they balk, ask why. If they cite security clearance or something, just walk away and find another instructor because odds are they are just BSing you.

Bear in mind too that military service and training doesn’t automatically qualify them to teach anything. An analogy — I’ve shared with my readers before that I work as a private investigator. Now, I’m pretty damn good at what I do, primarily because I’ve learned from some of the best in the business. Becoming a private detective is one of the go-to plans for retiring law enforcement officers. Just because a guy wore a badge for 25 years doesn’t automatically qualify them to be a competent PI. Depends on their training and background, right? I mean, if the guy was essentially running speed traps for 15 years, how in the world does that equate to finding a missing person or taking a statement from a witness? So, just because a guy was in the Army for 12 years, that doesn’t mean he received more than just basic survival training. Sure, that might be more than you have had yourself but if you are going to pay someone to teach you how to survive in the bush, wouldn’t you want that person to be as highly trained as possible?

Please note, I mean absolutely no disrespect to any military veteran with the above. Anyone who has signed on to do a hitch in the military gets my honest gratitude and support. My point is simply that there are some vets out there who want people to think they have had more training in certain areas than really ever took place.

If the instructor has passed the initial sniff test, look for reviews online. Find out what other people are saying about the school. Pay particular attention to negative reviews and read them closely. It might be that the person and the instructor had something of a personality conflict, which may or may not affect you. It could also be that the reviewer is simply a buffoon and couldn’t be bothered to even try learning the most basic skills without complaining. Remember, every school is different and each instructor has their own style of teaching. You may not do well with someone who is hollering at you like a drill sergeant. Then again, maybe that’s exactly what you want.

Finally, find out how long the school has been around. If they’ve been in business for the last 15 years, odds are they are doing something right. However, if the ink isn’t even dry on their sign, you might want to think twice about parting with your hard-earned cash just to be a guinea pig.

In my opinion, I feel cordage is second only to a good blade in terms of usefulness in a survival kit.

There are just so many tasks that are made infinitely easier with even a shoelace, let alone several feet of good quality paracord.

–Lashing together an expedient shelter.
–Hanging food from a tree to keep it away from animals.
–Tying gear to your pack.
–Replacing broken boot laces.
–Bow drill for starting fires.

As you might guess, I recommend paracord over other forms of cordage. For those not familiar with it, paracord is a truly wonderful invention. I liken it to duct tape in terms of usefulness. Paracord consists of several strands of nylon cord, with each of them made of 2 or 3 even smaller strands woven together. These inner strands are then covered by a sheath, itself made of nylon. The end result is you conceivably have seventy or more feet of total cordage with just ten feet of paracord.

What I think is one of the coolest features of paracord is that in spite of the incredible strength, it is much thinner than you might expect. Seriously, I have shoelaces that are thicker. What this means is you can easily fit a dozen feet or more in even a very small survival kit.

Coupled with having cordage is knowing how to use it effectively. I highly encourage preppers to head to their local library and find a book or two on knots, then practice some of the more useful ones like the square knot, the bowline, and the clove hitch.

When I use the term “everyday survival skills,” I’m talking about the skill sets most of use on a very regular basis, even if we might not think of them as necessarily being “survival” related.

One such skill is creative problem solving. Whether the problem is trying to get all the bills paid each month or a troublesome alternator, we often find ourselves having to think outside the box a bit. This is a vitally important survival skill. We all know, or should know, that survival situations rarely ever follow any sort of exact timeline or sequence of events. By strengthening your creativity, you will be in a better position to come up with workable solutions, even in perhaps the most dire circumstances.

Another is conflict resolution. All too many preppers I hear from have sort of a bull in a china shop approach to potential conflicts. While there may certainly be situations where that mindset is warranted, we don’t see much of it in our daily lives. Instead, preppers should work on honing their negotiation skills as well as just being able to talk to others in an effort to resolve problems. Sure, if someone is a physical threat, you’re not necessarily going to try and talk them down from the ledge, so to speak. But, if it is a co-worker who is just dogging you, the first instinct (to knock them upside the head, perhaps) may not be the best.

We’ve talked a fair amount about situational awareness. This is an important skill to practice daily, yet one many people still struggle with.

What other skills do you feel have practical value for survival?

IF there is an existing group in your area and IF they are looking to sign up new members, odds are pretty good they already have the security angle figured out.

Remember, every new member of the group means one more mouth to feed, one more person creating waste that must be disposed of, and one more possible headache.

Instead of focusing on your armaments, look toward developing other practical skills.

–First aid / medical skills
–Gardening
–Animal husbandry
–Carpentry
–Plumbing
–Small engine repair
–Ham radio

I’ll tell you something. A trained EMT, nurse, or doctor will be held in much higher regard than one more guy or gal with a gun, no matter how good they are with it.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying there is no value in becoming a marksman, far from it. No, what I mean is you need to develop skill sets that will set you apart from most other people. Hard skills, practical skills. While weaving a blanket of cattail is wonderful to be able to do, I doubt a community is going to look at that as a contributing skill, know what I mean?

Y’know what though? None of that qualifies me to strap on pads and be on the defensive line. I mean, that would be absolutely foolish of me, right? I’m in my early 40s and while I’m in decent shape, I’m by no means a professional athlete.

Yet, this is the exact same approach I see some people take when it comes to prepping. They read a bunch of books, buy some gear, and watch a few movies, then feel they are all set for whatever might come their way. The reality is they are no more ready for survival than I am ready to receive a pass thrown by Aaron Rodgers into double coverage.

Prepping is not an intellectual exercise, or at least it shouldn’t be.

Sure, it does involve a lot of thinking and planning but without some experience under your belt, you’re just living in a fantasy world.

If you want to consider yourself a prepper or survivalist, at some point you need to get off your butt and learn skills by doing rather than reading or watching. Actually starting a fire using a flint and steel is a bit harder than just reading how it is done. And cooking an entire meal over an open flame is as much art as it is science, really.

Watching a movie where a guy builds a nifty little fort to sleep in for a few nights is all well and good but try it sometime and see how well you do. Buying a handgun for self-defense is a wonderful idea but you need to take it to the range every now and again so you can hit what you’re aiming at.

By all means, read the highly regarded books and see the entertaining movies. But temper that with going outside and getting your hands dirty. Don’t wait for beautiful weather either. Odds are when you truly need to use those skills, it isn’t going to be a nice summer afternoon.

Post-disaster laundry can be done much easier if you plan ahead.

You’ll need a five gallon plastic pail with lid, a plunger, a hacksaw, and a drill for this simple project.

Start by cutting out a small hole in the center of the bucket lid. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to use your drill to make a hole large enough to accommodate the hacksaw blade, then saw around in a circle. The resulting hole should be just large enough for the plunger handle to fit though easily.

Then, drill 5-7 holes in the plunger, like so:

At this point, you are essentially done building your new washing machine. To use, fill the bucket about 1/3 with clothes, then pour in just enough water to cover them. Add a little detergent. Thread the plunger handle through the lid, then snap the lid onto the bucket so the rubber part of the plunger is inside. Agitate the clothes by plunging up and down.

You don’t need to pump that plunger like you’re using a manual railroad car either. Just smooth and steady motions will do the job. Incidentally, this is a great chore for the kids in the house.

How long you need to agitate will depend on just how dirty the clothes are, of course. For lightly soiled clothing, 5 minutes or so might be enough.

Once the clothes are clean, you’ll need to rinse them in another bucket. Then, hang them on the line to dry.

Due to the small size of the bucket, you aren’t going to do a ton clothes at a time, of course. But you should be able to do several pair of socks, some underwear, and a couple shirts at a time.

Seriously, there is absolutely nothing fancy here at all. Just good, old fashioned stew.

Ingredients
1 lb stew meat, cubed
3-4 large potatoes
1/2 lb corn
1/3 lb peas
2 tbs flour
4 packets beef gravy mix
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking oil (canola or vegetable)

Start by cubing your meat into small chunks. Personally, I like them to be about an inch or so all the way around.

Put 2 tbs flour in a ziplock plastic bag and then put in the meat. Seal the bag and shake it up until the meat looks to be all dusted with the flour. Put about four tablespoons of oil in the bottom of a heavy pot and turn the heat to about medium-high. When a drop of water sizzle when tossed on the oil, dump in the dusted meat.

What you’re doing is browning the meat on all sides. Stir it up frequently until it is completely browned.

Pour in four cups of water. Bring the water to a boil, then turn down the heat a couple notches. Sprinkle in the contents of two beef gravy packets and stir well. Simmer for about 30 minutes or so, uncovered.

While you’re waiting, peel, rinse, and cut up 3-4 large potatoes. I like a lot of taters in my stew. If you don’t like them quite as much, don’t use that many. Again, I cut them up to about an inch in size. After the meat has been cooking for about a half hour, add the potatoes as well as two more cups of water. Sprinkle in the remaining two gravy packets, stir it all up, and simmer uncovered for another 30 minutes or until the potatoes seem tender.

By now, you should have people walking into the kitchen, asking what that glorious smell is coming from.

Add the corn and peas, stirring them in. You can use fresh, canned, or frozen, whichever you have on hand. I usually use frozen and since I like corn a little more than I like peas, I add more of the former than the latter. However, you are welcome to use whatever you like for veggies — corn, peas, carrots, green beans, etc.

Simmer for about ten minutes and you’re all set. You could add dumplings too, just follow the directions on the Bisquick or Jif Mix box.

The stew will be very thick, more like meat and veggies covered in gravy instead of in a broth type soup. It will keep in the fridge very well for a few days, provided there are any leftovers. It however does not freeze very well in my experience.

The reality is, a lot of those folks will be in for a rude awakening should a disaster strike and they’re forced to figure out cooking on the fly. Of course, a lot of those people might not have food stored to begin with but hey, gotta take it one step at a time I guess.

Scratch cooking is an important skill and if it isn’t in your repertoire, you need to fix that as soon as possible.

If you are a total beginner, start by stopping in at your local thrift store and buying one or two decent cookbooks. Personally, I love the Betty Crocker one I’ve owned for about 20 years now. Don’t worry about any of those themed cookbooks, like “101 One Skillet Meals” or some such nonsense. Just get a basic cookbook that has instructions on how to prepare a bunch of different stuff, as well as guidelines for cooking in general. It should define terms like braising, simmer, and poach.

Then, pick one recipe a week to try. Doesn’t need to be anything fancy and, in fact, if you can’t pronounce the name, pass on it for now. Maybe start with basic soups and stews, adding dumplings if you feel adventurous.

The main reason why preppers should learn scratch cooking is because storing basic ingredients is way cheaper than storing complete meals. By knowing how to turn dried split peas and a few potatoes into a tasty soup, you’ll be way ahead of the game.

Cooking isn’t hard if you know how to read and follow directions. Rest assured, you’re going to mess things up here and there. That’s ok, as long as you learn from the mistakes. Hell, one time I made meatballs from scratch and instead of putting in parsley, I put in mint. Just wasn’t paying close enough attention to the spice rack. I didn’t realize it until my wife and I sat down to dinner. It was…interesting. They actually weren’t that bad, just different. She still ribs me about it from time to time. Believe it or not though, we did happen across a meatball recipe a few years ago that called for mint too.

One really great opportunity I recently heard about was to use history as your guide. Remember, just because your child attends a public school, that doesn’t mean you somehow aren’t allowed to augment their education at home. So, this applies to both home schoolers as well as parents of public school students.

An example would be teaching your children about Native American tribes from your area. Rather than just have them research the different tribes and their history, apply some experiential learning. Find out together what sorts of shelters those tribes made and go in the backyard to make one with your children. Maybe you don’t need to use animal skins but instead substitute tarps. Cook a meal or two using the same primitive tools they used back then.

Medieval Europe is another suggestions. While you may not want to build a stone hut or building in your yard, you can make the same sorts of foods over an open fire, eating them without utensils.

Let your imagination run a bit and see what you can come up with.

By incorporating these types of studies into your child’s education, they’ll not only learn potentially valuable skills but also gain a better appreciation for the world they live in today.