If we were forced to live off the land, certain skills would help us survive. Starting a fire to keep warm, using plants for food and medicine, catching food to eat, purifying water for drinking, and building a shelter would all help you live longer if you had to live off the land.

What about economic survival skills? Are there things that you can do to survive rough economic times?

Start a Fire to Keep Warm

Don't let your heart grow cold. God's Word is still true and so are His promises. Just because we are in a recession doesn't mean that Biblical principles have stopped working. Obey Biblical principles (tithing, giving, saving, budgeting, contentment, thankfulness) and stand on His promises.

Make declarations each morning to stir up your faith. When Mike and I were entering our fifth year of financial difficulties years ago, I began making financial declarations. I simply inserted our names into the following passages and read them aloud each morning in a personalized way. Soon my faith was soaring, affecting my prayer life, and our financial situation began to turn around in just six months. Yes, for years (not days or weeks), I made these declarations, standing on His promises.

Deuteronomy 28:1-4; Isaiah 54:10-17; Psalm 112; & II Corinthians 9:6-15.

Our business has been hit hard this year and the Lord is reminding me to start making declarations again. What a joy it is to remind God of His promises. Reminding myself warms me up inside too!

Use Plants for Food and Medicine

When military pilots are shot down in enemy territory, they are taught to survive until they are rescued, avoiding capture. Part of this survival involves using plants for food and medicine. Poisonous plants must be recognized and avoided. Certain plants provide pain relief, while others can treat infections. Re-think the way you feed your body and take care of your family's health.

Adding one or two vegetarian meals a week to your family's diet will lower your food bill and probably their cholesterol too. Herbs can be used to treat pain, infections, and minor illnesses. Check out a book on herbal remedies from the library. We have used herbs effectively with our family to avoid expensive doctor visits.

Catch Food to Eat

Father's Day is over and life is back to normal. Dad is back at work. You are either homeschooling or taking a much-needed summer break.

It got me thinking about my husband and other homeschooling dads. Here are some things I hear often.

"I can't remember the last time my husband and I had any time alone together."

"I am up late working on the computer and he gets up early to go to work. We never see each other anymore."

"He just doesn't appreciate all the time I spend homeschooling HIS children."

"I wish he had a better job. We can barely get by on his income."

Often, when I talk to homeschooling moms, they ask me for advice on how to get Dad to do more or to be more supportive. Many times, in the hustle and bustle of homeschooling a houseful, romantic life with Dad is put on the shelf and Mom focuses on the children, maybe more than she should.

So, what can we do to honor and appreciate our husbands more and express criticism less.

Helpmates
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What fun it has been to design my children's high school classes! It has been one of the greatest joys of homeschooling for me because I love planning, learning, and planning to learn. Now, you may not feel the same way I do. I can understand that. So, we will keep everything simple.

We have an overall plan. We understand the concept of credits. If not, review our previous articles in our homeschooling high school column  Now we are going to talk about designing individual classes! You can design classes to earn 0.5 credits or 1.0 credits. 

Ingredients of a Class

The various aspects of designing a high school class are: textbook or main living book (or DVD teaching series), supplemental books and materials, written and oral assignments, other assignments, and requirements for final grade.

Classes can be simple or complex, depending on what you want your child to learn and what he wants to study. The best way to explain how to design a class is to show you! Let's start with something simple.

A math class is pretty simple to design.  A math textbook, math tests, and sometimes lectures or videos comprise a simple math class. Let's look at Algebra II.

Algebra II (1.0 credit)

Textbook: Saxon Algebra II

Supplemental books and materials: The Algebra 2 Tutor Video course

Assignments: Complete one lesson a day. Take corresponding test once a week.  Watch one video segment a week.

Grading: For an C grade, complete all work, watch all videos, and test grades above 70%. For a B grade, complete all work neatly, showing how you did the problem, watch all video segments, and test grades above 80%. For a C grade, complete all work neatly, show all problem solving work, watch all video segments, and test grades above 90%. 

Now let's get a little more complicated. You are going to teach a literature class and you're not sure what to cover. You want him to read the classics, but your son wants to read mysteries.  What should you do.  One of your options would be to design a class based on classic mysteries. Your son could read a classic mystery and another book by the same author each month. You also want him to do some writing, but he hates writing and reading. You are trying to think of some way to make this class more fun, but don't want to compromise. You notice that your son spends hours on facebook or on a blog site blogging. Ah, you will have him write book review to post on his my space. You will call it blogging, but require correct grammar and spelling.

You can design high school classes! Really! You can do it! Think about all the things you would like to teach your child in high school. Go ahead and make a list.

Dreams for Your Children

My list for each child will include things that are the same and things that are unique for each child. For instance, I want all my children to read Communist Manifesto in high school so that they can understand the socialist agenda in American universities and colleges. I also want them to study worldviews so that they can recognize the different worldviews that are predominate in our culture. Most of all, I want my children to know God's Word and apply it to all of life.

Dreams for Each Teen

But then I have unique dreams for each child. For Katie Beth, it was to cultivate her gift of writing and give her opportunities to act. Julianna was a singer, so I wanted her to take voice lessons. Jenny Rose is a song writer--she developed that gift in high school. Sarah Joy is already skilled at movie making. Her high school classes include assignments to make videos! 

Your Dreams to Teach

Now, let's talk about you. What is it you want to teach your children in high school? How do you want to equip them for life? Make a list of things that are near and dear to your heart in this area. Once you have that list, we'll move on to making a general plan for the high school years. After we have the general plan, we will move on to individual course.

 "I don't know why I got into so much debt. I am so discouraged. I wish I could go back and do things different," my friend, Mike confided in me when I asked him why he was so down lately.

"How much are we talking?" I asked.

"$60,000.00"

Gulp. I didn't know what to say. As we chatted, I realized that his student loan payment was bigger than my mortgage payment.

Make the Choice to go to College Debt-Free

"We will not borrow money to go to college. We will not borrow money to send our children to college." This has been a mutual decision my husband and I made when we were engaged. After 27 years of marriage, we have been committed to this plan. Mike has gotten his Masters of Divinity debt-free, our oldest daughters have graduated debt-free from a private university, and my oldest daughter got her master's degree debt-free. We do not make a lot of money and we have a houseful of people to provide for. ​