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#1 ·
This isn't really the best spot for this but couldn't find a better place where it fits. I read a thread on another forum and it got me thinking. The thread was about post SHTF mathematics, and if/how people would take care of "figuring" without modern technology. If there are no more calculators, computers and such. How would people figure what they would need to build a house? We take stuff like that for advantage. Even more important is what about future generations? Now I'm talking a post-apocalyptic, TEOTWAWKI no near future restoration of normality. How do people educate their children? Can you teach your kids? Do you know someone who can, past the basics of addition, subtraction, and such?

Most of the preppers I know don't have or have even thought about any plan for this. It like entertainment is something "for a way down the road". While we don't have any kids the wife and I do have family members who either have or plan to have kids. Several of them are members of our "group". So we're lucky as my wife has her masters degree and teaches all levels from very basic ( grade school level almost) math to graduate level college courses at a local college.
Has anyone else prepared for this?
 
#2 ·
101airborne said:
This isn't really the best spot for this but couldn't find a better place where it fits. I read a thread on another forum and it got me thinking. The thread was about post SHTF mathematics, and if/how people would take care of "figuring" without modern technology. If there are no more calculators, computers and such. How would people figure what they would need to build a house? We take stuff like that for advantage. Even more important is what about future generations? Now I'm talking a post-apocalyptic, TEOTWAWKI no near future restoration of normality. How do people educate their children? Can you teach your kids? Do you know someone who can, past the basics of addition, subtraction, and such?

Most of the preppers I know don't have or have even thought about any plan for this. It like entertainment is something "for a way down the road". While we don't have any kids the wife and I do have family members who either have or plan to have kids. Several of them are members of our "group". So we're lucky as my wife has her masters degree and teaches all levels from very basic ( grade school level almost) math to graduate level college courses at a local college.
Has anyone else prepared for this?
Good question since I have a 14 year old 9th grader to be... I made it through Differential Equations... Can't remember the most simplistic equation now, but with a real book, I could teach her up to probably Calculus 2 without much issues as long as I reviewed it the day before - although without a calculator, 1 problem could take 30 minutes?!?

One thing I insisted on when she was in k-7th, no calculator... In 8th she was in algebra and the use was required by the teacher... But at home, she would do the assignments without one...
 
#3 ·
Educating Roo is a no-brainer for me. My mom just retired from being a school teacher so I have text books through high school at my finger tips and my dad was a college professor when I was a kid. He is a retired mathematician who had worked for the DOD in aerospace engineering when I was older. I have higher math and sciences under my belt from college- recently had to tutor my SIL so she could finally pass her basic college algebra class. My dad ingrained that math should be 95% mental and 5% computing so I think I'm covered.
 
#5 ·
If you plan to educate children using the status quo methods you will waste a vast amount of time. school is geared to take 12 years to keep kids out of the way until they can be put to work or further programmed by the system. the current system is designed to separate the independent thinkers from the drones, it like to make the independent thinker feel dumb because they refuse the stupidity (two too many to s etc. and don't want to memorize the idiotic tables instead of doing something useful. some people are able to understand the drone world and think for them selves, (Grimm, Bobbb for example) but not that many escape, the independent thinker is shoved to the side doing "menial" tasks (which if they stopped the drone would starve)
I learned how really useless main stream education is when I took a math course required for an electronics course that I was going to take. The course took the class from the very basics to extremely advanced calculus in 6 weeks of 2 3hour evening courses. The English language needs to be rebuilt to get rid of the traps put into it by the scribes guilds hundreds of years ago (though instead of thoe night , instead of nite )

Education is extremely important especially after shtf but it needs to be cleaned up first. parents need to find out how to discover their children's learning styles and be able to teach them that way or find someone to teach them. the university hierarchy controls the financial success of far too many people now.
 
#6 ·
My gal home schooled her kids, mine went to public schools and I feel that her kids are far better educated and will be better at teaching their kids.
As far as building a house, and I have built a couple, Ive never used a calculator or computer to do it just a tape measure, pencil and paper. Should one of the houses, pole barns, sheds or whatever that I built get torn down they will see many many measurments, and math problems worked out right on the studs. IMHO calculators are handy but overused, most cash register users at stores I see couldnt even count your change back if the register didnt tell em the right amount.
 
#7 ·
Our oldest (my stepson) graduates this next year. We keep everything. There is a really active homeschool group in Texas and many families trade learning materials.

Conservative Texans will be fine post-SHTF.
 
#8 ·
My gal home schooled her kids, mine went to public schools and I feel that her kids are far better educated and will be better at teaching their kids.
As far as building a house, and I have built a couple, Ive never used a calculator or computer to do it just a tape measure, pencil and paper. Should one of the houses, pole barns, sheds or whatever that I built get torn down they will see many many measurments, and math problems worked out right on the studs. IMHO calculators are handy but overused, most cash register users at stores I see couldnt even count your change back if the register didnt tell em the right amount.
This is true for commercial construction. There are blueprints but they only get the workers so far before they have to rework the measurements and calculations.
 
#9 ·
cedarguy;270786As far as building a house said:
True for the most part. However you need to do a materials list. From the concrete footing to the shingles or metal for the roof. Most people either can't figure that on paper or don't have the extra time to do so or don't want to take a chance on being short material and underbidding or over figuring materials and overbidding. I was old school there and still am. I still do my initial calculations on paper and verify with a calculator to be sure. The thing I mainly wanted to bring up with this thread was ( maybe I didn't clarify it sorry) was/ is are we prepared to be able to give the future generations some type of education even if it's just the "three R's"
 
#10 ·
Essential prep to plan for. I have one daughter who is a teacher/theatre major, another a nurse, another daughter a behavioural specialist/psychologist and her husband is a builder , one son whose a carpenter and his wife’s a teacher, another son who’s a business man, hubby is a builder/mechanic, I’m a retired therapist/gramma, and most of us have good hunting, gathering, gardening and survival skills. I think that there are enough skill sets in our group to teach our kids (14 grandchildren ages 18 - newborn) in a pretty comprehensive fashion.

My daughter in law and I put together a homeschool plan for her girls this year, and we pretty much did it with an eye to an ‘un-schooling' approach which worked out really well for us. I think people would be really surprised at how they can use the skill sets they have in teaching their kids - however as someone else said parents’ have been so far removed from ‘teaching’ their own children that they have been brainwashed into believing that only qualified ‘teachers’ in an educational system that is broken can get the job done right.
 
#11 ·
The lovely one home schooled our two youngest kids through their high school years. We still have all of the text books for that.

She was also a high school drop out and took GED classes at some point, in her 20's. We still have all of her GED books.

Anytime I see a text book at a yard sale or auction, no matter how old it is, if it's in decent shape, I buy it. I think if I have some history books, both world and American, and all grades of text books, We would be able to give a child a decent education.

That, along with all of our normal books that we have, and I have a lot of "how to" books, we should be good for normal life. Now, I'm not saying I could teach anyone any advanced courses, but...
 
#12 · (Edited)
I have several grand-kids,and from what I see,what little "formal" education I have I could teach the bases.They know next to nothing about anything.They wanted to keep one grandson back a year because he couldn't tie his shoe(it took me 10 minutes to sit him down and teach him).Then the teacher said "he doesn't read very well" I guess I kinda pissed her off when I ask what her job was???!!!I have been getting all kind of school books just in case.Most time they do NOT teach Home Eck.I ask my 18 year old if he knew about STD,his answer was "what's STD??I got the same answer if he knew where Iran was.Yep that our Education System..sad very sad.I was afraid to ask anymore questions.!!:rolleyes:
 
#13 ·
My Grandfather was raised in a German family on a farm in North Dakota, English was a second language. Most fellas from his era got what was called an "8th grade education". By the time he died at age 84, he could have had a doctorate in agronomy from all the reading and research he had done over the years.

To score some awesome free textbooks, hit up the library of your local college and ask for their "discards".
 
#14 ·
We have the library to teach a "formal" education to our future generations. However, I feel the education of skills and life lessons; (learning from doing) will serve them well also. We have a historian in our family and in the event of a SHTF scenario it is our plan to chronicle the events each day or when possible. This is important so that those that rebuild can learn from our mistakes...hopefully.
 
#15 ·
For 90% of any project I have done addition, subtraction and division is all you need. When I do carpentry I use a pencil and do the math right on the wood. I have never carried a calculator with me when I'm doing this. On some projects I use trig and that is where a calculator works well. I also keep a triangle solver (looks like a slide rule) around. Something I would recommend is to get those cheater cards that you can buy at places like Bomgarrs and store these in your SHTF files. Basic geometry is a must for doing some projects but this is not a math thing its a craftsman thing that normally has to be learned by doing. Decimal equivalent cards are nice to have around too.

I would also recommend that every one have a Machinery's Handbook in the file. This is the bible of projects. They have everything you would need to design almost anything. The last one I purchase was maybe 15 years ago but when I run into trouble on a project that book always has a solution. These can be purchased from Amazon for $75 for a hard cover and $15 for the paper back version.
 
#17 ·
Essential prep to plan for. I have one daughter who is a teacher/theatre major, another a nurse, another daughter a behavioural specialist/psychologist and her husband is a builder , one son whose a carpenter and his wife's a teacher, another son who's a business man, hubby is a builder/mechanic, I'm a retired therapist/gramma, and most of us have good hunting, gathering, gardening and survival skills. I think that there are enough skill sets in our group to teach our kids (14 grandchildren ages 18 - newborn) in a pretty comprehensive fashion.

"You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove." Mat. 10:16
Matthew 10:16 says this,

(Mat 10:16 NIV) I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

Jesus also said this to his disciples:

(Mat 5:14-16 NIV) "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. {15} Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. {16} In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Your Bible translation is not a translation. It's a basterdized corruption of the Word of God. It should be neither read nor quoted. The line that you quoted, "so don't call attention to yourselves.", makes me livid because not only is it not in the Bible but it goes directly against what the Bible teaches.
 
#18 ·
I would also recommend that every one have a Machinery's Handbook in the file. This is the bible of projects.
24th edition hardcover, with handbook. Both books together I got on ebay for $40.

I also got an 11th edition (pretty old) that came with ALL OF THE OLD MAN'S NOTEBOOKS!!! I could toss the book... the amount of info this ol' fella wrote down is priceless!!!
I think I paid $20

How will you do higher math?
An amazing amount of geometry and trig can be solved using the tables and charts in the Machinery's Handbook.
 
#19 ·
I've homeschooled K-12 & since we have a one year old, we'll be doing it again. Every homeschool mom with a teaching degree described that degree as a hindrance, NOT a help, in a homeschool situation. It's a completely different situation, with completely different objectives, & completely different resources.

As someone who has actually tried to use textbooks meant for an institutional school situation in a homeschool situation, don't. If you want to buy textbooks for homeschooling, go to a homeschool used book sale. You can get them dirt cheap & you'll have something you can actually use. You can cut a 2x4 with a hammer & chisel, but you get faster, better, easier results with a saw. Same principle. ;)

If your 18 year old doesn't know what an STD is, shame on the parent. As the parent, the buck stops with you. You are ultimately responsible for your child reaching the age of maturity knowing everything he or she needs to know. You may delegate some of the work of doing that, but it's still your responsibility. That's a big part of the problem with this country, parents refusing to take *full* responsibility for the kids they bring into the world.
 
#20 ·
Matthew 10:16 says this,

(Mat 10:16 NIV) I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

Jesus also said this to his disciples:

(Mat 5:14-16 NIV) "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. {15} Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. {16} In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Your Bible translation is not a translation. It's a basterdized corruption of the Word of God. It should be neither read nor quoted. The line that you quoted, "so don't call attention to yourselves.", makes me livid because not only is it not in the Bible but it goes directly against what the Bible teaches.
Matthew 10:16 - I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

אני שולחת לך כמו כבשים בין זאבים. לכן להיות ממולח כמו נחשים
תמים כמו יונים.

There ya go - now that's better eh - shine on!

Sorry for this ridiculous sidetrack OP.
 
#21 ·
I think we should leave which version of the Bible is the best up to God and not let the Word become an arguing point by men who have decided they know better. Such men have been "bastardizing" the Word and the Church since day one.

Back to the point of this thread: My wife will teach the kids reading, writing and arithmetic. I will teach them how to shoot, kill and survive. If we are talking about an apocalyptic event, I don't think calculus will be near as important as say how to grow tomatoes (short term anyway). Education means very different things to different people and post-SHTF education means learning sustainability and survival.
 
#22 ·
24th edition hardcover, with handbook. Both books together I got on ebay for $40.

I also got an 11th edition (pretty old) that came with ALL OF THE OLD MAN'S NOTEBOOKS!!! I could toss the book... the amount of info this ol' fella wrote down is priceless!!!
I think I paid $20

An amazing amount of geometry and trig can be solved using the tables and charts in the Machinery's Handbook.
You got a full package 24th edition for $40.00 that is CHEAP, keep it up and we are changing you member description to "He who finds deals"
 
#23 ·
This isn't really the best spot for this but couldn't find a better place where it fits. I read a thread on another forum and it got me thinking. The thread was about post SHTF mathematics, and if/how people would take care of "figuring" without modern technology. If there are no more calculators, computers and such. How would people figure what they would need to build a house? We take stuff like that for advantage. Even more important is what about future generations? Now I'm talking a post-apocalyptic, TEOTWAWKI no near future restoration of normality. How do people educate their children? Can you teach your kids? Do you know someone who can, past the basics of addition, subtraction, and such?

Most of the preppers I know don't have or have even thought about any plan for this. It like entertainment is something "for a way down the road". While we don't have any kids the wife and I do have family members who either have or plan to have kids. Several of them are members of our "group". So we're lucky as my wife has her masters degree and teaches all levels from very basic ( grade school level almost) math to graduate level college courses at a local college.
Has anyone else prepared for this?
I planned for the kid I couldn't raise.I stole every textbook I ever had.
Any mid 60's textbook is gold!
 
#24 ·
I think we should leave which version of the Bible is the best up to God and not let the Word become an arguing point by men who have decided they know better. Such men have been "bastardizing" the Word and the Church since day one.

Back to the point of this thread: My wife will teach the kids reading, writing and arithmetic. I will teach them how to shoot, kill and survive. If we are talking about an apocalyptic event, I don't think calculus will be near as important as say how to grow tomatoes (short term anyway). Education means very different things to different people and post-SHTF education means learning sustainability and survival.
I think that Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven did a good job in Lucifer's Hammer in showing how this might work in a PAW. You never know what kind of knowledge you need when you're facing a cannibal army trying to invade your protected valley. That valley had a whole bunch of ranchers and farmers and blacksmtihs and people with other useful skills needed for day to day living but what really saved their bacon was a diabetic rocket scientist, a McGyver of sorts, who managed to brew up mustard gas from pool cleaning chemicals.

The road to rebuilding society is going to always involve specialization of different sorts and we should take care not to lose knowledge because once it's lost it becomes very difficult to rediscover that knowledge via independent research.

I'm thinking that we'll eventually find equilibrium in that new society such that it matches what used to be - patrons directly supporting the egghead, parents directly supporting the school marm and so on.

The real high end and abstract research being conducted will find no patrons, so the high energy physicist will be SOOL but to get to that high level of specialization he had to demonstrate proficiency with more rudimentary physics and that knowledge will be useful to various communities and just as important that high energy physicist will be a smart cookie no matter that the knowledge he has buried in his noggin is of no use to anyone, his intelligence, just by itself, will be useful for general problem solving in the community. Keep in mind that the US Army found that tank gunners who are smarter shoot more accurately than tank gunners who are dimmer. What does intelligence have to do with shooting straight? Not much, but apparently there is more to shooting successfully than just aiming accurately.

The school marm will still have to pull her weight during harvest time and do other chores, but her work load will be cut in order to free up time for her to teach the kids, and the same with the physicist who strolled into the valley. That microsociety won't have the resources to let a dude like him conduct his Doc Brown experiments in his garage all day long and support him but when he says that he has a better way to generate electricity, the community will probably shoulder the load to give him time to work his magic.
 
#25 ·
I planned for the kid I couldn't raise.I stole every textbook I ever had.
Any mid 60's textbook is gold!
Yeah, I kind of plan for other peoples kids as well. While I have let even thinking of future education totally slip. I have been and still am stocking entertainment supplies in form of craft supplies, coloring books, crayons, markers, rolls of end pieces of newspaper ( whats let on the end of a roll they take off the press when it's to short to use, usually 3'X 30' or so.) Books by the hundreds from Dr.Suess to novels for senior citizens, along with puzzle books, CD's, dozens (more like a couple hundred) DVD's.
 
#26 ·
QUOTE:

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

-Robert A. Heinlein


The closer we come to that ideal ourselves, the better teachers we will be. It takes a lifetime to get a full education, IMHO, so older, wiser heads have traditionally been revered for their wisdom--a very different thing than being educated. I'm 67 this year and still working on my own education, and wisdom.

That all means I think the older people will be most likely to have the teaching jobs in a PAW society, and not just teaching the little kids. I expect that apprenticeships will be the order of the day, passing on skills which leads to ideas in Lucifer's Hammer.

My wife and I have a lot of skills and education to pass on, but, sadly, no grandkids, so it will be a matter of other people's kids. Our own daughter is now teaching at a homeschool academy, General Science to middle school kids. She has a degree in Chemistry, a background in my furniture making shop, my metal shop, was MSGT in USAF doing airframe repair, and has her own metal shop business. Our kids grew up farming and logging 45 acres with a team of Percherons and raising crops and livestock. They helped us butcher and preserve what we raised.

We collect textbooks of all sorts and get them for a pittance at yard sales, Goodwill, and other second hand outlets. At present we can cover up to 2nd year college in several fields and beyond that in a few. Wife has a degree in Nursing, I have an Engineering degree, son in law has a degree in Forestry and is a certified welder operating his own fabrication shop. I own a machine shop and daughter is an herbalist, which was why she sought the Chemistry program and took enough German to read the latest research on herbal medicine.

Daughter also has an apprenticeship class going in metal work for her homeschoolers. She and her hubby are building passive/active solar heat collectors for sale, and that gets featured in her science classes, too. We all believe in hands-on teaching, so that means the kids make their own solar hot dog cookers and solar cell phone chargers using cells from sidewalk lights. Knowledge just isn't worth much if you cannot put it to work.
 
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