Andrew is my "worker." He really wants to learn to do everything. Here he happens upon a project I am starting for UnpluggedShop.com where I have several planes laid out on my workbench.

He looks them over and decides the smallest one, a Stanley #3 smoothing plane,  would be best for him.

There's life after school,
Luke Townsley
SalMakers.com

I frequently mention that traditional woodcraft and other period crafts are useful tools in developing life skills. What is it about these skills that are still attractive to the modern family?

Developing mental and physical skills is an important part of childhood development. Indeed, it is a process that should continue throughout life.

The term "dengineering" probably isn't going to appear in next years dictionary, but Doug Stowe thinks it should. His article is better than mine, so perhaps you will just want to stop reading here and read his first.

Have you checked into the cost of a college education lately?

Worse yet, have you seen what people are getting degrees in nowadays?

I see it like this. If you are going to get a degree in studies of laugh lines from failed '80s movies, you should realize you aren't likely going to be able to get a job using your degree to pay off your student loan.

For that matter, there are plenty of people getting useful degrees who can't find a job either.

Quick! How many tools do you have?

I'm shocked sometimes when I go into a home and there is a minor problem that hasn't been taken care of in a long time and when the owner complains and I offer to fix it, the conversation goes like this: "Honey, go get the screwdriver!".

If you are a one screwdriver home, you should think about expanding your skill set as well as your tool set. I understand that not everyone wants to be Bob Villa, but no one really wants to be Ernest P. Worrell either.