Outdoor Skills & Wilderness Survival — Complete High School Course

Navigate. Predict. Shelter. Signal. Come Home.

A secular, project- and lab-based high school course for grades 9–12

What if your high school student could earn a full elective credit while learning skills they could actually use for the rest of their life?

Outdoor Skills & Wilderness Survival is a complete 36-week, one-credit high school course that combines wilderness skills, science, mathematics, geography, risk management, emergency preparedness, and hands-on problem solving. Students don't simply read about survival—they practice skills, collect data, build projects, make decisions, and create realistic outdoor plans.

The central philosophy of the course is simple:

Prevention is the survival skill.

Students learn to recognize hazards, evaluate risk, make informed decisions, and plan ahead—because good wilderness skills are about much more than knowing how to build a fire or tie a knot.

🌲 WHAT STUDENTS WILL LEARN

Throughout the year, students develop practical skills in:

🧭 Navigation & Map Skills

• Reading topographic maps
• Map scale and coordinates
• Contour lines and terrain features
• Route planning
• Compass navigation
• Magnetic declination
• Pace counting
• Dead reckoning
• Resection and intersection
• GPS and digital navigation
• Emergency navigation
• What to do when lost

🌦️ Weather & Environmental Awareness

• Understanding atmospheric conditions
• Weather forecasting
• Radar and forecast discussions
• Mountain weather
• Lightning safety
• Go/no-go decisions
• Heat transfer
• Hypothermia
• Heat illness
• Hydration
• Environmental risk assessment

🥾 Hiking, Camping & Trip Planning

• Hiking technique and pacing
• Blister prevention
• The Ten Essentials
• Gear selection and testing
• Campsite selection
• Camp layout
• Leave No Trace principles
• Complete trip planning
• Emergency communication plans
• Permits and budgets

🪢 Knots & Shelter

• Core knots
• Hitches
• Lashings
• Ridgelines
• Mechanical advantage
• Knot strength and failure
• Tarp shelters
• Natural shelters
• Emergency shelters
• Winter shelter considerations
• Insulation and heat transfer

🔥 Fire Skills

• Combustion
• Fire structure
• Fuel selection
• Ignition methods
• Ferro rod use
• Wet-condition fire considerations
• Fire management
• Wildfire awareness

💧 Water

• Finding and evaluating water sources
• Water requirements
• Pathogens
• Water collection
• Filtration
• Boiling
• Chemical disinfection
• UV treatment
• Choosing treatment methods based on the actual hazard

🍎 Food & Nutrition

• Calorie budgeting
• Macronutrients
• Food-weight calculations
• Meal planning
• Energy density
• Food storage
• Bear hangs and canisters
• Wildlife considerations
• Foraging laws
• Why “living off the land” isn't a reliable survival plan

🩹 Outdoor First Aid

• Scene safety
• Patient assessment
• SAMPLE history
• Bleeding control
• Wound care
• Sprains
• Improvised splints
• Shock
• Anaphylaxis
• Altitude illness
• Evacuation decisions

🐻 Wildlife & Rescue

• Wildlife risk assessment
• Species-specific responses
• Insect and reptile hazards
• Emergency signaling
• Signal mirrors
• Whistles
• Ground-to-air signals
• Personal locator beacons and satellite messengers
• Search-and-rescue systems
• Lost-person behavior
• Self-rescue and the stay-put decision

🔬 THIS ISN'T JUST A READING COURSE

Every week combines learning, hands-on investigation, application, and project work.

Students complete:

• 36 laboratory investigations
• 36 worksheets
• 36 mini-projects
• 36 lab reports
• 36 field journal entries
• 2 major projects
• 2 oral defenses
• 1 personal tested emergency kit

Labs aren't simply crafts or demonstrations. Students collect measurements and data, analyze results, test systems, and apply what they learn.

Examples include:

• Accident-chain analysis
• Gear failure testing
• Topographic map investigations
• Contour modeling
• Route comparisons
• Compass verification
• Pace calibration
• GPS accuracy testing
• Weather and barometer investigations
• Heat-loss experiments
• Knot load testing
• Shelter thermal testing
• Fire-lay comparisons
• Water-treatment comparisons
• Energy-density analysis
• Bear-hang testing
• First-aid assessment drills
• Splinting trials
• Wildlife response drills
• Emergency signaling tests
• Search-and-rescue scenarios
• Expedition-plan stress testing

🏕️ TWO MAJOR PROJECTS

Project 1: The Day Hike Operation

Students plan, document, execute, and debrief a real day hike.

Their completed project includes:

• Navigation packet
• Weather brief
• Gear list
• Emergency plan
• Route planning
• Field execution
• Data collection
• Debrief
• Oral defense

Project 2: The Expedition Plan — Capstone

Students design a realistic multi-day wilderness expedition incorporating everything they have learned.

The final plan includes:

• Route
• Maps
• Food
• Water
• Equipment
• Emergency procedures
• Budget
• Weather analysis
• Risk assessment
• Contingencies

The goal is to create a plan that a competent adult could realistically follow.

📚 COMPLETE COURSE PACKAGE

Your purchase includes the complete course, including:

• Course overview
• Scope and sequence
• Materials list
• Six grading rubrics
• 144-day course plan with links
• 36 labs
• 36 worksheets
• 36 mini-projects
• Two major projects
• Field Trip Guide
• Answer Booklet
• Printable Grade Tracker
• Field journal activities
• Major-project defense questions

The course also includes a 288-question worksheet system with answer key and scoring notes.

📖 NO TEXTBOOK TO BUY

Every required reading is free.

The course uses authoritative resources from organizations including the National Weather Service, National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey, CDC, EPA, Leave No Trace, REI, NOLS, and other established sources.

That means families aren't required to purchase an expensive textbook simply to complete the course.

🏠 DESIGNED FOR HOMESCHOOL USE

You don't need to be an experienced outdoor educator to facilitate this course.

The student follows a predictable four-day weekly rhythm:

Day 1 — Learn
Read, watch, research, and complete the worksheet.

Day 2 — Lab
Complete the week's hands-on investigation and lab report.

Day 3 — Build
Complete the weekly mini-project.

Day 4 — Apply
Practice the skill in the field or through an indoor simulation, complete the field journal entry, and advance the major project.

Most days are designed for approximately 55–75 minutes, with the full year providing roughly 156 hours of instructional time before field trips and major-project work.

🌎 YOU DON'T HAVE TO LIVE IN THE MOUNTAINS

The course is designed to be adaptable.

Every outdoor activity includes an indoor or local alternative when appropriate. A backyard, city park, school parking lot, or large indoor space can substitute for many activities, and four flex weeks are built into the schedule to accommodate weather, illness, or catching up.

The course also uses U.S. customary units as its primary measurement system, while teaching students the metric measurements they will encounter in areas such as UTM coordinates, nutrition, and scientific measurements.

🎓 COURSE DETAILS

Course: Outdoor Skills & Wilderness Survival
Grade Level: 9–12
Course Length: 36 weeks
Schedule: 4 days per week
Credit: 1 high school elective credit
Format: Digital curriculum
Labs: 36
Worksheets: 36
Mini-Projects: 36
Major Projects: 2
Textbook Required: No
Edition: First Edition, 2025

Possible transcript titles

• Outdoor Skills and Wilderness Survival — 1.0 elective credit
• Wilderness Studies — 1.0 science elective, where permitted
• Outdoor Leadership and Risk Management — 1.0 elective

⚠️ IMPORTANT SAFETY & CONTENT DISCLAIMER

This course teaches real outdoor skills, and some activities carry genuine risks. Topics and activities include fire, cutting tools, boiling water, chemical disinfection, hiking, weather exposure, wilderness first aid, wildlife, and emergency situations.

Adult supervision is mandatory for designated activities, including fire labs, cutting-tool labs, boiling and chemical-disinfection labs, and field navigation away from home. Students should never undertake solo backcountry travel as part of this course.

This curriculum is educational and does not certify students in wilderness first aid, CPR, search and rescue, swiftwater rescue, avalanche safety, or any other professional discipline.

The course also discusses injuries and death, including hypothermia, heat illness, drowning, lightning, wildlife incidents, and real-world accident case studies. Parents should review the course disclaimer before beginning.

💻 DIGITAL DOWNLOAD — NO REFUNDS

Please read before purchasing.

This is a digital curriculum product. No physical product or printed book will be shipped.

Because digital products are delivered electronically and cannot be returned, all digital-download sales are final. No refunds, exchanges, or cancellations will be accepted after purchase.

Please review the course description, grade level, scope and sequence, materials requirements, safety information, and content disclaimer before purchasing to ensure this course is appropriate for your student.

By purchasing this digital course, you acknowledge and agree to this no-refund policy.

🔒 SINGLE-FAMILY LICENSE

One purchase provides a license for one household, allowing all students living in that household to use the curriculum for as many years as needed. Families may print unlimited copies for their own students and make a household backup copy.

The curriculum may not be shared, emailed, uploaded, resold, redistributed, sublicensed, or posted online. Co-ops, learning pods, micro-schools, and schools require the appropriate additional student/site licenses.

Outdoor Skills & Wilderness Survival

Navigate. Predict. Shelter. Signal. Come Home.

One full high school credit.
36 weeks.
36 labs.
36 mini-projects.
2 major projects.
Real skills. Real decisions. Real-world application.

Homeschool Uncensored — Secular High School Curriculum