A list of the best US schools to acquire survival skills may be surprising to some people. And some may even argue against its effectiveness because the general belief is that the experience is best gained on the field. While this isn’t a lie, you have to know that these schools’ students are more likely to do well than the average prepper when SHTF or, say, on a camping trip. This is because they rely on afield happenings and primitive survival techniques that you may be unfamiliar with. Plus, there is safety guaranteed for your kids, which is something you may fear when you take them camping yourself.
8 Best US Schools To Acquire Survival Skills
Boulder Outdoor Survival School
If your goal is a break from technology, BOSS is your first call – no doubt. BOSS focuses on ancient, primitive living techniques, which are nonetheless useful today. To make a statement, the school’s basecamp is made purely from hand-made materials. BOSS is fun, educational and makes for a great vacation spot.
Profile: BOSS
Location: Utah
Duration: 4–28 days
Types of Classes On Offer: Primitive survival
Level: Intermediate – advanced
Family Friendly: No
Earth Skills Self-Reliance School
Over the past five years, Earth Skills has recorded over 3000 followers. Founded in SC in 2013, the school’s specific purpose is to help re-integrate nature’s bounty back into our lifestyles while also reclaiming our core cultural skills, which used to be crucial to our survival.
Profile: Earth Skills
Location: South Carolina
Duration: 1 – 5 days
Types of Classes On Offer: Making Cordage, Foraging & Wilderness Survival.
Level: Beginner – advanced
Family Friendly: Yes (kids up to and above 13 escorted by adults)
Sigma 3 Survival School
Also known as “The Institute for Self-reliance”, Sigma 3 has an excellent reputation across several states. The school offers a truly vast range of courses, from tailored classes to weekend wilderness retreats. Research has reported that the lessons learned at Sigma 3’s programs are often very vital.
Profile: Sigma 3
Duration: 1-day – 7+ days walks
Types of Classes On Offer: SERE, wild plants identification & usage, anti-abduction & defense, trapping, survival fishing, wilderness training, and many more.
Level: Complete beginner – advanced classes
Family Friendly: Few options available
Location: Primarily in Arkansas, Virginia, Missouri, Colorado, & Florida. Some international courses.
Maine Primitive Skills School
Maine Primitive prides itself as the undisputed fore center for nature connection, survival, wilderness awareness & self-reliance across Maine and its environs. The school chooses to focus on sustaining and promoting the earth’s continuity, instead of the doomsday or apocalyptic mentality which most survival schools choose to adopt.
Profile: Maine Primitive
Duration: Typically 1-5 days
Types of Classes On Offer: Earth living, foraging & wilderness survival
Level: Beginner – intermediate
Family Friendly: Organizes survival camps for youths.
Location: Maine
Thomas Coyne Survival School – Previously Known As California’s Survival Training Center
Thomas Coyne offers a few fundamental courses on survival, but it is the school you should attend if you’re interested in extreme survival experiences. The discipline and level of operations at this survival school are incredibly tight. In fact, you’re not allowed to eat common foods, such as a Snicker bar, much more sleep on comfortable surfaces like a sleeping bag. You are brought right down to nature’s barest level. And here’s the best news: Thomas Coyne is very much affordable, compared to what it offers.
Profile: Thomas Coyne
Duration: Typically 1-8 days
Types of Classes On Offer: Bushcraft, private survival, medical & tactical, map reading, field course navigation, and basic survival skills.
Level: Beginner – advanced
Location: California mainly, annual courses organized in Alaska
Ancient Pathways
Ancient Pathways is located in Arizona and is most famous for its remarkable primitive skills, such as how to track & trap games and survive with gear that you can put together yourself. Ancient Pathways is also one of the most recommended centers to acquire desert survival skills. The courses are diverse, with each having various levels based on your knowledge. Field courses and unique survival courses, such as “knife only” are available for the more seasoned preppers.
Profile: Ancient Pathways
Duration: 24 hours, overnight, & multi-day courses
Types of Classes On Offer: Primitive survival, desert survival, bushcraft field courses & wilderness survival
Level: Beginner – advanced
Family Friendly: For kids at least and above 14 years
Location: Arizona
Wilderness Awareness School
This survival school claims to be your best option if you’re a keen lover of nature. As such, there are many courses on nature, some of which are recognizing edible wild plants, tracking, bird hunting, plant medicine & other related topics that engineers survival while ensuring the beauty of nature. Additionally, several courses take months to complete. These are obviously intense.
Profile: Wilderness Awareness
Duration: 1-3 days; intensive courses lasting up to 9 months, although only held on weekends.
Types of Classes On Offer: Nature & wilderness survival
Level: Beginner – advanced
Family Friendly: Youth programs available
Location: Washington
Mountain Scout Survival School
For the New Yorkers who would rather complete a survival course in a short while, this is your guy. MSSS offers plenty of 1-day lessons on various courses, ranging from emergency prepping to wilderness survival. As one would expect due to the short timeframe, these courses are specifically designed to learn easily.
Profile: Mountain Scout
Duration: Typically 1-day courses
Types of Classes On Offer: Level: Bugging out, navigation, tracking, fire building, family emergency preparedness, women’s survival & wilderness survival.
Family Friendly: Welcomes children, but courses are for adults only.
Location: New York
Concluding The Best US Schools To Acquire Survival Skills
We all want the best for our kids, especially how they acquire their education. However, we hardly have sufficient time to go through the long list of schools we can enroll them in. Plus, you may not want to make a choice based on hearsays. Well, I’m here to help. I hope that the above list (which was drawn through meticulous and in-depth research) of the best US schools to acquire survival skills can offer you all the help you need.