I’d say you have to strike a speed balance of making sure the kids are secure as quickly as possible without doing something that’ll get you taken out of the fight. If I give up two thirds of the house because I’m taking 30 seconds to pie each corner, my tactics suck.
For my particular layout, I have the strategic advantage in that -once I’ve checked the kids’ room- all I need do is turn around and I own the stairs. They’re switchback with a balcony so a bad guy couldn’t make it up the first step without compromising himself.
That’s all well and good for a bump in the night when the kids are in bed; if someone were to attempt to force the door while the kids were playing in different parts of the house it would be an entirely different story. That’s why I’m a firm believer in putting my handgun on in the morning and leaving it on until time to go to sleep. Truth is, I’ve one-man-cleared my house regularly since we bought it. My family is used to seeing me work the angles. It’s just now Grant & Co. taught me how to do it smarter, safer, and faster.
As far as the light issue, I agree with Grant: if I can make it out my bedroom door, I can light up most of the house just by flipping on a light switch. It might not be “tactical” but it’ll work (and I could always paint the switch black or FDE).
There’s usually a good bit of light in the house at night anyway with LED nightlights and the kitchen sink fluorescent always on. One thing I’ve gotten good at is navigating the house with just the light from my cell-phone’s screen.
For power outages, those nifty little nightlights that automatically turn into an emergency light when the power goes out are available from the hardware store. BTW- if the only phone you own is a cell phone or a cordless, your tactics suck. Always keep an old corded phone on hand. I actually have a scaled down corded phone that goes in my BOB with 30 ft of phone line so I could tap into someone’s TNI box in an emergency.
This topic is something I’ve put a lot of time and effort into; I’d encourage each of you to a) work out a plan with your spouse if you have one and b) see how long it takes you to take over your house from the bad guy’s perspective (i.e. once your entryway is open, how long would it take a bad guy to reach your room and incapacitate you).
If I heard a door being forced, I’d have gun in hand and be out the door to check the kids’ room and own the stairs at an angle such that if I start taking incoming rounds, they’re not directed at my family. On my word, my wife is out of the bedroom with a Mossberg 500 .410 loaded with Federal’s new .410 Handgun HD loads and she knows how to use it. Her job is to secure the kids, lock the door and call the police if possible. Not letting other occupants of the house know what the plan is for any type of emergency is ten shades of stupid.
Ok, climbing down off my soapbox.
-LGP 
