All about Konos

The post use to be a separate page on my blog. I however decided to move it over to a normal post. It is a long post.

This is for those who wish to know more about Konos.

What is Konos

You might be one of those parents who have heard about Konos or have not, but want to know more.

Konos was designed by two homeschool mothers who wanted to step away from the normal school system. They wanted to teach their children through Godly character traits. They also wanted to be able to teach their children without having to make use of textbooks, but use the world and experiences as their reference. 

Konos is a very hands on method of learning. There are 3 Konos Volumes for Grade R - 8. These Volumes cover the following.

VOLUME I  

Attentiveness
Ears/Eyes/Other Senses
Sound/Music/Frontiersman/ Indians
Tracking & Trapping
Birds

Obedience
Authority/Light/Bible
Kings and Queens
Military
Friction/Resistance
Horses
Crime and Punishment

Orderliness
Sequencing/Counting/Measuring
Planets/Moons
Calendars/Seasons
Animal Classification
Plant Classification
Rock Classification

Trust
Deception/Illusion
Sheep/Weaving
Floating/Ships
Flight/Airplanes

Patience
Plant growth/Gardening
Grain/Bread/Yeast
Human Birth/Growth
Animal Birth/Growth

Stewardship
Ecology/Conservation
Managing Time and Money
Possessions/Career
Abuse/Prevention
Nutrition/Exercise/Rest/Fun

Honor
Attributes of God/Hymns
Pottery and Sculpture
Tabernacle
Cathedral/Church Architecture
Countries/Cultures
Kindness/Service/Etiquette

  VOLUME II

Inquisitiveness
Research/Reference
Scientist/Scientific Method
Explorers/Navigation/Sailing
Earth
Weather
Africa
Detectives

Responsibility
Pet Care
Beavers
Ants
American Settlers
Colonial America

Love/Generosity
Christmas
Easter
Valentines Day

Courage
New Testament Men
Modern and Fictional Men
American Revolution

Wisdom
Proverbs/Old Testament
Choices/Safety
Government
U.S. Constitution
Presidents
Electoral Process

Loyalty
Family/Friends/Marriage
Immigration/Citizenship

VOLUME III

Cooperation
Systems of the Body
Bees
States and Regions
Town/Community
Family/Church

Determination
Olympics and physical skills
Handicaps
Great feats/Expeditions
Atomic research

Honesty
Books
Newspapers/Media
Business/Advertising

Self Control
Body/Appetites/Emotions
Poetry
Singing/Dance/Speech

Resourcefulness
Frontier Life
Inventions/Simple Machines
Energy/Electricity
Industrial Revolution

Joy/Cheerfulness
Environment
Humor/Laughter
Gratitude/Contentment
Suffering

As you can see within each character trail unit you will learn various things. As with Attentiveness you will learn about sound, ears, eyes, birds and much more.

You will start out each day with Bible study, then you will do your Languages and Maths (separate programs of your choice should be bought for this). Later you will move on to discussing your topic for the day. Do some activities, read from books and just enjoy the day. Once a week you will spend time only doing your Konos unit with some more activities and watching a movie that relates to that character trait or topic.

If you are like me then planning in advance is a good idea. List the books your would like to use or get an indication on topics. Plan your trip to the library and select everything you need. If you gave a good stocked library you should not have any issues with this. If you have one like mine then you really have to dig or see if they can source the books from other libraries.

A nice to have would be if you can build up your own library with good reference books. This is however not necessary as not everyone can afford this. 

If you are in South Africa we buy all our Konos books and more from Oikos Ministries.

There is an entire series on Oikos's website about Konos and how to use it. It is the Konos Junior Workshop.

You can view the Konos official site for full information.

If you are just starting out, you can also make use of the Homeschool mentor program. With this you pay a $30 fee per month and all the lessons and activities are explained to you and you follow the program. 

Even if you do not plan to make use of the mentor program, I suggest you check out the site for the free sample video lessons just to give you an idea of how you can go about.

This is an different way homeschooling and this method can not be compared to anything out there. It is not a curriculum, it is a way of living :)

 

Here is some old posts of when we used Konos:

Attentiveness part 1

Attentiveness part 2

Bird activities part of Attentiveness

Just to clarify. We did use Konos at one stage and are not using it anymore. I still have my file and will not part with it, I am just not sure if and when we will go back to it. We might just draw some ideas here and there for certain themes

Blessings

Maryna

Planning our weekly program

As homeschool moms we all have our way of doing things. Some have elaborate planning pages, files, excel sheets etc. Others simply pick up the parent/teacher guide and follow what you need to do next. And then there are those who just go as the day takes them. 

This is what we normally do:

We do two language programs, one for English and one for Afrikaans (our home language). 

Afrikaans: For our home language program which came in the form of worksheets and we have license to copy, so I would copy the unit that we are going to work on for the next week or two. This will mean that both my kids have the necessary worksheets to work on. We are doing main focus on spelling and learning grammar rules. For those who are curious, we use the Clever werkkaarte by Macmillan. For anyone wanting to do this, you have to be able to speak and read in Afrikaans to teach your kids the correct pronunciation of the words. My comment about these Clever worksheets: There is aprox 38 worksheets per unit and there are 12 unit/ sets. I initially was very sceptical due to the price mostly. We eventually got them and we just love them. My kids spelling improved drastically and even their reading picked up wonderfully.

 

English: We learn English as a first language and not a second language. We started very late with our English program, only seriously started this year, but the previous years we did do other work here and there. We are doing Adventures in Phonics by Christian Liberty press and are busy with the Level A book. We will be starting within the next few weeks with the readers that you have to buy with the first level.  My comment about AIP.  Love, love, love. I really like how every letter is introduced, beginning sounds, where it is in the middle. There is loads of review of the words, pictures of the words, fill in the missing sound etc. We also use a little book where they wright new words down. There is a flashcard set that you have to purchase additionally for level A. I have not really used that, I just write the words on a whiteboard and they say and act out what the word is. They love doing this. I am totally amazed how fast they pick up the words. You can preview this book HERE in google books.

Mathematics: We always start our day with Mathematics. Our reason for this is, the brain is still very awake and fresh and they can focus better. We use to do a South African program called Prac Math (in our home language). It is really a great program. But, yes I have a but. There is no good foundation and review per method. This means that within a month or so, they totally forget what they learned. So after much thought and research we moved over to the American program Math U See.  Every day we will just pick up where we left off the previous day. We are currently at Beta level. Even though my kids have done almost everything in the Beta series, they needed to learn the English terms and get to know how the program is presented. My comment about MUS: Initially I was very scared to use it as the program is in English. Wow, how surprised was I. My kids picked everything up so quickly and they absolutely love the method and working with the blocks. There is nothing negative I can say about MUS at this stage. The kids love it and I love it. I just wished we started using it a long time ago.

History, Geography, Science etc: We use Konos. I read through the character trait we are busy with and then select the activities we want to do for the week. I get the necessary reference books from the library. Our local library does not have any of the books they recommend, but I just get whatever else I can find on the subjects. I also do an internet search. I find pictures, videos and anything that will be helpful for us to cover that topic. Most important we use the Bible as our pillar. My comment about Konos: When we first started using it, I was very overwhelmed and confused. But after asking for some guidance I became calm. Now we tackle it one thing at a time. One should not look at the entire Volume (file) as a whole, but just look at the character you are working on now. Konos is fun and very hands-on. You can view my page Konos.

Art: As I am a very artistic person, we do crafts and arts whenever we feel like it. I use anything from ideas that pop up. Reference books, the internet and then the best resource ever, Pinterest.

Most of the days we do everything. We do not have set times that we work, but we normally do try and start by 8 or 9 in the morning and continue until we are done (with breaks in between). Art is the only thing we do not really do everyday, but in a sense we do, as everything creative is art :)

So no matter what methods you use enjoy it. There is no one size fits all. We all have our own ideas of what we want to do and what we want to accomplish.

Attentiveness - Part 1

Last week we started with the Attentiveness unit.

The definition of Attentiveness: is to listen closely and watch carefully. With that being said the objective of it is to pay close attention and to concentrate.

We can look at Samuel, he heard someone calling him at night and thought it was Eli, but after several times Eli realized that it was God who was calling for Samuel and for Samuel just to listen closely to what God wants to tell him. (You can read about this in 1 Samuel 3: 1 - 14) God wants us to be aware of Him and always be alert and pay attention when he calls for us and wants us to listen very carefully what he wants from us.

The key to being attentiveness one needs to be able to hear and see, you need to communicate.

Sign language

Not everyone is able to communicate the way we do, deaf people communicate by using sign language. We learned how to sign the alphabet. 



A deaf child will be taught to sign whole words by showing them objects such as a ball and then showing them the sign for ball, that way they learn all types of things. Body language and facial expressions are also used as part of them learning and communication with whole word signing. 

Sign language is not only used in people, but dog trainers also use it to give commands to dogs and it has even been taught to chimpanzees and a gorilla names Koko. Koko could sign more than 1000 words.

A few of our sound experiments

Seeing sound

I forgot to take a picture but see the one below as an indication of what we did.

What you need:
a bowl; plastic; rubberband and tape; a few grains of rice; a pot and wooden spoon

Picture source: Sound - tune into sound and see the way it works by Steve Parker

What you need to do:
Just as the picture above, cover the bowl with plastic, secure it with tape and a rubber band on the bowl. Place a few grains of rice on top. Take the other pot hold it close to the bowl and bang it as hard as you can with a wooden spoon.

What happens:
The bashing of the spoon against the pot produces sound waves and this cause the plastic to vibrate and the grains to jump up and down.

This experiment demonstrates exactly how your eardrum also works. Sound that reaches the eardrum which vibrates and enables you to hear sounds around you.

Shooting with sound

What you need:
A toilet-roll; plastic; rubber band; Piece of card stock; cut out to cover the front part; A piece of paper

What you need to do:
Make a small hole in the centre of the card stock. With sticky tape secure the round piece of card stock to the toiletroll. At the other end secure the plastic with the rubber band.
Take the piece of paper and stick it to the table, with the long side bended upwards as in the picture.
Hit the plastic with your finger, make sure it is close to the paper. 

What happens:
The sound waves are concentrated and moves down the tube and escapes through the hole. The waves hit the paper and pushes it back. 

Optional: Instead of using a piece of paper you can use a burning candle. The sound waves are strong enough to blow out the candle.

Hearing sound

What you need:
A thin plastic tube, a funnel and sticky tape

What you need to do:

Make a steoschope

Put the funnel inside the tube and secure it with sticky tape. Make sure there is no air escaping so make a proper seal where the tube meets the funnel. We initially did this with the tube as you see in the picture but then later used a longer and thinner tube, that works best!

What happens:
When you place the funnel side on your friends chest, you can hear the heart beat very clearly, just like the doctors listen to your heart. The sound waves from your heart beat gathers in the funnel and travel down the tube towards your ear.

Megaphone

What you need:
A large sheet of paper or card stock and sticky tape.

What you need to do:
Roll the card stock/paper into a cone shape and secure with sticky tape.

Megaphone

What happens:
The cone shape collects all the sounds before it is able to spread out and amplifies the sound forward when you speak with it. When you listen with it, the sounds are collect in the open end and move towards your ear.