Our History - KONOS

What is the history behind KONOS?

Jessica and Carole wrote the three volumes of KONOS which covers the subjects of science, history, geography, art, music, literature, writing, health, safety, and Bible. and named them, appropriately, Volume I, Volume II, and Volume III. Each of these volumes is 2-1/2 years of activities that covers everything in a multi-level, K-8th except math, phonics, upper grammar, or spelling. Each KONOS volume has a matching timeline character set which allows children to hold George Washington or David and Goliath in their hands, then place them on the timeline in the proper century.

NEED LESSON PLANS AND SCHEDULING TIPS

Mothers asked for more help, so the authors wrote weekly lesson plans for each volume. Mothers wanted help getting started, so they published the Compass which is a 100-page overview filled with ideas, schedules, and checklists to aid moms to teach the KONOS way. Carole Thaxton and son, C.J., developed the Index, a cross reference manual listing all people and topics covered in the KONOS volumes to help mothers quickly go from one volume to another in their teaching. Jessica then developed several audio and video tapes to further train mothers to be great hands-on teachers.

NEED TO SEE KONOS BEING TAUGHT
Now on DVD!!

As the homeschooling movement matured and expanded, over and over mothers said," We want to teach our children the KONOS way, but we were not taught this way. How do you do it?" KONOS answered these questions with a 6-1/2 hour DVD entitled KONOS: Creating the Balance. Two hours of footage actually showed Jessica teaching children. Other parts of the video answered all of the how-to questions of scheduling, planning, home organization, library use, discipline, and even the fathers’ role first articulated by Wade Hulcy on the How-To audio tapes in 1986. Now users felt confident about how to teach KONOS.

NEED DAILY LESSONS AND MORE HAND HOLDING

Still, mothers wanted more. They wanted KONOS to be broken into daily lesson plans, plus they kept asking for help in what Jessica and Carole said when they taught the 3R’s. Moms loved the great literature listed in KONOS but were not confident enough to discuss it fully with their children. Few moms found language arts programs that coincided with the units or taught their children how to write well. Above all, they wanted the wealth of great activities listed day by day. They wanted to be able to pick up a KONOS unit and start teaching without tons of research, preparation, and 20 trips to the library. Mothers asked, "What do you say on Monday at 8:00? Then what do you say at 8:01? What about 8:02? To answer these needs, Jessica and others took 30 pages out of Volume I on Obedience and expanded it to 200 pages, adding in daily lessons, a daily Bible study, a writing program, and a daily literature analysis program. They also added every kind of help and tip and how-to they could think of trying to make KONOS USER FRIENDLY! What you will find in the pages of the new Classic KONOS Character Curriculum: Obedience unit is a completely revamped KONOS filled with the same exciting hands-on activities plus tons of information and how-to’s right in the book itself.

NEED LITERATURE ANALYZED

You will also be surprised to find the most fabulous literature analysis course ever for elementary students. The family will read one book per sub-unit. King of the Wind will coincide with the Horses unit, The Door in the Wall will coincide with the Kings and Queens unit and Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie will go with the Authority and Light unit. Not only will plot, theme, setting, and character be scrutinized, but moms will also appreciate the refresher course on how to recognize symbolism, simile, alliteration, and more. Jessica tells you what to ask the children and then gives you the answer. it is just like having Jessica in your home teaching.

NEED WRITING TAUGHT

USER FRIENDLY KONOS now included language arts within each unit. Children will start with the writing of a complete sentence and will progress to clauses, paragraphs, reports and finally, learn to write a multitude of different kinds of paper such as expository, descriptive, biographical, comparative, directional, journalistic, and character analysis papers. This is all done in a compositional format rather than having kids spend all day at the dining room table filling in page after page of unrelated workbooks. Interest level is kept high while skills are learned and applied to real writing.

NEED TIPS FROM VETERANS

Finally, Classic KONOS Character Curriculum contains a running dialogue between author, Jessica Hulcy, many other experienced KONOS moms, and you, the reader. The TIPS help to make the most of each activity and yet, make KONOS easy to use.

NEED BOOKS AND CRAFTS PACKAGED

They even went a step farther and put the Obedience curriculum in a neat carrying case along with 9 information and literature books, 10 crafts with enough materials for three children to do most of the crafts, and 20 timeline characters, so the kids could make history come alive. They called this new package deal KONOS In-A-Box.

Then, they wrote a second user-friendly book, taking 30 more pages from Volume I on Orderliness and expanded it into 260 pages. They offered it by itself or as part of a second box that included the Orderliness Curriculum book, 8 resource books, 9 crafts and 28 timeline characters. Both Obedience and Orderliness can be purchased as individual books or in KONOS In-A-Box.
Attentiveness now available as a third "Get me started" box*Important note: Please order Timeline Wallchart or Century Lines with first timeline character set ordered

NEED TO STUDY COUNTRIES?

KONOS In-A-Bag which included a third user-friendly, 9-14 week curriculum book called Russia: The Land of Endurance. It includes daily hands-on activities and a daily Bible lesson, but does not have a writing program and a literature analysis program in it.

NEED RESOURCES AND CRAFTS FOR COUNTRIES?

The bag is different from the box in that it includes one resource book, rather than 9, and 3 or 4 crafts, rather than 10. It does not have any timeline characters in it either. The Russia curriculum can be purchased separately or as part of the KONOS In-A-Bag.

NEED HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM TAUGHT á la KONOS?

KONOS moms then demanded a high school curriculum because KONOS kids were bored to tears with ordinary textbooks when they moved into high school. Jessica and Sarah Rose wrote History of the World Year I – The Ancient World and History of the World Year II – Medieval Times. Each of these offerings is one year’s work and includes credits for history, English, art, Bible, and geography. Each year’s high school materials from KONOS includes a 400+ page student text, a 100 page teacher’s guide, and a map/timeline characters packet which includes 4 maps, the century lines, and 150 timeline characters.

NEED GREAT KONOS ACTIVITIES AND TIMELINE
TO SPICE UP MY TEXTBOOK HISTORY?

Many moms, private school teachers, and public school teachers using traditional teaching textbooks realized kids were bored with a steady diet of textbooks and workbooks so they came to us asking for an easy way to sue KONOS as a supplement so they could introduce fun, hands-on ideas into their traditional teaching. We repackaged some of the standard KONOS units from Volume II Curriculum and the Volume II Timeline set into stand-alone, topical studies as part of a new series called History's Heroes. There are activity books and matching timeline character sets for Explorers, Settlers, and the Revolutionary War. We also came out with an easier way to put the century lines up on the wall for the timeline characters to stick to with our new Timeline Wallchart.
*Important note: Please order Timeline Wallchart or Century Lines with first timeline character set ordered.