September 15, 2006

You Know You are a KONOS Mom When...

My homeschool group has been sharing funny stories about their adventures as KONOS moms. I had a few little laughable moments of my own in the past few weeks. Many of the things my friends have shared are much funnier than mine, but I thought I would share mine with you here so I can one day look back and remember them with fondness. If you are a hands-on kind of homeschooler... you'll get a kick out of them. I suppose there are other curriculums out there that would be as exciting and fun, but I can only speak for KONOS since that is what we use. Here are my two latest "KONOS Moments":

YOU KNOW YOU ARE A KONOS MOM WHEN....
Your husband suffers a severe allergy attack (after brushing a horse even though he knew he was allergic!) and his eye gets extremely bloodshot. He is miserable and sneezing his head off. He asks you to help him get something out of his eye (which he has rubbed like crazy). When you get to the bathroom to look at it, you are so excited to see how BAD his eyes look! You happen to be studying about the senses and eyes. Just last week you went to an optometrist's office. You call to all the kids (yours and your friend's at whose house you happen to be at).

As they gather around, you exclaim, “Look at his eye! See the little blood vessels?”

All the while, he continues to sneeze his head off... but you are so excited that his eye is red so you can show the kids the little blood vessels when they are inflamed.
Poor guinea pig husband!!!!!

Scrown


YOU KNOW YOU ARE A KONOS MOM WHEN....

You get the nerve up to ask the grocery store meat man if he will give you a cow’s eye (per your curriculum's advice). After a string of questions and strange faces, he asks you quizzically… “What grades do you teach?”

“Third and Fourth,” you reply with a smile.

He shoots a glance over your shoulder at your kids who are talking to and looking intently at the lobsters in the water aquarium cage by the frozen seafood. You can almost see the gears turning in his head as he processes that YOUR OWN KIDS might be your students. Ever so slowly, he comes to the realization that you might be a "HOMESCHOOLER". You wait patiently and then he says....

“I guess you can learn something, then... by dissecting a cow’s eye?”
Too funny! It was hard keeping a straight face.


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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am new to hsing and have a friend who uses KONOS. I think I might have considered it until the cow eye thing. That kind of stuff completely grosses me out. Maybe I should just stick with Charlotte Mason and her nature walks!=)

Robin

Anonymous said...

Oh Heather, I'm LOL! I have soooo BTDT!

The first time I had asked the butcher for something that wasn't in his case, it was suet. That was strange enough to warrant the "eyebrows on stun" reaction. Then with the request for a cow's eyeball, I'm sure he thought I'd gone off the deep end and pulled the diving board after me!

He watched me with the most unique expression on his face, all the way out of his market. Hehe -- can't blame him, I guess!

Hey -- email me again, okay? I lost my address book.

Love ya,
Sherry C (GODismyjoy)

Anonymous said...

I have been researching home schooling all summer. I never saw it coming. I brought in a nanny to work with us all summer to get used to us before my only child started preschool. Once I felt comfortable with her, I allowed her to take the child out to the park and what not. That was hard on me. Turns out she wasn't as nice when I wasn't around. (I don't think the I saw your nanny website existed yet but thank God another nanny contacted my husband about what she saw). Anyway, after we fired her, I started having severe anxiety about preschool. I feel pressured to send him to preschool because at present he is an only child. I wish the answer was easy. I don't know how you do it. My plan was obviously to return to work PT when he started preschoool this fall and that has been derailed. I think it was all meant to be! The only thing holding me back is that he is such a social child and loves to be around other kids but I think as long as I supplement the schooling with plenty of play and activities involving others- he will be okay, right?

Sprittibee said...

Robin - Thanks so much for commenting. I hope you won't discredit an entire curriculum for one tiny activity. You do NOT have to do every activity in the book (there are thousands and thousands of them). There are many that we can not or do not wish to do in every unit. If you can't do the eye and someone you know is willing to do it with the kids, then you can have someone else help you. There is also the internet (there's a cow's eye website with a video that you don't have to watch and you can let the kids see it if they are interested). Some kids are not interested in those types of things, but others are. I have two opposite kids - one very scientific and serious, the other more social and silly. Sometimes we skip activities per child (one will participate, the other won't). The beauty of KONOS is that YOU get to pick and choose from so many wonderful activities and ideas that have been thought up for you to choose from. It also inspires you when you read all of them to create some of your own. We made up a few of our own activities this week (Abstract Ear Art and Drawing the Tongue and labeling the taste bud areas in our journal). To my knowledge, these are not in the KONOS senses unit... but due to me reading through all of Jessica Hulcy's wonderful ideas, I can come up with some of my own. You can also pick your own books - if you can't find the ones in the recommendations or do not wish to use those. During the horse unit, we painted a horse instead of making a broomstick horse... and we read Black Beauty instead of King of the Wind. It is much like a painting, homeschooling... you see the object you want to paint (goals, curriclulum, guides, etc) and you take each day as a brush stroke and paint it with your own individual style. My painting may end up more abstract that someone elses, yours may end up more classical, but in the end... we are creating a beautiful masterpiece - uniquely our own, and for the Lord's glory.

Hey Sherry! How is it for you and your gang? One graduated, and how many more to go? I've also had computer trouble and lost a bunch of email. I will try and email you soon!

Barbara - Believe me, I have been where you are. I didn't hire a nanny, but my husband once had a babysitter that made him lie face down on a bed the whole day and spanked him when she felt like it. You never know what you will get with childcare... and sometimes it is much, much worse than your wildest dreams. God gave you your child because HE KNEW YOU WERE THE BEST TEACHER for YOUR CHILD. That is all we are, really... ambassadors for the Lord to train and instruct our children. One day they will be our equals - brothers and sisters in Christ. They are not our own. We are never qualified for the job of parenting... we are flawed people... but although God may call someone to parent a child that may not be qualified, He also will give you His supernatural strength to do the job if you just ask and abide in Him. I marvel at the work He has done in my life. I'm no expert in child rearing, homeschooling, or anything else... but I know that my worst job as a loving mother and teacher to my kids with God's help will be better than they could have gotten in the public schools... or the private ones! Even only children can be taught at home. There are play groups and co-ops and church groups and local sports teams... electives, classes ala'carte, clubs, field trips, you name-it.

Anonymous said...

LOL! I used KONOS when we lived in Hawaii. Do you know how hard it is to find fur material to make a coon skin cap in Hawaii? I finally walked into a thrift store with hopes of finding a coat or something and walked out with several teddy bears I later dismembered to make that hat. (Still have it, kids love it!)

The cashier asked me what I was going to do with all those teddy bears, give them to the fire station?

I told her, "Nope. I'm going to cut them up to make a coon skin cap."

You should have seen her face! I think she was a member of PETA, stuffed animal denomination.

Anonymous said...

So, did you get the cow eye? I'm such a wimp that's an experiment we'd probably skip.

Sprittibee said...

Teddy Bear Killer - ;) hahaha. I bet Hawaii was fun. I had a step-sister that lived there for more than a decade and I never got to go and visit her! :( Bummer.

KarenW - The eyes have been ordered! We're set to slice and dice on the 27th! :) I may be out that day (not bloggin') due to upset stomach (puking my guts out). *grin*

 

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