KONOS in a Bag: First Impressions

If you've been reading my blog lately you know that over our Christmas break I ordered the KONOS in a Bag study on Africa, the Land of Stewardship. I've been patiently (ok not really) waiting for it to arrive and now it has! It came yesterday with the mail. So after spending the majority of the evening reading the curriculum book and looking through the rest of the included materials I thought I'd share my first impressions with you.

First let me just give you the facts...The kit comes with the curriculum book, a DK Eyewitness book on Africa, four craft kits (enough for 3 kids) and a map. The crafts are a pygmy hut kit, a monkey kit, a kente stamp kit and a crocodile kit. (My map is on back order so I didn't get to check that out but I'm looking forward to receiving it.) There are 45 lessons included in the curriculum book but I gotta say...you could really stretch this out if you were inclined to do so. Each lesson has about 10 activities to go with it and there are all kinds of rabbit holes you could enjoy pursuing with your kids. The subjects covered are Bible, science, history, art, music, drama, geography, social studies, literature, writing, critical thinking, practical living, health/safety, field trips, PE and creative expression.

And now my humble opinion...So far this looks awesome. There's a lot of geography, cultures and science covered but more importantly Bible study and Godly character are the backbone of the lessons. I was also very pleasantly surprised to see lots of activities that have to do with learning about missions and missionaries!!

One of the lessons I think will be memorable for the kids is found in week 9 of the study. What they suggest you do is pretend that your back yard faucet is your only source of drinking water. You haul in water for every thing you use it for...brushing your teeth, drinking, doing dishes and even flushing the toilet. This will help us remember that in Africa many people do not have access to clean drinking water. I have a feeling it will also bring attention to how much water we waste.

I'm also looking forward to trying out the recipes and the many geography and map skills activities but one of my favorite things about this study is that many times it is suggested that you quote a verse or sing a song or do a drama "for dad this evening". I really enjoy a study that encourages us to learn and grow as a family!

So do I have any negative comments so far? Not really but I will admit to being a little overwhelmed and hoping I can pull this off. I'm not really a crafty type person...I'm more of a "hey, let's sit on the couch and read together and then maybe draw a picture of what we read" type person. Don't get me wrong there's plenty of reading but the good and scary thing about this curriculum is that there are no worksheets or color pages or lap books or notebooks. It's mostly hands on. Making crafts, cooking, dramatizing stories, field trips, etc. Basically, it's the type of teaching I'd like to be doing but have never really been able to pull off on my own. So maybe this will help me. We'll see!