(Reprinted with permission from Konos Newsletter, "Helping to make Konos Happen in Your Home." Article written by Katherine vonDuyke, Sept. 1994. This article was condensed and updated at a later date)

There are several science modules with labs at the 7-8th grade level. When we cover chemistry basics with our KONOS unit, these HomeQuest science modules act as a wrap-up for the unit. The children could play with on-screen atoms by changing different elements. I was impressed with this module. I would not, however, use this portion of the computer lesson as a whole science course, because I think we are to communicate God's world to our children through science. It ought to be hands-on. Good library books and some good experiments or science projects are the heart of any topic. However, these modules can be used with science units to survey the information about to be studied, and to tie up and test what the child has learned. I've been especially impressed with the writing lessons. I went through them in detail. "Revising Lessons" include such topics as Expanding Sentences, Reorganizing Your Writing, Passive Verbs and Vague Words, and Assessing Your Writing. These units ask your child to take apart one previously written piece and examine it for, say, run-on sentences. Then the child goes back and rewrites and edits the paper for this area.

For my problem spellers, answers to some lesson "bleep" if spelled incorrectly. This is immediate feed back which even I couldn't give them on a work sheet. This has caused them to pay closer attention to their spelling. Unfortunately, the writing notebook doesn't have a spell-checker with it (an area for the company to fix up) . I can circle those words that need practice and use them in a personal spelling lesson for each child. Of course, somebody "live" must evaluate the student's writing, but this is one thing I want to do. The early reader lessons are phonics-based. A four-year-old can easily handle the computer, but the younger children need help operating the mouse. The older children don't seem to mind taking a younger one on their lap to do a ten minute lesson with them between their own lessons. It has been nice to watch them learn together.

With HomeQuest I feel more assured that they (the children) have covered the basics and I won't wake up one day when my child has moved out and think, "Oh! I never taught Johnny synonyms!" I don't have to wonder, with gnawing uncertainty when I see a textbook-based curriculum that we've missed something. This frees me to focus on the areas I want to learn with my children as I teach them, namely KONOS, drawing, Latin and French. My husband and I typically cover writing basics as we go over our children's letters.

I like the fact that there is no arcade junk in the programs. This is the intrinsic/extrinsic factor that I've always felt strongly about. I want my children to learn a topic for the topic's sake itself. When motivated by arcade-type games, my children seem to circumvent the topic and try to get the most out of the arcade qualities. Another big plus that I've noticed as a result of using this program is that it allows my children to work at any level they are comfortable in. One of my biggest struggles as a homeschooling mom has been in trying to keep each of my children working at a productive level suited to their ability. This can be a hair tearing experience! One child will grasp some concepts so quickly that I hate to force him to do every page in the textbook, yet this means I have to sit down with that child and evaluate what has been learned and what we can skip. Another child needs extra work in an area and shouldn't move as fast as the book goes. I have to find remedial work that will spot that area. The computer lessons let the child self-evaluate. Therefore, they can repeat a lesson until they understand it or even move back to a lower level. The lessons are enjoyable and clearly presented. The children are eager to do them. The fast moving child can just work through the lesson faster, hitting "return" to skip information they know and answering questions quickly. Since the lessons are time-efficient this isn't really a problem. Unfortunately, children can't pretest and test out of lessons, but they can tell by their score if they've moved ahead too fast.

The tracking system keeps track of which lessons my children have completed and which ones they have left uncompleted. I want to spend my time actively teaching and learning with my children, not grading or tracking paperwork. The program records what lessons my child did, the date, how long they spent on them and their scores. Writing and science notes are kept on record as well. All I have to do at the end of each week or month, is pop out all my children's records from the computer and the boring detail work is done. The computer also flags uncompleted lessons. This means if a toddler flips the computer switch off while they are in the middle of a lesson, they don't have to start all over. It also means that a child can survey a lesson without having to commit himself to completing it. I've noticed my second grader doing this a lot with the junior high science modules. He is curious about the information in the modules but not ready to answer questions. To me this is a really important feature -- I don't want my child's curiosity limited by his abilities.

This program is a bit pricey, but the company really backs you up. The price also guarantees you updates and pre-release prices. Like many companies these days, they are using networking to market their product. This targets their product better and returns their advertising dollars to you. So, if you show this to a friend, and she finds it will help her, you get the credit. I found this to be a very cost-effective program for our home. There are over 1200 lesson modules in the K-8 curriculum and they are all non-consumable (usable over and over). Each CD will track up to 20 students. I have re-sold our school textbooks which are now covered by the HomeQuest curriculum. This helped me pay for my purchase of the HomeQuest curriculum and I now have less clutter in my home. The time I would have spent checking on my children or evaluating their progress, I can now spend on those homemaking activities that save us money, or maybe just getting more sleep!

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