We are sorry if you have come to the site to place an order and are unable to do so. We are working on the backend in the hopes to improve admin and stock so as to keep on serving and supporting you.

We do hope you will visit again and apologies for any inconvenience you may have encountered.

Please try visit again after 24 hours.

We also hope that you will find the site helpful as you can still browse, read and watch videos, and there is the Oikos YouTube channel which you may find supportive.

We hope, as we feel sure you do too, for a wonderful year.

We also hope that we can continue to serve and support you in your journey with your family at home.

Please do remember that we continue to ‘create’ for you: videos, audio books, podcasts, resources and so on.

We have taken the lockdown time during 2020 to be an opportunity for us to do productions for you which we are placing on the Oikos YouTube page. We hope for them to be encouraging, inspiring, supportive, helpful….or whatever it is that will help you.

Oikos YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/user/oikosfamily

We share this with you at the start of the year as a reminder that the reason for the Oikos YouTube channel is there to help you. We know that when a new year starts there is a natural focus on what books to get so we do not need to encourage you to focus on that but perhaps a prompt to not forget about the help that is being made available to you will be helpful.

You can also contact us via email or ‘chat to us’ on the site….we are here to help.

Keep safe, keep smiling, keep strong

Abundant blessings

the Oikos Team.

Because we are making books for you we would like to encourage you to, 'grow a tree'.

If you have received seeds in your Oikos order, we hope you and your children will enjoy this project

You may have received either little acorns from the Sawtooth Oak tree variety or seeds from the Henkels Yellowwood tree variety.

Here are some fun facts.

The Sawtooth Oak tree.

Did you know...

Uses
The primary use for this species is as a wildlife food source. It is also a good shade tree.

Description
Sawtooth Oak is a large species, reaching a mature height of 21m. The leaves are similar to those of the chestnut but are smaller, 10-20cm, and have pointed teeth. The acorns are also small in size, about 2cm long, and are enclosed in cups. Approximately 2/3 of the nut is covered by the cup. Trees produce about 300 acorns per kg.

When planting acorns, plant them about 2cm deep. The seedlings should not be transplanted until they reach 30cm or more, in height.

Hopefully you and your children will do some further fact-finding on the Sawtooth Oaktree and learn the best way to plant the acorns and take care of them.

An exercise in patience while you wait for your oak tree to grow!

The Yellowwood tree

We hope that this festive season will be a blessing to you all, even with this being the end of a dramatic year, such has never before been known, we do trust that you will be able to enjoy the festive season and that you and your family will be blessed throughout.

We would like to thank you for your support through the challenging times of 2020 and we sincerely hope and pray that 2021 will see us being able to continue supporting and serving you.

Oikos websites will remain live and active during the festive season however the daily ‘chat to us’ on the website and order processing will stop as from the 18th Dec and re-open on the 4th Jan 2021.

You will be able to continue to browse and place orders during the 18th Dec and 4th Jan. however orders will only be processed, packed and then couriered to you after the 4th Jan. 2021.

From the 4th Jan. 2021 the orders will be processed in date order starting with the first to leave Oikos in 2021 being those placed from the 18 Dec. onwards.

We shall continue to be active on the Oikos Facebook page and Oikos YouTube channel so we do hope you will be able to follow the support offered there.

Please keep safe, keep smiling and keep strong

JOY=Strength

Abundant blessings to you and your loved ones.

Currently, we are in the process of some developments regarding Maths-U-See digital access

With regard to the digital Maths-U-See developments, we will keep you informed through the website and Oikos Facebook page. Right now, this is still a work in progress.

We have been informed by Math-U-See USA that due to the many challenges currently, as well as various other complexities, they will only be developing the digital version for South Africa to be offered through Oikos in 2021.

While we wait we can be praying for them all as they traverse their way through the global crisis.

Math-U-See USA sent us this question, and their answer, to help families with the physical DVDS'

10. Our computer was recently updated to Windows 10. Now we find that we can no longer play the Math-U-See Instruction DVDs. Do you have an updated file that we can download to continue using this program?
11. Yes, you’ll need to install a video player to use the DVDs on your Windows 10 operating system. One option that has worked successfully for other customers is found at www.videolan.org; download the VLC media player. (Please note, this is a third-party website and Demme Learning is not responsible for the content.)

I hope this is helpful to you in the interim.

blessings

The Oikos Team

Question: Regarding LLTAL Gold, World Literature. How important is it to have the specified publisher version of the additional novels

Answer: You do not have to use the specified versions of the literature for the World Literature course. The lessons are not tied to any specific version. There are many translations of The Odyssey, some harder to read than others. We suggest that you review a few to find what works best for your student. We do recommend No Fear Shakespeare because of the modern translation, but it is not necessary for completing the lessons.

A story you should read regarding this.

A few months ago we heard the news that we would not be able to import the Math-U-See manipulative blocks. This of course was a great concern, so we prayed. We prayed most specifically for the Math-U-See team in USA because they were dealing with a supply shortage which had multiple ripple effects on them and the people. So we prayed.

When our (Oikos) stock of manipulative sets starting running low we started praying for you, the parents whom we serve and supply these resources too. A few months later i wrote a letter to share the sadness of us no longer being able to supply the blocks. The day i was going to send that letter i received word from Math-U-See USA that they could send us some (50 to be exact) block sets. These block sets are referred to as IBK’s. (Integer Block Kit). We were delighted that we would be able to keep supplying you but we did continue to pray as we wondered what would happen when the 50 IBK’s, which we were now able to get from USA, were sold.

This part of the story is where it hits the parents……sadly. Although we have managed to get more IBK’s in stock the cost to do so has resulted in a price increase of 25% !!!

We are saddened by this reality but we had to make a decision…25% increase or no IBK’s. We were so very glad that Math-U-See USA were able to supply us with the 50 IBK’s so we accepted the increase and began the import process. Now however we are faced with the decision once again as we are able to receive another 50 sets but once again the price increase will be 25%.

So this letter is to inform you that we have decided to proceed with getting more blocks so that we can continue to supply you with this valuable resource but we will need to increase the price of the blocks, so as to be able to import these blocks. We have managed to adjust the increase to be 21% instead of the 25% that we have incurred. (Truth be known, the increase to Oikos was significantly more but we were so heart sore to add even the 21% to the blocks. We now trust and hope that we can sustain these increases)

Signing off with a bitter sweet feeling in my heart. Happy that we can keep supplying you and sad about the increase.

What is the difference between KONOS HOW Vol 1. and KONOS HOW Vol.2?

• Year Planning
• Goal Setting
• Portfolio Development
• Order of study
• History
• Art
• English Studies
• Bible Studies

What KONOS HOW Vol. I Covers:

• History
• Art
• English Studies
• Bible Studies
• Latin

We understand that the new payment system is different to the old, but we assure you that it is just as reliable, as well as being even more secure than before.

The changes implemented on our site are to do with EFT payments, as (in the past) they have been a huge security problem, as well as adding a time-delay to order processing.  Because of this, we implemented the SiD Instant EFT Payment method.

If you are unsure about the security measures in place, could we ask you to follow this link, as it will explain it more efficiently than we could via email.

However, we have also added a way for you to pay via your debit card.  As long as the card is either MasterCard or VISA, you can pay using the PayGate "Pay via card" section.

This video shares a personal testimony which we hope will encourage and help you.

Please watch this video which is a personal testimony of living with illness.

Please watch this video which shares about the value of family board game time.

If you still have questions feel free to contact us at [email protected]

Please watch this video for the answer. If you still have questions feel free to contact us at [email protected]

Please watch this video for the answer. If you still have questions feel free to contact us at [email protected]

While we offer educational resources for all ages, we are not a formal institution and don’t require formal registration. This is due to the vision, philosophy and objectives of the ministry.

We only require for you to register an online account (which you will be prompted to do automatically as you checkout on the Oikos online store). Registering online enables you to shop without having to enter your details every time you wish to checkout, as well as keeping a record of your previous orders.

Please watch this video for the answer. If you still have questions feel free to contact us at [email protected]

Click here for the playlist of video testimonies of other grandparents.

I, Sonja Wood, asked my mother, Yvonne McCurrach, to write her testimony of being a grandmother of home educated (Homeschooled) grandchildren. She wrote this letter to parents choosing to teach their children at home and advising them to include the grandparents as much as possible.

Letters from Granny Oikos

As promised I will outline our experiences as the grandparents of home educated (Homeschooled) children.
We have seven grandchildren ranging in age between 12 and 27 years old, four boys and three girls.  Missy and Jamie are the only two who are home educated (Homeschooled).

I would suggest that as parents who are choosing to educate your children at home, it is a good idea to have a visit with grans and grandpas, without your children, to explain your reasons, motivation and heart to them.  It is a good idea to also visit at a later stage with the children who can also tell gran and grandpa how they would like them to feel about them being home educated (Homeschooled). We were very fortunate that Greg and Sonja included us from the very start of their home education (Homeschooling) journey.

We have enjoyed being in a position where we have been ‘Hands on’ grandparents to all our precious grandchildren and so it has been a tremendous blessing to us that we have participated in Missy and Jamie’s home education (Homeschooling) from the very beginning.  We can see how much our support and participation has meant to our family and of course the rewards are numerous.

As for feeling deprived of the opportunity to brag about our grandchildren who have made it into the 1st rugby team, been chosen as an exchange student to go to U.S.A for 6 months, to win art exhibitions, be made head prefect etc. etc. not a chance.  All the above are very commendable but my personal feeling is the memories we cherish are more precious by far.  What can replace teaching my grandchildren to swim (in the dam at Mbona!!) having wonderful craft mornings together,  going for walks to find frogs,  baking gingerbread men, dressing up,  reading Bible stories, telling them stories about their Mom when she was a little girl (they love those), going on camping trips that involved writing a diary and working out how many kilometres from Mbona to Pilansburg Game Reserve. I could go on and on as many other grans could do but turning all the above into learning experiences is what has made us realise how much we can contribute to our grandchildren’s education and have lots of fun in the process. We have been richly blessed.  In addition to all the above, Sonja and the children have an annual ‘Grandparent’s Day’  when us four grandparents are treated to a lovely lunch (done by Missy and Jamie) and a sharing of the years work.  We take gifts to the children and congratulate them on their achievements.  By the way many public schooled children don’t ever win a prize because there’s not much room at the top but every year our two get commended for their efforts and have many ‘Achievement Awards’ to their credit.

I am very aware that not all grandparents are in a position to do all the above things but the fact is that even from a wheelchair grandparents can support, enjoy, love and participate in the choice that their children have made.  The alternative —  ‘Disapproval’    is soul destroying to oneself, destructive to the family and produces nothing but sadness and negative results and so my prayer is that all parents who choose the ‘Home Education (Homeschool) Route’ will seek God’s help in bringing grandparents on board with them to enrich the lives of these precious children who have been entrusted to our care, and to acknowledge the wisdom and guidance that grandparents can pass onto the children.

God bless and love from Yvonne.

P.S.  I must share with you that since coming to live at Mbona (where Greg and Sonja’s home is) it has become Jamie’s job to take granny swimming in the dam —- I sit on the back of his surfboard and we both paddle out to the centre of the dam,  slide off the board,  have a lovely swim and then I hang onto the back of the board (because I can’t haul myself back onto it) and Jamie paddles us back to the bank.   Isn’t that precious?

For Grandparents of Home Educated (Homeschooled) Grandchildren

We are the very blessed grandparents of two precious home educated (Homeschooled) grandchildren. Melissa and James are now aged 19 and 14 and so we have enjoyed being on the sidelines to see them blossoming into outstanding young adults.   Our daughter Sonja and her husband Greg drew us into the lifestyle from day one and have encouraged us to participate whenever and wherever we can enjoy sharing this amazing journey that we have all gone on.  We have been careful not to intrude and so have been led by these dedicated parents to help when our input would be of value.

Maybe we have been denied the ‘Bragging and Boasting’ that most of us enjoy in telling our friends about the ‘Trophies’ awarded to our grandchildren at school and let me emphasise that I am in no way diminishing these achievements (we have 5 other precious grandchildren of whom we are very proud)  However there is little to equal the precious times we have spent doing crafts, digging in the garden (looking for worms)  looking at stars through the telescope, sewing, knitting, planting seeds, reading together, painting pictures, learning to swim and camping   —-  where every project becomes educational in such a fun way. Believe me we have learnt so many new things ourselves that it has advanced our own education at a very late time in life!!  As they say ,   “You are never too old to learn!’  I add that even from a wheelchair or a rocking chair, be it academic, sport or creative arts you are never too old to have fun and make special memories
so………..
Go for it grannies, and grandpas – have lots of fun, be hugely blessed and very proud of your children who have made this amazing commitment to be the kind of parents who are dedicating themselves to the most noble of all callings – to present to the world young people who are in every way special and ready themselves to give to society something with which they have been blessed.

May God bless you with many more years to Support, Observe,  Participate and Enjoy the fruits of your precious family.

Yvonne McCurrach

For Further Encouragement

Please get yourself this little treasure of a booklet called Letters by Granny Oikos. Please visit the store to see this book.