For, mere hours before I heard about this Homeschool Review Crew opportunity, I had been chatting with my husband about rekindlying a business focus with our children, and, the day before that, I had been asking in a Facebook group about how others are approaching entrepreneurship with their kids. Thus, I knew I wanted to try The Kingdom Code.
What I did not know was if my children would want to try it.
So, I sat my daughter down with me, and we watched this video about The Kingdom Code and read more about The Complete Starter Kit on The Kingdom Code website.
THE KINGDOM CODE from Jordan Buckingham on Vimeo.
Together, my daughter and I decided that we would like to use The Kingdom Code during 1:1's a couple times each week, but, also, that if her brothers took an interest in the program as well, we'd do it together. For, each of my children have had stops and starts with micro-businesses and money management throughout the years, and, after being stalled by a variety of life events and distractions, we are all ready for the children in our home to restart entrepreneurial efforts and personal finance skill development.
What is The Kingdom Code?
This program is designed to be used twice per week for 34 weeks with each lesson lasting 45 minutes or so, but can certainly be adapted to other schedules.
It has:
- a strong Biblical foundation.
- tools to help students become successful leaders and entrepreneurs at any age.
- teaching about how to strengthen financial skills and lead a debt-free, faith-filled lifestyle.
- adaptability to be used by homeschoolers, classroom teachers, and families.
- cross-curricular learning for economics, math, history, technology, writing, and faith.
- easy-to-follow lessons that include a separate teacher's guide, worksheets, assessments, flashcards, activities, and a system to track learning.
- a medieval theme filled with knights, treasure, and more to entice kids to learn.
You can find FREE SAMPLES of it on the Kingdom Code website and use the coupon code 10TKC35 for 10% off purchases!
We Received a Bundle of Goodness!
The Complete Starter Kit, which we received, contains everything you need to get started in teaching your children about money management skills and a Code of Integrity based on Biblical principles.
We received the full kit, which included the:
Teacher’s Guide – This is 132 hole-punched pages containing lesson plans, answer keys, and everything you need to start teaching The Kingdom Code.
Student Textbook – This is a full-color, glossy-page, 244-page spiral bound book containing Biblical application, budgeting, consumer math, economics, entrepreneurship, history, writing and more to teach young entrepreneurs to live by a Code of Honor and Faith as they build and manage successful businesses.
Student Packet – This includes all the consumable materials student use in the program, which are a KCK Receipt Book to be used to keep a record of their customers’ payments; a TKC Treasure Map which is used as a reward system for tracking the completion of 27 lessons; a page of 1/2" Bonus Rewards Stickers to be used with the KCK Treasure Map; a page of six, 3" Label stickers to be placed on six zippered, pencil pockets (not included) for where business income budgeted money will go; three full-color 8.5″ x 11″ posters to use in the KCK student binders (binders not included; flashcards that contain key introductory accounting terms, economic terminology, basic business terms, and some Biblical vocabulary; and 124 full-color pages and four black-and-white forms which help students review and put concepts into action.
This kit is sold separately, too, so if you have more than one child working through the program, each can have their own set.
(The vendor gave the Review Crew permission, for the purposes of the review, to make copies of portions of this consumable Student Pack to use with a second child in our family, but such permissions are not given for general consumers, and as you can see from the above and below pics, the full-color purchased materials are so much more inviting than photocopied ones from home. So, do buy the additional student packs as needed!)
(The vendor gave the Review Crew permission, for the purposes of the review, to make copies of portions of this consumable Student Pack to use with a second child in our family, but such permissions are not given for general consumers, and as you can see from the above and below pics, the full-color purchased materials are so much more inviting than photocopied ones from home. So, do buy the additional student packs as needed!)
We also received additional bonus items which are available on The Kingdom Code website: the JR Budgeting Kit and The Kingdom Code Coloring Book.
The JR KCK Budget Kit includes a KCK Budget Poster; a sheet of JOEYS stickers (J is for Jesus -10%; O is for Others - 5%; E is for Education -10%; Y is for You - 60%; and S is for Savings -15%); a My KCK Budget Percentages Page; and six colorimg pages. It was created as an economical way to introduce kids too young for the full The Kingdom Code curriculum to budgeting so they can learn how to manage money God's way.
I set it aside when we first got it and am planning to use it in the fall as a gentle way to re-invite my youngest into the curriculum.
Likewise, I plan to use the 32 page, softcover The Kingdom Code Coloring Book, which features female and male knights, Bible verses, and KCK Budget ideas as another way to re-invite my son to the curriculum in the fall, as I think coloring or watercolor painting its pages while I read the student text to my younger two children will be pleasing for them.
I also think that the verses and ideas in the coloring book could be used for copywork.
To use the program as designed, in addition to the plethora of materials which come with it and are described above, you will also need:
- two 1" 3-ring binders
- one set of divider tabs
- one folder with brads and pockets
- zippered pencil pockets with clear plastic front
- a sealable bag for the flash cards
- a red pencil and other writing utensils
- whatever you want to use for your actual business supplies
Our Up-Down-Up Experience
When our kit came in, my daughter was excited and wanted to dig right in. I made her wait a day or two, though, so I could find time to look over the materials myself.
Then, my daughter, younger son, and I began the program while my older son was within earshot, since I was hoping that he would become intrigued and want to join in!
Sadly, my plan did not work, because both my daughter and younger son - though enticed by the full-color pages and promise of learning about running their own businesses - immediately felt the program was teaching "too much Bible stuff and not enough practical business stuff" while their big brother chimed in that it sounded the same to him and also sounded babyish.
Ugh! I was not happy with our kick off, since, I honestly think the program has oodles of fantastic learning to offer and does so with beautifully designed materials, so was hoping my two younger children would jump right into it with gusto and my oldest would follow suit.
Whew! That helped.
Once my younger two realized the program would flow with plenty of practical ideas, they were happy enough to do another portion of it another day.
Unfortunately, the day we did the second portion of the program was a day when my youngest wanted to do anything but write, and, well, I wasn't the best homeschool mama that day and made him write, so, my youngest soured on the program and has not quite gotten over that, as he began associating the program with writing drudgery (a total momma fail not program fail!)
Luckily, I spied some links listed in the teacher's guide for supplemental video clips and related online games and used these with my son during our last lesson with The Kingdom Code, so, I think, after a pause for summer, I will gently be able to re-invite him to benefit from the program using a gentle re-start with the aforementioned bonus materials I have set aside, plenty of the supplementary work (i.e. videos and games) that is listed in the teacher's guide, and a "pass" on much of the worksheet portion of the program.
That way, my younger son will be able to happily glean the good stuff (of which there is a ton as the Table of Contents pictured below hints at!) without being weighed down by the parts of the program that don't suit him. (We can do writing with other things.)
Meanwhile, even though her brother stalled out, my daughter has been progressing through the program, doing most parts of the typical lessons with me and seeing the program's value.
The typical lesson includes:
- Proclamation: a Biblical principal for the student to focus on for the day which students are supposed to stand and proclaim, but which we just read since she and he brother thought the whole proclaiming thing was hokey, not fun or meaningful
- Check Your Path: worksheets, which we've been doing during our official review period, but will do orally or not at all (with me just chatting through some of the material instead) from now on because that is more my daughter's style
- Quest for the Clue: a focus of the lesson theme and goals which I, personally, often find interesting
- Code of Honor: a related Bible verse and a short blurb that connects it
- On Your Own: activity sheets that we work on together, but which could be done independently by children without dyslexia or other special needs
- Kingdom Keys: lesson review points and key vocabulary
- Congratulations: adding a completion sticker to the KCK Treasure Map, which both of my children working on this program liked, and, which seemed odd to me because we are not often a sticker chart sort of family, but, hey, whatever works! It just goes to show the visual appeal of this program's material.
- Bonus Work: supplemental work that enhances the lesson (like those links to videos and games that my son liked!)
In addition to these, there are some other bits that come up throughout the course, but these are ones we are seeing in most lessons.
All this adds up to a truly complete program that lives up to what it promises on the back of the student boo - "a hands-on approach to equipping future generations with money management skills and a code of integrity".
Sour Notes Yet Serious Success is Happening
As I explained before, my youngest got a bit turned off from the program due to me asking him to complete some of the worksheets. Thus, when I asked him for his thoughts for this review he said:
I like the links that they give to videos and games, but I don't really like how boring the actual lessons are. I also don't like how early on you have to start your business and the kinds of businesses. A lot of them seem like they wouldn't really work or be possible for kids like me. I would not really recommend this curriculum to people unless they like writing and want to do service businesses.
That said, my son likes the idea of making money and has his dad working for him on a "Can Business" where his Dad collects cans from people at work and, then, he and his dad go return them for money.
Of course, this is not a real business, but it is a seed and seeds can grow.
When I re-invite my son to this program after a summer break, I am planning to ask if he might turn his can idea into a service thing for neighbors - maybe offer to collect and return their cans for them when he's returning his own and then take a percent of the money for the returned cans - or think of another way to grow the can idea.
Meanwhile, my son is also helping with the business his sister settled on for now.
That business is basically a way for my children to help us declutter our home while making some money. Basically, they help me find things in our home we no longer need. Then, they clean and prepare them for sale, I post them on a local Facebook sale page and do the online communications, they greet customers who come to buy things, take money, carry things to customers' cars, record sales, and divvy profits up.
I am sure our "winning" will get even bigger as we learn more with the curriculum, about which my daughter had this to say:
I wanted this curriculum because it is about starting businesses and I want to start one. When it came in, I thought it was nicely packaged, and I thought it was cool how they had the knight theme, but I did not really like how they start off with service businesses. I also don't like quite how many worksheets there are, but that's just me, because I am a person who is more hands-on than worksheet based. It's just the way I work.
So far, I think it is okay. I want to continue it to see what I learn, but do the worksheets orally from now on. I hope I am able to start a successful business.
I think this curriculum would be good for students in a large group of homeschoolers or classroom students.
As for me, I am happy that my daughter wants to keep using the curriculum, because I think it is rich with practical ideas, cross curricular knowledge and skills, and, of course, plenty of Biblical principles. am happy that my daughter wants to keep using the curriculum, because I think it is rich with practical ideas, cross curricular knowledge and skills, and, of course, plenty of Biblical principles.
Homeschoolers and Classroom Teachers Can Use The Kingdom Code
The Complete Starter Kit by The Kingdom Code is a well-designed program that teaches important practical life skills connected to faith, economics, history, math, technology, writing, and more, so I most certainly would say it is worth checking out if you're looking for money management, business building, and Biblical tie ins for your children.
The curriculum is said to be for late elementary through middle school students. Content wise, it most certainly is. In fact, it explores skills and ideas that any child or teen would do well to learn. However, presentation-wise, I think it is a bit "young" for teens. The knight theme and the way some materials are introduced just would not appeal to most teens I know - even my 13-year-old history-loving, knight-loving oldest son. That said, with adaptation, the curriculum would be good even for teens and, certainly, is good for children in later elementary ages, I would say.
The lesson plans, I noticed, are also written for a classroom setting as well as a home one, so I think the program would work wonderfully for a Christian co-op, hybrid school, or private school.
It works for families, too.
If you'd like to see if it might work for you and yours, look at the FREE SAMPLES and use the coupon code 10TKC35 for 10% off purchases!
Connect with The Kingdom Code on Social Media
The Complete Starter Kit by The Kingdom Code is a well-designed program that teaches important practical life skills connected to faith, economics, history, math, technology, writing, and more, so I most certainly would say it is worth checking out if you're looking for money management, business building, and Biblical tie ins for your children.
The curriculum is said to be for late elementary through middle school students. Content wise, it most certainly is. In fact, it explores skills and ideas that any child or teen would do well to learn. However, presentation-wise, I think it is a bit "young" for teens. The knight theme and the way some materials are introduced just would not appeal to most teens I know - even my 13-year-old history-loving, knight-loving oldest son. That said, with adaptation, the curriculum would be good even for teens and, certainly, is good for children in later elementary ages, I would say.
The lesson plans, I noticed, are also written for a classroom setting as well as a home one, so I think the program would work wonderfully for a Christian co-op, hybrid school, or private school.
It works for families, too.
If you'd like to see if it might work for you and yours, look at the FREE SAMPLES and use the coupon code 10TKC35 for 10% off purchases!
Connect with The Kingdom Code on Social Media
Fifty Homeschool Review Crew families have been using Kingdom Code. Read or watch their reviews!
