Teaching children about money management is a needed course and seems to be one that is neglected in some school systems. This is why I enjoy homeschooling because I dictate what is best for my children. I have the drive of my parents in me with the desire to be an entrepreneur and this has rubbed off on my children. We were provided an opportunity to review The Complete Starter Kit by The Kingdom Code. It is a Biblical-based hands-on program that teaches kids about money management and how to become a kid entrepreneur. It's a very cool course with a medieval theme that should appeal to most kids. It's geared towards helping parents and teachers to teach children and teenagers a fun way to start a business and all the steps in between.
When I first received the package of all the material, I had to take time to read and understand how to assemble it all. In the past, I would have been annoyed with the time it required to assemble and make sense of it all but as I've proceeded in the homeschool journey, I have learned how important it is to take the time to prepare. The course itself looked inviting to me so compiling everything also turned into a fun task. This curriculum is comprehensive thus requiring the time needed to prepare and plan appropriately. Every item is vital to the curriculum and I think they did a wonderful job creating an informative, educational and fun way to teach a subject that some might not normally like nor learn about. It did require some inexpensive items like a couple of binders, tabs, pencil pockets, and red pencils, but once you compile the binders for the students, it makes perfect sense and it's pretty cool looking. I did assemble my own binder as I wanted to have my own separate area for information.
THE KINGDOM CODE MAKE AND MANAGE MONEY...GOD'S WAY STUDENT BOOK
We started out using The Kingdom Code Make and Manage Money...God's Way book. As the cover states, the curriculum is designed to, "empower students to be entrepreneurs" and to "build a business," "develop character,"and "prepare for the future." It's a nice spiral bound colorful book that has engaging photos, illustrations and more. The Table of Contents lists the 27 lessons, a glossary, a bibliography, credits, and an index.
Lesson One is the "Path to The Kingdom Code" and provides the students with everything they need to know to understand what The Kingdom Code is. As it discusses starting one's own business, it is reinforced with the word of God. Each lesson includes:
- Proclamations which are designed for the Kingdom of Code Kid (KCK) to become brave and build faith. For example, Lesson One states, "I trust in the Lord with all my heart and depend on Him, instead of myself. In everything I do, I honor and remember Him, and He makes my path straight."
- Check Your Path are worksheets that require the KCK to answer the questions about each lesson.
- Quest for the Clue are provided to help the KCK understand how God wants them to live and use money. It is stressed that as they find the Clues, they will be able to put on the full Armor of God for protection. They are knights in this journey.
- Codes of Honor provide a Bible verse and a character code that describes how a KCK thinks and acts.
- Share Your Thought further the KCK's learning experience by asking more questions such as, "how can you have a financial responsibility and not be a financially responsible person?" These were fun as it allowed me to fully understand if they were comprehending what was being taught.
- Treasure Seeking is the way KCKs discover treasures that will help them build their own business to make money. A business is called a Treasure Builder.
- Action Time is where they refer to their binders and start exercises to build their own Treasure Builder.
- On Your Own are more activities the KCKs complete on their own or at home.
- Kingdom Keys are reviews of the lesson. They consist of: Key to the Lesson, Key Ideas and Key Terms
- Upon completion of each lesson, the KCK receives a key (a sticker) to place on the KCK Treasure Map.
- Bonus Code Work varies lesson to lesson and provides additional activities for the KCKs that are optional.
I know that sounds like quite a bit, but if broken into days, as the schedule recommends, it's very easy to accomplish and was a favorite activity of the day to complete.
TEACHER'S GUIDE
The Teacher's Guide consists of print outs that are designed to be placed in a binder. It contains:
- A Contents section that lists each section and lesson.
- A Note to the Teacher that provides a letter of inspiration and more from Jimmie Byler aka Aunt Jimmi and the staff.
- An Introduction to the Kingdom Code indexed by parts with Part 1 noting the supplies needed as I noted above.
- Part 2 is how to organize everything and these sections are paramount to setting up the course for a smooth transition in teaching it. Note: this can be used for one student or more.
- Part 3 explains what is in the textbook and what to expect in a lesson which I explained above in the sections from the student's book.
- Part 4 is instruction on using the Essential Elements such as activities, worksheets, flashcards, posters, forms, notices and Treasure Builder ideas. This is the part that is a little more cumbersome in ensuring you are organized before beginning as they are not bound, As I noted above, they all have their respective places in folders, binders or pencil pouches. I'm glad they provided it this way as I think it really cuts down on costs since we assemble and buy the non-teaching essentials. Before separating and placing everything in their respective binders, read carefully so you place each section where it needs to go. This is where the binder tabs is very handy, if not essential, in organizing everything as they suggested for the supplies needed.
- Part 5 lists what is in the Teacher's Guide which includes the Lesson Plans, Masters (Appendix A), Flashcards (Appendix B), Assessments (Appendix C), and Additional Enrichment (Appendix D).
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| I made a little envelope to place the flashcards in at the front of the binder. |
LESSONS
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| My youngest started with the course and was completing Worksheet 1 as my middle one watched with great interest. |
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| A close up of the first worksheet. |
The Teacher's Guide provides the guidance on breaking up the days of the lessons. For the review, I will cover the first three lessons.
Lesson One
As we started Lesson One, my KCK was supposed to assemble her binder but I helped her and put it together for her. For Day One, we worked on the Overview, Essential Question, Learning Goal and Kingdom Code. We completed Worksheet One as noted in the photo above. There are tips throughout to help customize the lessons to meet individual students abilities. There are a lot of interactive type activities which makes the course a fun family type activity too.
Day Two for Lesson One included more interactive work and the completion of pages 6-11 of Activity 1. The entire course consists of 40 colorful Activities that help to promote understanding of the material through various exercises.
At the conclusion of the lesson, they receive their first key as noted in the above photo.
Lesson Two
Lesson Two continued building the Treasure and didn't let her down. She was so eager and enthusiastic about each lesson.
Lesson Three
Each lesson is a real learning adventure and this is another brief overview. This one starts out with the Proclamation, as do the others, and begins with a little history about a beef entrepreneur in the 1800s in Texas. This cleverly leads into teaching about the law of supply and demand. The lesson provides activities to build the financial concept knowledge and provides the KCK with the idea of a mentor. I was really surprised to see this as in my previous pharmaceutical life, we were encouraged to seek mentors so this was a wonderful concept to add. In addition to the worksheet, the KCK will complete Notice 1: Treasure Builder Permit and Notice 2: Business Notice.
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| My KCK is completing Notice 1 for her Treasure Builder Permit. |
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| Notice 2 for the Business Notice. |
THE KINGDOM CODE KIDS COLORING BOOK and JR. KCK BUDGET KIT
We also received The Kingdom Code (TKC) Kids Coloring Book and Jr. KCK Budget Kit. The Jr. KCK Budget Kit is for the younger children that aren't quite old enough to complete The Kingdom Code program. It's colorful and fun and I was able to start to use it with my granddaughter who enjoyed it. She enjoyed coloring the saving pages along with some of the 32 pages within the TKC Coloring Book. The pages are full of knights, Bible Versus and of course, the budget pages. It's a fun way of introducing financial management with younger children.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Overall summary, The Kingdom Code is an elective designed course that is expected to take 34 weeks to complete or a school year. If taught weekly for 45 minutes as suggested or more frequently, it's very easy to complete. We were able to complete the first five lessons for this review. It is Biblical in nature throughout the entire course which was a huge bonus for myself and my student. It's also noted in the course information that parental guidance is needed from Lessons 1-8, which will take a semester to complete. Afterwards, the student can move forward with the rest of the lessons that refer back to their business without as much guidance. Students can share the textbook but any consumables (Student Packs) should be purchased for each additional student for completion. They are beautiful pages so one would not want to lose out on the complete nature of the sheets nor the work that The Kingdom Code put into creating every sheet.
The beauty of this curriculum is that more than one student can work on a business allowing great flexibility.
A LOOK AHEAD
As I looked ahead at the lessons, I have to say that I just loved Lesson 27's Activity 40 titled, "Dividing My Money." As you can see in the photo, the KCK is guided in how to spend to include giving back to Jesus, others, education, savings and of course, them.
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| Activity 34 teachers the KCKs how to write a check. |
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Complete Starter Kit by The Kingdom Code is a really fun, interactive, rewarding program to teach children about money and starting a business without forgetting God. It's extremely clever in that it provides children with real practical activities to start a real business. It weaves in history, economics, writing, math and the Bible to present a comprehensive course that actually brought excitement and enthusiasm with my daughter. We recommend!
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If you use code 10TKC23, you will receive 10% off!
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