Tuesday, June 18, 2019

The Kingdom Code - The Complete Starter Kit Review





Trying to live and budget is a struggle that just a few handfuls of people can say they totally grasp and do well at.  We recently had the opportunity to review The Complete Starter Kit from The Kingdom Code.  This has been a unique, hands-on approach to teach the kids entrepreneurship, budgeting, life and money skills all from a Christian perspective.




We received everything needed to get you started, including bonus extras of the The Kingdom Code Coloring Book and the KCK Budget Kit.  This is a physical product that you do order.  In addition to the actual product, you will need to have two 1inch 3 ring binders with clear inserts on front and back to store your learning materials in.  You will also need a set of five divider tabs to help separate out the KCK Binder, a red pencil, six zippered pencil pouches with clear plastic fronts, and a small storage baggie or box for the 2" x 3" flash cards.  You will need a student activity book for each student participating in the program.

Before getting started, you will need to sit down and prep the student notebooks and read through the materials that are sent.  You will do well if you have a 3 ring binder for your Teacher's Guide also.  The Teacher's Guide explains what all the materials are and how they are used during the course of your studies.  


The Complete Starter Kit from The Kingdom Code was created to teach students how to make and manage money in a Christian way.  Each student creates and manages his or her own business.  They will then reap the benefits (or profit) from running that business.  They will learn skills that will help them to achieve the independence of running their own business while still being close enough with their parents to have their guidance while learning each crucial step.  Having a mentor to guide them is encouraged.  So it would not necessarily need to be a parent/guardian.  But someone they trust and you know will help guide your child in the right direction.


There are a list of suggestions of businesses for your young one to think about starting and an area for them to brainstorm ideas on what they would like to do.  This Treasure Builder Ideas area is the start of your student's journey in The Kingdom Code.  They can choose from the list and start working on their new "career" or "job".  

KCK - Kingdom Code Kids textbook and workbook are broken down into 27 lessons that can be taught over a suggested 34 week period.  The reading/lesson material is located in the textbook entitled - The Kingdom Code - Make and Manage Money ... God's Way.  This full-color textbook is spiral bound and lays flat for easy use for students.  It is broken down into different sections meant to remind children about organizing their daily lives and how to stay organized.  Reminders about referring and inputting information and calculations into the student's ledger and keeping their calendar updated are also included. Information about the importance of tracking money coming in and going.


One thing I really liked about the student workbook, the writers included page numbers with the questions.  This allowed Caty to work more independently, once we were past some of the first materials.  

Caty is a very visual and wants to create product, so she is moving much slower than the suggested time frame.  This is not a bad thing.  Caty is working on creating a craft business where she sews "Ugly Bears" and dolls that she has re-purposed and given new life.  So we have gotten through a couple of the first lessons as she has been designing and working gradually on her sale product.  Even though she has only "completed" her business idea, she is starting in on her business name and working on her logo.  We have been working our way through some more of the lessons by just reading them, knowing that we will delve deeper into them as she has finished other projects from the first lessons.  

Lesson 3 was a good reminder for her.  Supply vs. Demand.  You do not want to create something that there is no demand for, or only try to work in a field that has too many employees.  For example, delivering newspapers used to be a kids only job.  Now it is not.  The digital age has cut the amount of papers down that are delivered.  Urban and suburban areas make kids delivery a bit more difficult, and more adults now deliver that can drive.  So this is a field that is not as high demand.  

KCKs also includes Activities that go with certain lessons.  These activities started around Lesson 7.  These quality printed pages taught subjects like making sales calls.  Many kids have cell phones now, but do they know proper phone etiquette?  Also included in these activities are math skills such as rounding, addition/subtraction for figuring profit and loss with expenses, and even dividing their money between important lessons on how to spend the money they earn.


The Kingdom Code works very hard at teaching kids about J.O.E.Y.S.

J - Jesus  10%
O- Others  5%
E- Education  10%
Y-You  60%
S-Savings  15%

They believe this is the Christian way to properly divide out your money, and to remain balanced.  That is why the zippered pencil pouches are important.  The students can divide their money up inside the envelopes for use.

Included also in The Complete Starter Kit are vocabulary flashcards printed on card stock.  I do have to say, that we did not really use these.  Caty is not a flashcard person, so she and I would review the words in her student textbook lesson.  But this is not unusual, we rarely use flashcards at all.  They are printed well, and you can cut them apart and that is what one of your storage bags is for.  They contain the word, pronunciation, and definition.


There is also a map that as students finish each lesson can mark off as they go.  It's like a treasure map.  They can visually see themselves progressing in the program and what they have accomplished.  



We were also generously gifted The Kingdom Code Coloring Book.  This is a great addition for younger ones who may be sitting in on lessons with older siblings or even special needs learners that are visual learners.  They are great reminder pages that students can color while maybe you are reading material with them.  Many of the pages contain scriptural thoughts that emphasize the above J.O.E.Y.S. financial method of living life.  




The Teacher's Guide was pretty important and I would definitely recommend using this as you help to guide your student through this program.  Each lesson is broken down in this guide to show a parent the approximate amount of material to either complete or assign out to your student.  It also gives you information if you need to have any extra supplies for a project on hand.  I will admit when I started breaking The Kingdom Code - The Complete Starter Kit open the first week we received it, I felt a little overwhelmed.  There are a lot of components.  But I just needed a bit of patience.  


The Kingdom CodeThe Complete Starter Kit is a great for students of all ages and grade levels.  But I would definitely recommend full-hands on for parents if their students are younger than 4th grade.  I like that the material is written in such a way that it can be used with students in elementary through middle school.  I would also not be afraid to use this material with students in high school who may be delayed.  None of the material is too "kiddie" or "cartoony" for this age group.

One more thing that I really love is the addition of scripture throughout the material.  The fact that students can see that the principles of honesty in business and financial transactions are based on Biblical truths is priceless in my book.  So many people are swayed by unscrupulous practices and their businesses fail.  The Kingdom Code really does lay this out to help students see the benefits of honesty.

We are going to continue more slowly than the suggested pace.  Caty and I are enjoying what we have read through and started so far.  Her creativity juices are flowing when it comes to starting her own business and I love how it teaches her good financial practice.  I wish I would have had this with Joey.  Who knows if he would have come up with a business plan many years ago?  But even though he is delayed, maybe we can still go through this material and look at ideas for him to get his own business going yet.  Like I mentioned earlier, The Kingdom Code - The Complete Starter Kit is very adaptable for students and young adults with special needs.

Several members of the Homeschool Review Crew were given the opportunity to review The Kingdom Code The Complete Starter Kit.  Click on the link below to see how they used this product in their homes and how their student's felt about the material.

The Kingdom Code Complete Starter Kit {The Kingdom Code Reviews}

Crew Disclaimer


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