My tween boys really seem motivated to earn their own money, so the review from The Kingdom Code for The Complete Starter Kit for their kid entrepreneur and money management course came at just the right time for my 9 and 12 year olds. The material is meant to be spread out over 34 weeks and includes 27 lessons which are broken into 68 teaching days. That means that your student(s) will be working on this curriculum for about 45 minutes, twice per week.
This pictured Complete Starter Kit set that I received is meant for one student, and they sell additional copies of the student packet and/or student textbook if you have multiple kids working at the same time. I think it would be easy for students to share a textbook, but it’s great to have the Student Packet for each child to have their own.
The target range that this is geared toward is about 4th-6th grades, but it could be used by slightly older or younger students as well.
The Complete Starter Kit includes the required Textbook, which is spiral-bound and 240 pages. Students are able to read through the 27 different lessons in this full-color book. It is written to the student, and includes plenty of pictures and graphics to keep kids engaged. Students learn in many ways to reach kids who do best with all different learning styles.
Each lesson has a very similar format, with a Proclamation (for character training and grounding themselves in Biblical truths), assigned worksheets in a section called “Check Your Path,” then a piece called “Quest for the Clue” that helps teach kids how to make their business (referred to as a Treasure Builder throughout the whole curriculum) a success, and a section called Code of Honor, in which they learn small tidbits of lessons teaching how to run their business as an honorable Christian.
In the Treasure Seeking section, new vocabulary words are introduced and explained and the students are given tasks and questions to relate those words to real life businesses. There is an On Your Own section that gives assignments to students either from the Activities section or to do with their own materials. Toward the end of each lesson, there is a page called “Kingdom Keys”, which reminds students of the “Key to the Lesson”, the Key Ideas that were discussed in the lesson, and the Key Terms they need to know. Additional worksheets might be assigned here.
Finally, there is a page that congratulations students and tells them what new level reward they have won for their treasure map. They can use the included stickers to denote this on their map. There is also Bonus Code Work available for further study extensions.
The set also includes the Teacher’s Guide, which is 131 pages and hole-punched, ready to be placed in a binder for easy access. It gives thorough lesson plans and training on how to use the program as well. Answers to questions from the students’ written work are found here. There are also several appendices with masters, feedback cards, assessments and tests (with an answer key), and a page with some additional enrichment resources with websites that can be accessed to use with the lessons.
The set also includes the Student Packet, which includes many components that are the consumable parts of the curriculum. There are 124 colorful pages of 40 different activity sheets, forms like the KCK (Kingdom Code Kids) Calendar with a place for extra notes on the back, sales forms, ledgers, income statements, permits, forms, and more.
There are worksheets, review sheets, flashcards covering the key terms, and some great colorful posters for kids to place in their notebooks that remind them about the KCK Sales Code, the KCK Budget, and one that’s more inspirational in nature.
This kit also includes a TKC Treasure Map. This helps students keep track of where they are in lessons, reward themselves with the included Bonus Reward Stickers as they finish lessons, and provides a good visual to students to see how far they’ve already come in learning about entrepreneurship! There are also budget stickers included for labeling pouches for money.
Finally, it includes a KCK Receipt Book. You can purchase additional ones if business really starts booming for your children and they need more! It includes a place for students to record the date, amount of money received or given, who the money was given to and their phone number, what it was for, who gave the money and their phone number. It is a double copy receipt, so when they write on the white receipt and hand that off, they will have a yellow copy of their own.
What We Thought
We actually broke the lessons up a little bit more and worked about 3 days a week. Although we don’t follow the public school schedule, during the review period, it was the end of the school year for public school kids and they’re out of school now. I have been lightening our school load as a result, so stretching this out over an extra day or two made it go by so quickly each day!
We all absolutely love the text book. It is colorful and stuffed full of information. My boys did find some of it a bit cheesy, such as the proclamations that they learn and are to say each lesson, as well as being referred to as knights on the quest for clues. Being called KCKs (Kingdom Code Kids) might seem silly to them, but it also tied the whole theme of the program together and just worked!
I did assign some of the Bonus Code Work projects to my sons. I let them pick one of the 5 to complete in the assignment shown above. They both chose to complete number 4 from the example above. For the items they can eat, Michael chose our favorite honey and Heath chose Wheat Thins.
They both wrote or drew about where the item was made. Michael spotted the countries of origin for our favorite honey and used that for his work.
Michael read on the bottle that some of our honey comes all the way from Brazil.
Next, they imagined and drew how the product made it from its place of origin to nearer to our home.
The transportation Michael feels is most likely for getting honey to us from overseas.
I really liked seeing their artwork and to know that they were critically thinking about the products that we take for granted! They are starting to see the bigger picture about the processes necessary to get food on our tables, including the complex systems of transportation to move the product from place to place.
Heath thought all the way back to the ingredients of Wheat Thins and drew his picture of the wheat fields.
He imagined trains and trucks were used most to transport the ingredients and finished product.
How Heath Imagines Wheat for Wheat Thins is Transported Around the Country
I really have enjoyed the content of the lessons. I never dreamed that my elementary school aged sons would be learning about capitalism and free enterprise in a way that really resonated with them. What better way than by creating their own business, right?
Starting in Lesson 3, students begin thinking about their own business (called a Treasure Builder in this curriculum), and by Lesson 4, they start making a business plan! The forms and information are all laid out well in the book and worksheets, so it’s taught and executed in easy bite-sized increments.
My kids decided, after careful consideration and several activities in the book, that they would start a lawn mowing business. They already mow our lawn, so they thought this would be a good fit for them since they already have some experience. Usually Michael does the bulk of the mowing, and Heath comes in and mows the large slope we have in the backyard. Because of this, they decided that it could be called “Michael’s Mowing” even though they both work.
One lesson had the kids come up with a logo for their business. This is what Michael came up with:
We also received a few extra resources from The Kingdom Code. They sent us the JR KCK Budget Kit and also the 32 page TKC Coloring Book.
Both of these resources are terrific for kids that are too young to complete the full curriculum. If you have younger kids kind of tagging along with their older siblings, it’s a nice way to get them involved! That’s what we did with my 7 year old son.
The coloring book is also good for kids that just want to color! I know that I loved to doodle and color while listening to lessons when I was in upper elementary school, and this is a way to do that and still tie it into the material that they are learning about.
The lessons in the book go in great detail about many aspects of having your own business. It talks about making a sale, how to keep meticulous books, making a money plan, what and how much to save, coming up with a goal, using the bank, marketing, and a lot more. Since the textbook teaches directly to the students, it sticks! It’s written in a way that they can easily understand, yet it is teaching material that is so foreign to most kids this age that it’s like discovering something brand new. One of my sons said that it was almost like they were learning a secret that is usually just known by grown ups. What a cool feeling that they get to know this information, too!
Are you interested in trying out The Kingdom Code? They have a place to sign up for their mailing list for a free sample of the curriculum. To see how other families from the Homeschool Review Crew used The Complete Starter Kit with their children, click on the banner below. I can’t wait to read through their reviews to see what businesses their children came up with!
