Kingdom Code Review and GIVEAWAY!!

When I was asked about my interest in reviewing the The Complete Starter Kit by The Kingdom Code, I knew that it needed to be my son’s decision. He was very interested in starting and growing his own business but he is on the upper end of the age range that the program was designed for. However, after looking over the samples he was enthusiastically onboard with reviewing this program. According to their website,” The Kingdom Code is a Biblically-based, fun, hands-on program which helps parents and teachers educate kids and young teens about money management and how to become entrepreneurs.” Each student that goes through the program will create and run their very own service based business.

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The day it came in the mail he was ready to unbox it and get started. He already had a business idea and couldn’t wait to figure out how to turn his idea into a reality. The kit contained the student textbook, student packet, and teacher’s guide. All I needed to add to have everything ready to go was a couple of three ring binders, tabs, and a few pencil pouches. I was really impressed with all of the resources in the student packet. In addition to worksheets for each lesson, it included a wide variety of forms to help get the business going and keep it organized. There were survey forms, ledger forms, calendars, and even a receipt book. There was also a nice map and stickers to track the student’s progress through the program.

The Kingdom Code is a really cool program. I enjoy using it to start a business. It teaches me about how to sort the money you receive to pay expenses and keep some for you and such. It taught me how to keep a ledger and make sales calls. If you are looking for a good business program I would recommend this program. – Matthew

I sat down with my son that first night and spent about thirty minutes getting everything set up in the binders, looking through the program and getting ready to begin. We then met once or twice a week to go over material from the next lesson and he would work through the other parts independently. If you had a younger child, they might need more hands on guidance at first. The lessons vary in the amount of time/sessions needed to complete them but most include two to four 45 minute sessions per lesson. My son was sometimes able to move a little quicker because of his age and some previous experience with business.

Cutting Grass

Weedeating

Choosing a business to start was easy for us because my son had been cutting grass for a family member and really wanted to turn that skill into a business. He even has long term goals of running his own landscaping business one day.

Each lesson contains a variety of components that introduce Biblical money management concepts, business terminology, practical applications, and actions steps towards owning and operating a business. I noticed two things right away, the inclusion of Bible verses and Biblical principles, and that they went ahead and got started on the business very early on in the curriculum. By lesson two, they were choosing the service based business that they wanted to start. The Biblical foundation was important to us as a family because those are the principals that we try to live by as well as how we strive to operate our own family business. Beginning the business early in the program was a huge win because it allows children to practice what they are learning immediately as well as keeps them from getting bogged down in the terminology and business lessons while waiting to get to the ‘fun stuff’.

Some programs just give a basic overview of a child’s business and then leave them to do the best they can. I really appreciate that this program takes them through step by step including details like keeping money records, writing thank you notes, sales etiquette, making goals, etc. It also teaches them economic principals like capitalism, supply/demand, being financially responsible and managing money.

We are finishing up lesson eight this week and my son already has one consistent customer and several folks that are going to use him on an as needed basis for vacations and such. He has learned to budget his money and has his ledgers and books all set up and is ready to keep growing his business.

We have been very pleased with this program and I look forward to sharing more of our progress and my son’s business as we continue on with this program. Make sure to check out some other reviews at the link below. Today, I have two special opportunities for you from Kingdom Code. First, you can enter to win a prize pack from The Kingdom Code by simply leaving a comment on this post telling me what kind of business your young entrepreneur would like to start or what business you had when you were a child. I will use a random drawing to choose a winner on Monday, June 24th. This pack includes The Kingdom Code Coloring Book and The JR KCK Budget Kit. (This giveaway is open to those living in the United States and APO/FPO addresses only). In addition to the giveaway they are offering my readers 10% off of any products ordered online from The Kingdom Code. Use Code: 10TKC08 to receive your 10% discount.

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Q is for Queen Esther

Q is for Queen Esther! It is not often that I write a post about a book I have not actually read. In fact, I think this may be the very first time. I was having a bit of a difficult time coming up with a book to share for the letter Q and I remembered this great series that we had reviewed last summer, Barbour Publishing Kingdom Files Biography Series . We reviewed the two books about Mary and Jonah but they have a book about Esther that looks great. I love the story of Queen Esther and how by stepping out in faith she allowed God to use her to save her people.

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This series of books, written by Matt Koceich, teaches children about Biblical people and each book is set up to contain three parts: Fact File, Action File and Power File. These parts take them through learning the basic facts about the person and timeline, telling the story of that person, and then walks them through how that all applies in their life today.

These are great for independent reading for roughly ages 8-12 and for family read alouds or devotional times. There are currently six books in this series which each focusing on a different person from the Bible.

Have you read any of the Kingdom Files books? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter Q.

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Deals and Freebies

June 13th -15th 20% Sale at You Are An Artist!

Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great sale!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Flag Day Resources

Flag Day is an often-overlooked holiday, but there are many great resources to help us celebrate and the history tie-ins are abundant! While it will probably never share the ‘fame’ of Independence Day on July 4th; Flag Day is a great day to learn more about our flag and our nation’s history. I know that summer is here for many of us and we may not want to have to make one more lesson plan, so I gathered some fun resources that you can easily use to celebrate Flag Day in your home with very little preparation. Some are more ‘school like’ but there are also some fun ideas, like a flag cake and art work that can feel more like a party than a history class. It’s flag day because, on June 14, 1777 the second continental congress decreed: “Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. * My children love to make a flag cake. We typically make one for Memorial Day (which often is the same weekend as my son’s birthday) and Independence Day but it would be a perfect treat for Flag Day. Simply make any rectangular cake that you would like (we use two yellow cake layers with strawberries in the middle) and then top with sweetened whipping cream. Once you have a nice white rectangle, they can use blueberries for stars and cut up strawberries to make the stripes. For something a bit more savory we have also made this yummy American Flag Dip.

There are a variety of great art projects and crafts ideas for Flag Day. We really liked this free chalk pastel flag tutorial or this video lesson. If you like those lessons, you should check out Nana’s US History Course. In addition to chalk pastels, there is a great list of crafts here including one for small children using paint and star shaped cookie cutters that I think will be fun with my five-year-old. Older children might enjoy these patriotic jar lanterns or these washi tape flags. If the history of the United States and her flags is interesting to you and your students, I have also added our fun ‘US History Through Flags’ packet to the free resource library. This will give you a fun and easy way to incorporate these topics in a few minutes a day throughout the year. You can also follow the US History Through Flags page on Facebook to get daily bits of history right to your news feed. I have included a variety of resources below to help you tailor your Flag Day celebration to your children. I would love to know what creative ideas and resources you use to celebrate Flag Day in your home.

Flag Day Resources

History of Flag Day US History Through Flags Smithsonian Star Spangled Banner Flag Day Poster Flag Day Worksheets 21 Ways to Celebrate Flag Day Flag Etiquette Flag Coloring Pages Patriotic Poems Why Are There Stripes on the American Flag? (Free on Kindle Unlimited) F is for Flag Story of the Star Spangled Banner Flag Day Resource List (Still Learning Something New)

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Deals and Freebies

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Journey Homeschool Science has some great online summer camps starting this month! They are a fun way to keep the learning going for the whole family.

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Lightning Lit & Comp: Hewitt Homeschooling Resources (Review)

My thirteen-year-old son loves to read. He goes to bed every night reading, takes books in the car to read, and often spends his free time reading. However, he has never enjoyed literature courses, until we had this opportunity to review Gr 8 Lightning Lit Set by Hewitt Homeschooling Resources. This included the teacher’s manual, student guide, and workbook.

One of the first things that I noticed was that instead of stopping every couple of chapters to analyze and review the book, Lightning Lit had him read the entire book before he began completing worksheets related to the book. For a student like my son, who reads really well and enjoys long stretches of reading this was a huge benefit. There were comprehension questions for each chapter but the teacher’s manual explained that they could be asked at the end of the week for all of the chapters that had been read that week. If that proved to be too long of a stretch for your child you could ask them more frequently, or if they were doing well you could wait and ask them at the end of the book.

The first part of this eighth grade series featured a short story. We spent the first two weeks of the program doing the introduction and the short story. The short story was a little ‘cerebral’ and he needed a little help understanding it but thought it was quite funny once we had discussed it. Once he had read the short story there were a variety of worksheets and writing prompts that could be completed to accompany the story. Those included activities to work on fact and opinion, capitalization and apostrophes, and author’s purpose. There was also a crossword puzzle in there to keep things interesting.

Then in week three we got into the first novel of the program, Treasure Island. This adventure-filled book was an excellent choice for my son and he enjoyed reading it. He is now working on a variety of activities to go along with Treasure Island.

Once we finish Treasure Island, we will be taking a summer break before having him pick back up and finish it in the fall. The program rotates between short stories or poems and novels. This means that after Treasure Island he will work through a short grouping of poems before moving onto the next novel. We are really looking forward to A Christmas Carol at the end of the first semester as well as The Hobbit during the second semester.

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The teacher’s manual gives a schedule broken down into two eighteen week semesters but you could easily adapt this to various schedules to suit your needs. It also includes mini-lessons to help you work on various skills and the answer keys to the discussion questions and workbook pages.

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If you complete this course in its entirety, it would work well to cover literature and composition. There is also grammar review included though if your student is weak in that area you may want to supplement with a grammar curriculum. We worked through the first two chapters using it in its entirety and found it to be a solid but interesting program. Since we also have a writing program that we enjoy, we will probably finish it with a focus on the literature part and skip over some of the composition components. I really appreciated that this curriculum is easy for me to adapt in that manner.

If you are looking for a literature and composition course for your middle school student, I encourage you to check out the Gr 8 Lightning Lit Set and other resources by Hewitt Homeschooling Resources. They also have programs for elementary and high school so make sure you check out the reviews from the other Review Crew members at the link below.

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P is for Penderwicks!

P is for The Penderwicks! This funny and charming story about four sisters and their father is fun for the whole family. This is the first in a series of five books that chronicle the adventures of these sisters and their friend Jeffery (whom they meet in this first book). The sisters, Rosalind, Jane, Sky, and Batty show a love for each other and while they do not always agree, they are great role models for positive sibling relationships.

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While there is a bit of a romantic crush discussed in the book, it is a mostly clean and wholesome book that had us both laughing and crying. The girls make mistakes, but learn from them and have some really grand adventures on their summer vacation with their father. Their mother died shortly after Batty was born and so the girls have learned to really stick together. They play soccer, watch pet rabbits, get chased by a bull and a host of other silly adventures.

My 11-year-old daughter said, “I like the Penderwicks because they go on adventures, whether they go somewhere or stay home. I also like their dog, Hound.” You might think that because it is just a group of sisters it would be a book for girls, but my 13-year-old son also enjoys listening to all of their adventures.

In addition to The Penderwicks, I have listed below a list of other favorite P books that we have enjoyed or that my readers recommended over on my Facebook page! Have you read any of the The Penderwicks books? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter P.

Letter P Books

Peter Pan

Mr. Popper’s Penguins

Paddington (You can also check on this Unit Study.)

Prince and the Pauper

Poky Little Puppy

Princess and the Pea

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Deals and Freebies

Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great sale!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Hey Mama! Homeschool Planner (Review)

Gena Suarez from The Old Schoolhouse® has created a wonderful new tool for homeschool moms! I was excited to get a chance to review the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year and try my hand at using a paper planner. This is a beautiful 188 page spiral bound book with a variety of planning resources and devotionals included.

IMG_20190520_180737_067 — Homeschool Mom Planning Kit

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The calendar portion of this planner begins with July 2019 so I was not really using that portion (though I did go ahead and plug in some important dates and events). However, this is not just a calendar; there are a variety of planning pages in this planner that can help you get your new year planned, goals set, and curriculum organized.

In the past, I have typically used my computer to plan and one of the first benefits that I saw with the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year was that it was very portable. Instead of planning while sitting at my desk, I was able to take the planner with me wherever I wanted to go. Planning while sitting in a swing and watching the waves on the river proved to be much more relaxing than staring at my computer. I also took it along on a family camping trip and used campfire time to discuss first semester goals with my two older children.

This planner starts out with information for creating an academic transcript if you have a child that is in high school and then flows into annual calendars for the next several years. Then the really good stuff gets started, you have the first devotional from Gena Suarez. Each month has a one page encouraging devotional for mom before the planning page and two-page calendar spread. This pattern continues from July 2019 through June 2020.

After the calendar pages are lesson planning pages, each week is a two page spread offering spaces for up to five children and seven different subjects. These are undated which allows you to fill them in as you go and not worry about weeks off or changes in plans. There are also some great devotionals distributed throughout those pages.

The Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year finishes with planning pages for each child (up to five children). There is a blank page for notes, a curriculum planning page, attendance, Books Read page (my children are excited to track their books this year), annual goals and semester goals pages. I really liked how these were laid out and kept it fairly simple. We worked together on our goal planning and I think that having the goals right there in the planner will help us stay focused on them as I am reminded of them whenever I use the planner. The goals sheet was broken down into seven different areas to address the ‘whole child’ and not just academic goals.

Goal Areas:

Educational
Spiritual
Physical
Personal Talents
Life Skills
Financial
Relational

My older two children both chose similar physical goals and are looking forward to training for and competing in a 5K during the first semester. They have even picked out the race they want to run on Thanksgiving morning. I was most appreciative of the relational goals because we are working hard on their relationships with each other.

If you are looking for a homeschool planner I encourage you to check out the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year from The Old Schoolhouse®. I think it offered a variety of resources that would be useful for planning for younger or older children and could help keep your home school year on track. I do need to mention that they are 98% sold out and do not plan to print any more until next year. If you want to find out more about how other families are using this planner make sure you click the link below to read more reviews.

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O is for Otis!

Otis is a charming and entertaining tractor. Yes, I said tractor. This adorable book series, written and illustrated by Loren Long, is based on the adventures of an old farm tractor and his farm friends. I don’t know that I ever thought my children could learn so many life lessons from an old tractor but this series is full of great lessons woven into engaging stories.

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In the title book of this series, Otis, the kind old tractor enjoys his life working on the farm and sleeping in the barn near his friend the calf. Then one day Otis is retired when a new tractor is purchased to do the farm work. This is a sad day for Otis and his friend, but in the end when his friend is in trouble it is Otis who saves the day.

My four year old loved that books so much that I had to read it over and over. Once he found out there were more books in the series he asked for them all. We have been collecting them at various holidays or when I have been able to find them at yard sales or used book sales.

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In addition to Otis, we have Otis and the Kittens, Otis and the Tornado, and Otis Gives Thanks. Otis Gives Thanks is a shorter book because it is a board book and great for toddlers. My son loves all of these books and has me read them to him often. I love the moral lessons that they fit seamlessly into the stories. They teach children to value friendship, be kind, be helpful, and work together.

These adorable picture and board books make a great read aloud to toddlers and preschool age children. They would also be fun reading for young elementary aged children. They are the kind of books that I plan to keep even after my children are older, so that I can read them to my future grandchildren.

Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter O. Have you read any of the Otis books?

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Deals and Freebies

Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great sale!

Starting August 31st all of Evan Moor’s Daily Practice titles will be on sale 20% off!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

June Hymn Study: Rise and Shine or Arky Arky

I am so excited about this month’s study! It is a fun song, that I remember fondly from my childhood. When I was doing my research I looked up “Rise and Shine” because that is what we called it, but I learned that it is also often referred to as Arky Arky. This is a bit different than most of the traditional hymns that we feature because it is a song that was written for children.

So rise and shine, and give God the glory, glory.
Rise and shine, and give God the glory, glory.
Rise and shine, and give God the glory, glory,
children of the Lord.

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The author of this fun song is unknown and the song appears in several different hymnals and collections including the Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New. This is not one I traditionally heard on Sunday during church, except maybe Sunday school, but rather, it was a song sung at camp, vacation Bible school, or other fun children’s programs.

In addition to the chorus, there are six verses that accompany the song. These verses share the story of Noah and the Ark in fun rhyming lyrics that are easy to remember and enjoyable to sing.

As you are studying this song and enjoying some of the many versions that are available, there are many ways to extend this study. If you have a young child, you can use the verses about the animals coming on the ark by twos to practice skip counting. You can also talk about and study the animals mentioned in the song. For example, you could watch elephants on a live webcam from the zoo or research some of the unique characteristics of a Kangaroo to appreciate God as our creator.

I am excited to also share with you that Nana from You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels is doing a great painting to accompany this camp song today. To check out the fun Rise and Shine art lesson from You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels, you need to be a You Are An Artist Clubhouse Member! This brand new lesson is a part of their Summer Art Camp, and one of many courses that are included in the You Are An Artist Clubhouse membership.

Hymn Study Resources:

Lyrics and Hymnal Information

Rise and Shine (Piano)

Rise and Shine (Heritage Kids)

Rise and Shine (Cedarmont Kids)

Download Your Freebies Below!

Hymn Study Fact Sheet

Rise and Shine Copywork

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Through The Year in Foot Prints: May

I normally like to go ahead and post these at the beginning of the month, but May seems to have come and gone in the blink of an eye. I decided that ‘April Showers, Bring May Flowers’ for this post and we did a flower out of my son’s foot prints. I’m also sharing pictures of a couple of the craft projects that my five-year-old son did as a part of his Toucan Box subscription and a cute seashore chalk pastel lesson that my older two children completed. It may have taken until the end of the month, but they all enjoyed their various art projects.

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For the baby, I simply chose purple as the color of the flower, dipped his foot into the paint and pressed it onto the paper. I then moved the paper slightly and repeated until I had a circle (mostly) of footprints. I used my finger to add a yellow middle and a green stem from finger paint. If you were working with a child that was a little bit older, they could probably do that part themselves. It is amazing to me to see how much his little feet have grown since January.

Supplies:

White Cardstock

Finger Paint

I am trying to think of a fun summer or beach themed idea for June. I’d love to hear your thoughts or ideas in the comments.

Benjamin enjoyed working with shapes and paint by adding in the black foam lines and then painting the various rectangles. The other part to this activity involved sticking the foam circles onto the framed area to make interesting designs. This was one of two kits that were in his Toucan Box this month.

My older children are feeling the summer itch and ready to be spending days at the beach so this fun tide pool lesson was a big hit!

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Deals and Freebies

Last week for the Schoolhouse Teachers sale!

May Sale

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Our Summer Plans: 2019 Edition

There is a lot of discussion about summers in the homeschool world. Should I take a long break? School year-round? Keep doing math? Spend all day outside? The choices seem endless and sometimes a little overwhelming.

However, I love that each family can decide what works best, and that can change from summer to summer.

Last week I shared a little about how we were going to focus on resetting our rhythms and routines over the summer to help us get back on track with chores, fitness, and Bible reading.

These are things that I want to become ingrained habits that are a natural part of our day. In addition to working on those rhythms and routines, I had to decide how I wanted to spend our summer days.

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After such a busy year, I really wanted to be sure we had some downtime to relax and rest. I have left lots of ‘white space’ in our calendar to play outside, watch a few movies, make lemonade, and just enjoy our time together. We will have the opportunity to spend some time enjoying time with our family down at the river: swimming, boating, and playing in the sand.

However, I know that my children do best with a little bit of structure. I have decided that we will be enjoying some focused time on a few ‘electives’ this summer, as well as some family reading. In addition, we will be continuing to work on a few new reviews for various products, so keep an eye out for those.

IMG_20190410_164413_770 — Big sister helping little brother with his violin (messy bed and all).

Music Lessons

My three oldest children have been learning instruments this year and I plan to have them commit some of their time this summer to furthering their musical goals. My daughter just moved up a level in her Practice Monkeys violin class and feels that she has a lot to learn to be successful in this level. Some extra practice time this summer should help her feel more confident and continue moving her forward.

My five-year-old son is also working in the first level of violin and will hopefully be able to move to level two before the summer is over. My oldest son wants to play the guitar and has begun to learn but has not felt that he has the time to devote a lot to practicing. I am hopeful that this extra time will allow him to gain confidence.

This also fits well into my rhythm and routine theme for summer because I believe that if he is practicing daily and making progress, it will be easier for him to fit that in when we start our regular school schedule in the fall.

You Are An Artist Art Camp!

We are excited to be spending some time at ‘art camp’ this summer. It is the perfect camp because we don’t have to leave home! It is included in the price of our regular art program, it has lots of option for various interests and ages, and I can fit in around our schedule.

My plan is to get up in the mornings and work on our routines (chores, Bible time, and fitness), have breakfast, and then complete an art lesson.

Next, we will have a snack, and then the kids can spend some free time outside playing before we tackle our other projects and review work. Nana with You Are an Artist has so many wonderful art lessons for them to choose from each day can be new and exciting.

Summer Reading

I do not want to lose the momentum that we have with reading and books. I am grateful that my children naturally spend time reading, and I do not have to assign free reading, but I want us to spend some time reading books together this summer. Some of these books I will read aloud, and some of them I plan to purchase using my audible subscription. First, I want to read The Secret Garden. I found this great free family book club guide from The Read Aloud Revival to go along with the Secret Garden, and I’m excited to get started.

Next, we have been talking about reading Wonder and just have not gotten around to it. I plan to read it together and then have a family movie night to watch the movie. Finally, a couple weeks ago, I shared about how much we love the Mr. Lemoncello books.

When I went online to share the link with everyone, I found out that a new book had just been released: Mr. Lemoncello’s All-Star Breakout Game. This should be a great light summer read that will make us laugh. I also have a few other books that we may find the opportunity to read, and, of course, I’ll be reading lots of picture books with my younger children.

Independent Learning

Finally, I plan to have each of my three older children pick a topic or skill of interest to work on independently this summer. I really want to cultivate the skill and love of lifelong learning in them. I want them to experience the joy and satisfaction that comes from deciding they want to learn about something and figuring it out.

I believe that my daughter is going to learn more about photography with her new camera. We have some resources that she can use in our SchoolhouseTeachers.com membership as well as some free online resources. My 13-year-old son is wanting to take beekeeping classes to further his skill in that area. I’m not sure about the five-year-old yet, but I’m sure we will come up with something fun for him to work on.

All in all, we are excited about summer. I am hoping that this flexible plan of fun with a little structured enrichment will keep things on a smooth track. We can further some skills, get some rest, and make some memories. I would love to hear more about your summer plans.

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This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always, I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.