This post is a curriculum review of The Kind Kingdom, and the supplements used alongside it.
This year in our history cycle, we are studying Medieval History. I had used The Precious People from The Peaceful Press the year prior, so The Kind Kingdom was the natural follow up.
Being familiar with the format, I decided to use The Kind Kingdom as a morning time instead of our main history spine this time. If my kids were collectively younger, I would gladly have used this as our spine curriculum. However, as we venture deeper into middle school with my oldest child, I wanted her to have more independent reading in history, while still enjoying the whimsy and fun of The Peaceful Press with the family.
This post is all about how we used The Kind Kingdom in our homeschool with 3 children ages 13, 10, and 7, including what we did and didn’t do. Also, I’ll mention a few supplements that were helpful along the way. After reading this post, you will have a better idea if this is the right fit and right season for your family.
[RELATED POST: Curriculum Review of the Precious People]
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Kind Kingdom uses The Chronicles of Narnia as its spine read aloud through the entire 30 weeks. It is the main reason I chose this curriculum! A curriculum that can base its lessons around great literature, and a classic series no less, is something I had to try.
I highly recommend finding a full color set of the books if possible. It made our experience more engaging. The kids loved the illustrations! The characters are pretty whimsical and sometimes hard to imagine, so seeing them in these books was helpful. The stories are so well told and I am glad we went through this curriculum.
The Kind Kingdom: What We Used
In the beginning, I tried to do everything except the language arts and science sections. In the second half of it, we also omitted most of the practical skills as well. The recipes were fun to make, but some of the other things I just didn’t have the materials on hand for or enough interest to plan ahead for (more on this below).
The Bible reading, hymns, suggested books, and copywork were great! We loved reading from Our Island Story, and also Grimm’s Fairy Tales. My middle schooler did not use the copywork, but participated in everything else during morning time. My 2 elementary aged kids were excited when their copywork matched a section of our reading from that day. It is so funny how those little connections make the time more delightful.
[RELATED POST: 2022-2023 Curriculum Choices for the Family]
Supplements: Medieval History
The Kind Kingdom is completely fine on its own, and offers many options so you don’t need to add anything to it. However, if you are like me and can’t help but keep your eyes out for hands on activities, I’m here for you! Here are a few small supplemental items we used:
History Unboxed
Remember how I said we didn’t do some of the hands on activities in The Kind Kingdom? It is mostly because I didn’t have it in me to find the resources and materials needed. If you’re like me, take a look at this! I found a treasure of a resource in History Unboxed. They have a variety of boxes for different time periods and countries. I selected Medieval Japan and it contained 3 hands on projects and some extra information about what life was like. It’s a great option when you want to receive something hands on for the kids with all the materials included!
Medieval Art Course
A great option that we have been enjoying is an art course called Kingly Kingdoms from Yellow Spot: Sun. I appreciate that the courses combine art with a historical time period. Last year, we used Architects of the Ancient World in our year with ancient history. We learn new art techniques, supplemental history facts, and create artwork from pieces in that time period.
Ticket to Ride: Europe
As a family who loves to play board games, I really should sit down and write a post of our favorites! I picked up Ticket to Ride: Europe to play this school year. Since our geography focus is on Europe, I thought it would be fitting. We already love the original game, so this one just helped us become familiar with the names of cities, while enjoying some family competition.
Geography Puzzle
My little one likes doing these puzzles alongside our history area of study. I picked up this 58-piece Europe Puzzle that she has done during read alouds or on her own free time.
Timeline Cards
This was a separate purchase, but I love using the The Kind Kingdom timeline cards (scroll down to the bottom to find the cards) as a way to visually keep track of the significant people or events that we have studied. My daughter would draw a picture for each card as we studied them, and I would hang them up with clothespins.
[RELATED POST: Mini Playdate: Japan]
This post was all about how we used The Kind Kingdom curriculum from The Peaceful Press, along with supplemental resources enjoyed.
Other Posts You May Like:
- Charlotte Mason Resources
- Using The Peaceful Press as a Morning Time
- Favorite Places to Quickly Find Quality Literature for Children
Thank you so much for this! This was so helpful and your idea of using Kind Kingdom as Morning Time is genius! My girls (10 and almost 7) so want to do this, but we already have something else for our “main” history and this will such a great way to still be able to incorporate it into our day.
I can see why they would want to use it – it is really so fun for those ages!