Looking for a one-stop shop for all your language learning needs? Look no further than Miaplaza! In this Miaplaza review, we’ll take a closer look at this innovative platform and see how it stacks up against the competition. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced learner, Miacademy, Clever Dragons, or Always Icecream (the websites Miaplaza covers) has something to offer, from comprehensive language courses to fun and interactive games. So let’s dive in and see what makes Miaplaza the go-to choice for language learners around the world!
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What is Miaplaza Inc., and What Does It Offer?
Miaplaza Inc. is the go-to online platform for parents seeking a comprehensive and customized curriculum for their K-8th grade students. Miaplaza offer three different websites: Always Ice-Cream, Clever Dragons, and Miacademy (each explained further down).
But what do they offer? Lots!
From math to social studies, science, language arts, and a range of exciting electives, the platform offers a plethora of subjects to choose from.
What’s more, parents can cherry-pick lessons from different grade levels to create a tailor-made program that perfectly suits their child’s needs.
Want your kindergartener to start reading?
No problem!
Miacademy teaches phonics-based pre-reading skills in kindergarten and reading in first grade, so you can combine lessons from both grades to get your little one reading in no time.
Plus, with sibling discounts and the ability to supervise multiple students from one account, Miaplaza makes it easy and affordable for families to get the most out of their subscriptions.
And while high schoolers may have to wait for MiaPrep courses, the platform’s exciting development plans are already generating buzz for future offerings.
What Sites Do They Offer?
Miaplaza has different websites that cater to different sexes. For:
- boys, they have Clever Dragons
- girls, they have Always Ice-Cream
- both sexes, they have Miacademy
These different websites aim to make a more cozy learning experience. As children interact with their peers, some girls (for example) might find learning easier if they’re just interacting with only other girls.
The same goes for boys and the co-ed website.
Here are some images of each of the websites below:
What Are the Main Features of the Curriculum?
Miacademy is not your typical online homeschool curriculum – it’s a unicorn in a world of horsies.
Why, you ask?
Well, let’s start with the fact that it allows students to interact with each other in many ways to enhance the learning experience.
It’s like a virtual classroom where kids can learn and socialize simultaneously.
But there’s more!
All interactions are moderated to ensure the safety of the students.
And the level of interaction allowed is set by the parent because, let’s face it, no one knows their kids better than they do.
Customization and Self-Paced Learning
And customization?
It’s like a choose-your-own-adventure book but for education.
With courses covering grades K-8, any course can be selected at any time, so students can review as needed and also excel in any subject.
There are no required start or end dates because they believe in learning at your own pace.
Parents can even select specific days of the week for study on a per-course basis because who wants to learn on a Monday?
Students are not locked into a single grade level because they know that kids grow and learn at their own pace.
Flexibility and Personalization
Within each course, there is flexibility as well.
Parents can adjust courses to meet the needs of their students like a chef adjusting a recipe to make it just right.
Individual components of each lesson can be reassigned as often as needed or even be removed by the parent because Miaplaza is all about personalization.
And don’t get them started on supporting students with varied learning styles – it’s like they have a sixth sense for it.
Their lessons are designed to reach students of all types, and read-aloud is an optional feature for most practice questions because sometimes you just need someone to read it aloud.
Deliverability
Last but not least, the delivery of their curriculum is like no other.
They provide engaging teaching videos, immersive PDFs with nearly every lesson, online practice with immediate feedback, and automatically graded assessments.
It’s like having your own personal teacher, tutor, and grader all in one.
Is the Miaplaza Curriculum Accredited?
Miacademy has earned supplemental accreditation by the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS-WASC) for its K-8 websites (Miacademy, Always Icecream, and Clever Dragons) and high school site (MiaPrep).
The WASC recognizes the value of programs that extend beyond traditional classrooms and offers accreditation for such programs under the category of “Supplementary Education Programs” (SEPs).
Programs that receive this accreditation are considered to offer high-quality educational offerings.
Miaplaza, Inc. has met the Supplementary Education Center/Program accreditation criteria for various programs, including:
- Art,
- Culture,
- Language,
- Life Skills,
- Math,
- Music,
- Reading,
- Science, and
- Writing.
How Do Lessons Work in This Online Curriculum?
How Do Lessons Work in This Online Curriculum?Lessons on Miacademy are presented through various multimedia, including:
- video instruction,
- games,
- online practice exercises, and
- printable activities.
Each lesson is divided into three parts:
- teaching,
- practice, and
- assessment.
There is quite a bit of repetition in the practice exercises and the assessments, which might be helpful for some children.
The assessments are scored at the end, and students can retake them to improve their scores.
Some lessons have printable activity pages to be completed offline, including:
- worksheets,
- instructions,
- components for games,
- hands-on science experiments, and
- fill-in-the-blanks pages.
Parents need to download these pages in advance and can choose which ones to use.
Students are rewarded with virtual gold for completing online activities, which can be used to purchase virtual products in the My World area of the program.
What Grades Do They Have?
Miacademy, Clever Dragons, and Always Ice-Cream are works in progress. They have a very developed course for grades up to 9 and 10 (which have just been finished).
Is the Program Motivating?
Miacademy has a unique way of motivating children to learn by using virtual currency called “Gold.”
Kids can earn Gold by completing learning materials and videos, and parents can even award Gold for offline learning activities or chores.
This currency can be used to access fun games and content, such as designing furniture and clothes to sell to other members.
If parents choose to enable the “social” features of Miacademy, their child can participate in fun competitions based on their achievements.
With a combination of educational and safe online usage, Miacademy creates an engaging and motivating learning experience for children.
Is it Good for Special Needs?
Miaplaza has worked really hard on making this a good curriculum for children with special needs.
Here is how they’ve formed the curriculum to cater to all types of kids:
- Assign lessons across grade levels to best suit your child’s needs
- Customized scheduling to accommodate your child’s learning style and pace
- Multifaceted academics allow for different modalities of learning
- Text-to-Speech for auditory learners
- Immediate feedback with highlighted right and wrong answers
- Option for repetition to reinforce learning
- Closed captioning for all teaching videos on the site (in progress)
These features are designed to provide accessible education and support a wide range of learning abilities, including those with special needs.
Can Kids Do It Without a Parent Being Stuck to Their Side?
Miacademy is designed to be easy to navigate and user-friendly for children to use independently.
However, younger learners may need guidance during their initial use of the platform.
While it is ideal for parents to learn alongside their children, Miacademy understands that parents have busy schedules.
To ensure mastery, Miacademy recommends that parents regularly:
- check the Reports tab of their parent account,
- reassign and review with their child as needed, and
- supervise or grade printable lesson components.
What Subject Areas Do They Cover?
Miacademy is a comprehensive online learning platform that provides a wide range of courses for kindergarten to eighth grade.
While the site is continuously updated with new content, math and language arts are the most developed subjects.
The elementary language arts curriculum covers:
- phonics,
- vocabulary,
- reading,
- writing, and
- grammar.
Middle school lessons cover:
- writing,
- reading comprehension,
- vocabulary, and
- advanced grammar.
Math lessons are taught through:
- videos,
- verbal explanations,
- visual models,
- games,
- problem-solving, and
- real-life applications.
The electives include various courses for:
- art,
- music,
- biblical studies,
- life skills, and
- introductory foreign languages.
Although the site recommends supplementing its courses with additional learning activities, it can be used as a core curriculum or supplement other resources.
What is a Parents’ Role in the Miaplaza Curriculum?
As a parent, you can be actively involved in your child’s learning journey on Miacademy! With your own account, you have access to a range of features that enable you to track your child’s progress, set goals, and customize their learning experience. Here’s what you can do:
- Set goals and track progress: Use the goal-setting and time-tracking features to help your child stay on track and monitor their progress over time. You can also generate customized reports to get a comprehensive overview of their learning activities.
- Receive weekly updates: Stay up-to-date with your child’s learning activities through weekly email updates. You’ll get a detailed report of their progress and can use this information to support their ongoing learning.
- Customize educational content: Tailor the educational content presented to your child to match their unique interests and abilities. With the ability to customize content, you can help keep your child engaged and motivated.
- Manage community features: You can enable or disable the “community features” that allow your child to communicate with other members. This gives you control over their online interactions and ensures they stay safe while using the platform.
- Reward offline activities: Miacademy offers a unique feature where kids can earn “gold” for completing offline activities such as practicing the piano or exercising. As a parent, you can encourage your child to participate in these activities and reward them for their efforts.
By taking an active role on Miacademy, parents can support their child’s learning journey and help them achieve their full potential.
Are There Any Parental Controls?
Yes, parents can customize the program to suit the needs of each child through their parent account.
What Do I Do If the Curriculum Is Too Easy/Hard?
Parents can preview the lessons on their child’s learning path and assign lessons from all those available by looking under “All Lessons,” then under each subject area.
How Does Assessment Work?
Assessment questions follow the same formats as those in the practice exercises. While students are shown incorrect answers immediately in practice exercises, assessments are scored at the end. Students can retake assessments to improve their scores.
Are There Weekly Reports/Tracking?
Yes, Miacademy has extensive, customizable reporting features since it tracks student work and assessments. Parents also get a weekly email report on what each child has done.
Is There Any Moderation on the Site?
Yes, there is moderation on the site, and students can interact with the Miacademy community through games, communication, submitting articles for the staff-moderated Miacademy Weekly newsletter, and selling their own digital artwork to other students for “gold,” with their parent’s permission.
What Homeschool Method Does the Program Use?
Miacademy, Clever Dragons, and Always Ice Cream utilize a combination of spiral and mastery teaching methods. Topical assessments are included after most lessons to promote student mastery before proceeding to new topics, while spiral reviews are integrated into lessons to refresh prior knowledge when necessary. Additionally, there are ample practice opportunities provided to help students develop skills gradually.
How Long Kids Spend on Schoolwork (and More)
The amount of time that children spend on schoolwork varies significantly due to several factors. Each child is unique and requires varying amounts of time and practice to effectively learn and retain new information. Furthermore, Miaplaza offers flexible scheduling options that allow parents or educators to tailor the learning experience to best fit the student’s individual needs.
- A PDF
- A teaching video
- Online practice questions
- An online assessment
The K-8 lessons are usually spread over 3-5 days, while high school lessons are 1-2 days.
PDF Use
At the start of the lesson, PDFs are presented, which can be printed ahead of time to plan the student’s schedule for completing them.
Most of these PDFs have multiple activities to be completed over several days, providing opportunities for:
- pencil-to-paper practice,
- hands-on activities, and
- projects that go beyond what was learned in the lesson.
Videos
In terms of videos, most lessons have only one, but some have more.
Videos are usually 5-10 minutes long, and students are encouraged to pause for note-taking or to re-watch them as needed.
Practice and Assessment
The online practice questions are divided into segments based on medals, with each medal containing 1-3 levels of about 3-5 questions each.
Assessments typically consist of 10-20 questions.
How Long Exactly?
- Kindergarten – 30-90 minutes/day
- 1st-2nd grade – 45-90 minutes/day
- 3rd-5th grade – 1-2 hours/day
- 6-8th grade – 1.5-3 hours/day
- 9th-12 grade – 2.5-5 hours/day
More Tips to Get the Most out of the Curriculum
- Go back to revisit some of the PDFs. Many of them, especially in our writing lessons, were designed to be used multiple times.
- Students can submit their writing to the site newspaper and receive peer feedback.
- Students can create and submit videos demonstrating their learning, again with the opportunity to receive peer feedback.
- Many of the lessons can be reviewed in alternative formats through our Dragon Egg and Dragon Race games. This is especially helpful if you’d like your student to master quick recall.
- Students can create ‘teams’ to discuss various topics of interest with other members. They could trycreating a book club, for example.
- You may wish to reassign previously completed work periodically to help ensure retention.
- And finally, if you and your student are ready to move on and do something different, you can always assign other courses or even individual lessons from other courses. We have a lot of older students who love the Let’s Take a Journey and Tell Me About lessons in those early science and social studies courses.
Is Miaplaza/Clever Dragons/Always Ice-Cream/Miacademy Religious? Do they have an Affiliation?
We have no religious affiliation and our curriculum aims to be as inclusive as possible. Our main academic courses are taught from a neutral viewpoint, with a focus on teaching key concepts and critical thinking rather than imposing any particular worldviews on students. Our courses strive to present unbiased facts that are age-appropriate and empower students to actively participate in improving their society. We offer optional Bible studies courses and plan to expand our religious studies content to include more world religions. These courses are never automatically assigned and cover the Bible’s content as written, without teaching any interpretation or doctrine. We leave interpretation and doctrine up to parents.
As such Miaplaza is one of many secular homeschool curriculum programs.
How Much Does Miaplaza Cost?
Miacademy offers a variety of subscription plans to fit different budgets and needs. For a monthly subscription, the cost is:
- $29.95 per child per month.
For an annual subscription, the cost is:
- $248 per child per year.
For families looking for a longer-term investment, Miacademy offers lifetime plans. The lifetime plan for
- one child is$548, while the lifetime plan for up to
- four children is $1198.
With these plans, families can enjoy access to the program indefinitely without the need for ongoing payments. Miacademy’s pricing is competitive with other online learning programs and represents a reasonable investment for families looking to supplement their child’s education.
Homeschool Family DISCOUNTS
Don’t let the cost of Miaplaza dissuade you if you’re a homeschooling family.
They have an option on their pricing page (see image below) so you can contact them for a special discount if you’re home educating.
Miaplaza Review Conclusion
All in all, Miaplaza is a solid online curriculum that offers a range of benefits for students of all ages and abilities. While certain areas could be improved, such as the level of teacher support and the breadth of content, this Miaplaza review finds that it remains a top choice for anyone seeking a flexible, personalized, and engaging learning experience. So why not give it a try and see for yourself?
