Are you looking for a one-stop shop for all your language learning needs? Below, we’ll do a Miacademy review and look at all their goodies and features. Miacademy presents a very different way of learning than your traditional brick-and-mortar school. After we’ve looked at the program, we can compare it with other programs like Time4Learning, IXL, and Adventure Academy. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced learner, Miacademy, Clever Dragons, or Always Icecream (the websites Miaplaza covers) has something to offer, from language courses to fun and interactive games. So, let’s dive in and check it out.
I hope you enjoy reading this blog post. If you want to do my course on how to homeschool, click here.
What is Miaplaza Inc., and What Does It Offer?
What is Miaplaza Inc., and What Does It Offer?Miaplaza Inc. is a secular online platform for parents seeking a complete and customizable curriculum for their K-8th grade students.
Miaplaza offers three different websites.
- Always Icecream for girls,
- Clever Dragons for boys, and
- Miacademy for co-ed.
The platform offers all subjects, including math, social studies, science, language arts, and exciting electives.
Parents can cherry-pick lessons from different grade levels to create a tailor-made program that perfectly suits their child’s needs.
What About Learning to Read?
Want your kindergartener to start reading?
No problem!
Miacademy teaches phonics-based pre-reading skills in Kindergarten and first grade.
Reading through Miaplaza means combining lessons from both grades to get your little one reading quickly.
Plus, with sibling discounts and the ability to supervise multiple students from one account, Miaplaza is a good option for BIG families!
What Sites Do They Offer?
Miaplaza has different websites that cater to different sexes.
For:
- boys, they have Clever Dragons
- girls, they have Always Icecream
- co-ed have Miacademy
These different websites aim to make a more cozy learning experience.
It would be great if your girl or boy found it more accessible to learn with children of their gender.
The same goes for boys and girls with the co-ed website.
They can learn from both genders.
Here are some images of each of the websites below:
What Are the Main Features of the Miacademy Curriculum?
Miacademy is not your typical online homeschool curriculum – it’s a unicorn in a world of horses.
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 anytime, so students can review as needed and 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 their students’ needs like a chef adjusting a recipe to make it just right.
Because Miacademy is all about personalization, you can reassign or remove individual components as much as needed.
They’re also great at supporting students with varied learning styles – the platform is about as nicely set up for accommodating these as any I’ve seen.
If kids aren’t into reading, they have a read-aloud optional feature for most practice questions.
Because sometimes you need someone to read it aloud.
Deliverability
Last but not least, the delivery of their curriculum is excellent.
They provide:
- teaching videos,
- immersive PDFs with nearly every lesson,
- online practice with immediate feedback and
- automatically graded assessments.
Excluding the cost, it’s like having your teacher, tutor, and grader all in one.
Is Miacademy Curriculum Accredited?
Is Miacademy Curriculum Accredited?This online curriculum has earned supplemental accreditation by ACS-WASC for all sites.
The WASC doesn’t just accredit schools.
This organization also recognizes programs like Micademy. They call them Supplementary Education Programs” (SEPs).
Programs that receive this accreditation are considered to offer high-quality educational offerings.
Miacademy 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.
The practice exercises and the assessments contain quite a bit of repetition, 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.
This gold can purchase virtual products in the program’s My World area.
What Grades Do They Have?
What Grades Do They Have?Miacademy, Clever Dragons, and Always Icecream 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 uniquely motivates children to learn by using a virtual currency called “Gold.”
Kids can earn Gold by completing learning materials and videos; 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 program’s “social” features, their children can participate in fun competitions based on their achievements.
Is it Good for Special Needs?
Miaplaza has worked hard to make this a decent 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?
Can Kids Do It Without a Parent Being Stuck to Their Side?Miacademy is designed to be pretty user-friendly.
And children are supposed to use it independently.
However, younger learners may need guidance during their initial platform use.
While it is ideal for parents to learn alongside their children, the creators of this curriculum understand that parents have busy schedules.
To ensure mastery of subjects, the creators recommend 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 covers all the main courses and subjects for Kindergarten 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 the following:
- 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?
What is a Parents’ Role in the Miaplaza Curriculum?As a parent, you can actively participate in your child’s learning journey on Miacademy.
With your account, you can access various features that let you:
- Set goals and track progress: this helps your child stay on track. You can monitor progress and generate customized reports of their learning activities.
- Receive weekly updates: These come as weekly email updates. You’ll get a detailed progress report, which means you can use this information to support their ongoing learning.
- Customize educational content: This lets you tailor content to your child so you can match their unique interests. This will increase their engagement and motivation.
- 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: The program offers a unique feature where kids can earn “gold” for completing offline activities such as practicing the piano or exercising. You can encourage your child to participate in these activities and reward them for their efforts.
By taking an active role on the platform, parents can increase kids’ motivation and help them learn even more!
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” and then under each subject area.
How Does Assessment Work?
Assessment questions follow the same format 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 tests to improve their scores.
Are There Weekly Reports/Tracking?
Miacademy has extensive, customizable reporting features since it tracks student work and assessments.
Parents also receive a weekly email report on each child’s progress.
Is There Any Moderation on the Site?
Yes, there is moderation on the site.
Students can interact with the program’s 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 combine spiral and mastery teaching methods.
Topical assessments are included after most lessons.
These promote student mastery before proceeding to new topics.
Spiral reviews are also included in lessons.
These help refresh prior knowledge when necessary.
Finally, ample practice opportunities are provided to help students develop skills gradually.
How Long Kids Spend on Schoolwork (and More)
The amount of time children spend on schoolwork varies significantly due to several factors.
Each child is unique and requires time and practice to learn and retain new information effectively.
Furthermore, Miaplaza offers flexible scheduling options that allow parents or educators to tailor the learning experience to best suit the student’s individual needs.
- A PDF
- A teaching video
- Online practice questions
- An online assessment
K-8 lessons are usually spread over 3 5 days. High school lessons are 1-2 days.
PDF Use
At the start of the lesson, PDFs are presented.
These can be printed beforehand to plan the student’s schedule for completing them.
Most of these PDFs have multiple activities to be completed over several days
These give kids opportunities for:
- pencil-to-paper practice,
- hands-on activities, and
- projects that go beyond what was learned in the lesson.
Videos
Regarding 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 were designed to be used multiple times, especially in the writing lessons.
- 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.
- The lessons can be reviewed in alternative formats through Dragon Egg and Dragon Race games. This is especially helpful if your student wants to master quick recall.
- Students can create ‘teams’ to discuss topics of interest with other members. For example, they could start a book club.
- You may want to reassign previously completed work periodically to help ensure retention.
- Finally, if you and your student are ready to move on and do something different, you can assign other courses or even individual lessons from other classes.
Is Miaplaza/Clever Dragons/Always Icecream/Miacademy Secular or Christian?
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.
If you want a Christian homeschool curriculum, check out this page of choices.
How Much Does Miacademy Cost?
Miacademy offers a variety of subscription plans to fit different budgets and needs.
For a monthly subscription, the cost is:
- $36.00 per child per month.
For an annual subscription, the cost is:
- $360.00 per child per year.
The curriculum offers lifetime membership plans for families looking for a longer-term investment.
The lifetime plan for:
- one child is$840, while the lifetime plan for up to
- four children is $1,880
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.
But, it’s a fairly reasonable investment for families looking to supplement their children’s education.
Homeschool Family DISCOUNTS
If you’re a homeschooling family, you get a special discount.
But you need to contact them to take advantage of it.
FAQs
Is Miacademy Enough?
Miacademy provides solid learning, but it’s not the most advanced.
It offers on-grade difficulty.
Whether it’s enough depends on your educational goals.
This program is certainly on the less rigorous side of homeschool curriculum programs.
The difficulty level is usually low when students can complete a curriculum independently.
What is the Difference Between Clever Dragons and Miacademy?
Clever Dragons belongs to Miaplaza Inc.
This company owns Clever Dragons, Miacademy, and Always Icecream.
Are There Printable Worksheets?
Yes, the platform offers printable worksheets, video lessons, and online text & graphics.
Some of the activities have optional printable PDF activities, allowing kids to engage in hands-on learning experiences.
Does Miacademy Have Workbooks?
No, they don’t have printable workbooks.
Instead, it delivers its curriculum through a digital platform that includes video lessons, online text, and interactive activities.
While it doesn’t provide physical workbooks, the program’s approach emphasizes digital learning resources to engage students effectively and create an interactive and dynamic learning experience.
What Age Is Miacademy For?
This curriculum is designed for students in Kindergarten to 8th grade.
It offers a wide range of math, language arts, science, and social studies lessons, covering all grade levels within K-8.
Additionally, Miacademy provides various elective courses, including introductions to different languages and life skills.
Is Clever Dragons Accredited?
Clever Dragons is accredited as it is part of Miaplaza Inc., an accredited educational provider.
Being under the umbrella of an accredited organization ensures that Clever Dragons meets the necessary educational standards and requirements.
Many people feel that accreditation adds credibility to the platform. It assures parents and educators about the quality of the educational content.
Is Miacademy Homeschool?
Miacademy is technically an online school since it is an accredited K-8 curriculum.
It provides a comprehensive program that supports homeschooling families while meeting state requirements.
The flexibility of the online platform makes it a decent choice for families new to homeschooling or seeking a well-rounded educational solution.
Time 4 Learning
Time4Learning Vs Miacademy
MiAcademy and Time4Learning are both online educational platforms designed to support homeschooling, but they have some distinct differences that may impact your choice depending on your specific needs.
Curriculum and Approach
-
- MiAcademy: This one is a more mastery-based approach. It focuses on building a solid foundation in core subjects and allows students to progress at their own pace, mastering concepts before moving forward. The curriculum is designed to be engaging and adaptive, catering to individual learning styles.
- Time4Learning: Time4Learning also provides a K-12 curriculum that follows a structured, grade-based approach. The curriculum is designed to cover the standard educational requirements for each grade level and is delivered through multimedia lessons, interactive activities, and assessments.
Subject Coverage
-
- MiAcademy: This curriculum covers core subjects such as math, language arts, science, and social studies. It offers a well-rounded education that builds strong fundamentals in these key areas.
- Time4Learning: Time4Learning covers various subjects, including math, language arts, science, social studies, and electives like art, music, and foreign languages. This broader subject coverage can offer students more options and exposure to various topics.
Parent Involvement
-
- MiAcademy: This program emphasizes student independence, allowing students to take more ownership of their learning journey. Parents can monitor their child’s progress and performance but have less direct involvement in lesson planning.
- Time4Learning: Time4Learning encourages parent involvement and provides parents with various tools to track their child’s progress, plan lessons, and customize the curriculum to meet specific learning goals.
Cost and Flexibility
-
- MiAcademy: This curriculum has different pricing models depending on what you pick.
- Time4Learning: Time4Learning offers a monthly subscription model, providing flexibility for families wanting to use it on a short-term or seasonal basis. It also offers discounts for additional students. You can get this one for $30-40 a month, which is similar to the cost of Miacademy.
Both MiAcademy and Time4Learning are valuable resources for homeschooling families, but your choice may depend on your preferences regarding curriculum approach, subject coverage, level of parent involvement, and budget considerations.
Take advantage of free trials or demos offered by both platforms to see which one aligns better with your homeschooling goals and your child’s learning style.
Miacademy Vs. Power Homeschool (Acellus)
Both of these platforms are used for online home cooling. However, they certainly have notable differences in their curriculum approaches and features.
Curriculum Approach
- MiAcademy: This curriculum follows a mastery-based approach. It allows students to progress at their own pace, ensuring they fully grasp each concept before moving forward. The emphasis is on mastery and strong foundational understanding.
- Power Homeschool: Power Homeschool provides a structured, grade-based curriculum. It’s a lot more traditional and covers the standard educational requirements for each grade level. Students follow a predetermined sequence of topics.
Subject Coverage
- MiAcademy: This program focuses on core subjects, including math, language arts, science, and social tudies. Its curriculum provides a comprehensive education with a narrower subject scope.
- Power Homeschool: Power Homeschool covers core subjects like math, language arts, science, and social studies, but it also offers elective courses, providing students with a broader range of subjects to explore.
Parent Involvement
- MiAcademy: This curriculum encourages student independence and self-directed learning. Parents can monitor progress but are less directly involved in day-to-day lesson planning.
- Power Homeschool: Power Homeschool emphasizes parent-initiated movement. The platform provides tools for parents to track their child’s progress, plan lessons, and customize the curriculum to suit individual learning needs.
Cost and Flexibility
- MiAcademy: The pricing of this program may vary depending on the features and services chosen.
- Power Homeschool: Power Homeschool offers different subscription plans, allowing families to choose the most suitable option based on their budget and preferences. This one costs around $2 /month, which is $11 less than Miacademy.
Adventure Academy Vs. Miacademy
Curriculum Approach
- MiAcademy: This curriculum follows a mastery-based approach, allowing students to progress independently. The focus is on building a solid foundational understanding of core subjects.
- Adventure Academy: Adventure Academy is an interactive virtual world with an educational focus. It combines an immersive game-based environment with a math, language arts, science, and social studies curriculum.
Subject Coverage
- MiAcademy: This program provides a comprehensive education with a primary focus on core subjects such as math, language arts, science, and social studies.
- Adventure Academy: Adventure Academy offers a diverse range of subjects, including core subjects and additional educational content, such as reading, writing, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.
Parent Involvement
- MiAcademy: This curriculum encourages student independence, allowing learners to take ownership of their learning journey. Parents can monitor progress but have less direct involvement in day-to-day lesson planning.
- Adventure Academy: Adventure Academy offers parental involvement features that allow parents to track their child’s progress, manage screen time, and monitor their academic achievements.
Cost and Flexibility
- MiAcademy: This program’s pricing may vary based on features and services, allowing you to choose a plan that fits your budget.
- Adventure Academy: Adventure Academy operates on a subscription-based model with different pricing options, allowing families to choose a plan that suits their needs. The plan costs $13 monthly, $23.00 less than the Miaplaza programs.
IXL Vs. Miacademy
Curriculum Approach
- IXL: IXL is a comprehensive online learning platform that offers practice exercises and assessments across various subjects and grade levels. It focuses on reinforcing skills through a question-and-answer format.
- MiAcademy: This program follows a mastery-based approach, allowing students to progress at their own pace and ensuring they master each concept before moving forward. The curriculum emphasizes building a solid foundational understanding of core subjects.
Subject Coverage
- IXL: IXL covers many subjects, including math, language arts, science, social studies, and more. It offers practice exercises to reinforce skills in various topics.
- MiAcademy: This curriculum provides a comprehensive education, primarily focusing on core subjects such as math, language arts, science, and social studies while also offering a well-rounded curriculum.
Parent Involvement
- IXL: IXL provides parents with progress reports and insights into their child’s performance, allowing them to monitor their learning progress and identify areas needing additional attention.
- MiAcademy: This curriculum encourages student independence, allowing learners to take ownership of their learning journey. Parents can monitor progress but have less direct involvement in day-to-day lesson planning.
Cost and Flexibility
- IXL: IXL offers subscription plans with different pricing tiers, allowing families to choose the plan that aligns with their needs and budget. The plan costs $13 monthly, $23.00 less than the Miaplaza programs.
- MiAcademy: The pricing of this curriculum may vary based on features and services, letting you select a plan that fits your budget and requirements.
Want to Learn How to Homeschool?
If you’re new to home education and need help in your first few years, consider The Homeschool Parenting Program.
This is an affordable online course for homeschooling parents to help get them through all those initial hiccups.
You can also sign up for my YouTube channel at How to Homeschool.
On this channel, I discuss Christianity, homeschooling, and curriculum.
If you like that, you’ll love the channel.
Start with the following playlists:
- Starting homeschool playlist
- Homeschool Curriculum playlist
- Homeschool Methods playlist
- FAQs on Homeschooling
Find the channel here.
Miacademy Review Conclusion
Overall, this secular online curriculum 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 Miacademy 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?
