desertflower Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 Any reviews/thoughts? Any one use it for a daughter as well? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomatHWTK Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 I have my 3 oldest use Clever Dragons/Always Ice Cream daily as part of their independent school work. I don't have the upgraded parent account so I just let them choose the topics they want to study. I've been happy with the format and program. Though I will say, that my DD is more sheltered than some of the other kids in chat so sometimes she learns about world crisis, etc. via prayer requests on the chat board. She learned what divorce was and I had to explain what cheating on one's spouse meant due to a prayer request. But again- my kids are very sheltered when it comes to those issues so I don't know that it would be an issue for most parents in that age range. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 My 9 yo daughter LOVES Always Ice Cream. The social areas are very safe and heavily moderated. She spends most of her time working on newspaper articles, designing things (clothing, posters, furniture, etc.), managing her shop, reading updates from "friends" (again, everything is moderated, nothing inappropriate gets through), playing games, and so on. Scoops are the currency for AIC. She likes getting a prize for being in the top 100 (I think it's top 200 now?), so that motivates her to play learning games to earn scoops. Plus, she needs to earn scoops to buy design templates and items from her AIC friends. I ended up buying a lifetime membership. Hope this helps :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 We bought a life family membership a few years ago. Both my DS and DD use it (and presumably the younger two will use it when they get older). It's one of their options for their free-choice "Do something educational" time. They tend to go through periods of using it and then neglecting it for a while, which makes the lifetime membership nice. They haven't really gotten into the social aspects, though I kind of wish they would, since that would maybe encourage them to use it more. The educational content is reasonable. Nothing earth-shattering exciting, but decent overall, and increasingly varied. They do add stuff regularly, and every time I look at it there's something new that makes me happy. The content is most heavily focused on math and language arts. I'd consider science to be most notably lacking. There is definitely a strong Christian presence in the social aspects (not surprising, considering that it's largely marketed towards homeschoolers), and as a secular family, I think my kids find that a little alienating. This could be either a plus or minus, depending on your family. There is religious educational content (both Christian and Jewish), but you can restrict access to any subject you don't want them accessing, including the religious stuff. I feel like the gender issue has improved in the past year. While there are still separate sites for boys and girls, the content itself has become less distinctly gendered. The educational content itself has always been the same on both sides, but the girls' side used to be much more domestic, while the boys' was adventurous. Now they both have the same medieval fantasy theme going. I love the recent addition of the newspaper for encouraging writing. Overall, I'm happy that we splurged on it. Homeschool Buyer's Co-Op has big discounts a few times a year. https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/always-icecream/ says they have a 55% off discount starting the 15th, so do the free trial now, but hold off on a big purchase! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 Thank you so much for your replies! I know i'll probably will sign up for it soon too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganW Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Any updates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted May 13, 2015 Author Share Posted May 13, 2015 I tried it out. I can't remember if it was a free trial or part of the site is free. It looks fantastic to me. It requires reading in order for them to play independently, and my kids aren't there yet. It also requires some knowledge of history and science. For example, it asked who was King of Britain during 1620 or something like that. So, I believe it's geared for 3rd grade and up. If I remember correctly clever dragons and ice cream are the same site. Yes, it is something I'll get when they are older. For now, I think I'll get brainpop jr. or science4us.com or msnucleus.com. I have reading rainbow right now and my kids enjoy that. Hth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 bump for this thread. Right now you can get Clever Dragons and Always Ice Cream free for the summer through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/always-icecream-free-for-summer/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I have a daughter who is obsessed with dragons. Does The girl's site include them? How pervasive is the dragon theme? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 bump for this thread. Right now you can get Clever Dragons and Always Ice Cream free for the summer through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/always-icecream-free-for-summer/ Thanks for posting this, I hadn't seen it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 I have a daughter who is obsessed with dragons. Does The girl's site include them? How pervasive is the dragon theme? I don't know. If I remember correctly, I don't think it's really about dragons. It had questions for different subjects. I believe it's just a fun, appealing way of reviewing or learning new materials. I could be wrong. I hope someone can tell you more accurately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 bump for this thread. Right now you can get Clever Dragons and Always Ice Cream free for the summer through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/always-icecream-free-for-summer/ Yes, thank you! I was just wishing someone would do this for me in a couple of years. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommy5 Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 bump for this thread. Right now you can get Clever Dragons and Always Ice Cream free for the summer through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/always-icecream-free-for-summer/ Thank you for posting this! Is this geared more toward younger kids or tweens? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Thank you for posting this! Is this geared more toward younger kids or tweens? I don't know. I would say at least 3rd grade. Perhaps someone else can chime in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Thank you for posting this! Is this geared more toward younger kids or tweens? I'd say about 7-12. Reading, but not old enough for "real" social media. I have a daughter who is obsessed with dragons. Does The girl's site include them? How pervasive is the dragon theme? The boy and girl sites used to have very different themes, but now they both have the same medieval/dragon theme. There are a few dragon-focused things, but I wouldn't say it's particularly pervasive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah0000 Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I didn't know the age range so I signed up for it since its temporarily free. My three year old is able to do some of it once I showed him how to manipulate the site. It certainly isn't as easy for a younger kid to navigate like something like Starfall, but its teachable. However, it is a necessity that your kid be reading. Also, not all the topics would be very interesting to most younger kids. I didn't spend much time on it, but it seemed kind of boring to me. The "games" seemed more like tests to me. The areas I explored didn't teach anything directly first. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Any updates on this? Anyone use it for 6-12 months still using it? Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 I actually forgot about this. At the time when I asked my oldest wasn't reading on his own. But he may enjoy it now. Thanks for the bump. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Any updates on this? Anyone use it for 6-12 months still using it? Thoughts? My oldest (13) has pretty much abandoned it. The 10 year old uses it fairly regularly. The 6 year old would like to use it, but isn't reading yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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