Homeschooling with Miacademy: an Honest Review
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It took awhile for us to start homeschooling with Miacademy, but I’m glad we started! There are so many homeschool curriculum options out there that it’s often overwhelming trying to figure out what works best the kids.
Before I get to far ahead of myself, I need to mention…this is NOT a sponsored post. I’m “just” a homeschool mom sharing her thoughts (and praises) of our experiences homeschooling with Miacademy. All of my curriculum reviews, sponsored or not, are 100% honest, but I just feel it’s important to let you know that everything I share in this post is an honest Miacademy review.
Before we Started Homeschooling with Miacademy…
The thing with homeschooling is that sometimes (read: usually) what works for one family might not work the best for another family. It’s actually one of the reasons we left the public school system: kids don’t all learn the same way, so it just doesn’t make sense to force them into the same mold.
Prior to homeschooling with Miacademy, we tried a bunch of different curriculums that were mainly paper and pencil based. I actually asked my kids if they preferred to do paper/pencil or if they’d rather do an online homeschool curriculum and they chose paper/pencil curriculums so that’s what we did!
To be completely honest, I was kind of surprised that they originally chose paper/pencil curriculums over an online homeschool curriculum. They love to play video games and would spend all their time online if given the opportunity. Being fresh from public school, though, I’m going to assume they chose paper/pencil curriculum because that’s what they were used to. And that’s totally ok.
Sidenote: we did deschool for a bit before we started our homeschooling experience.
We started our homeschooling experience with paper/pencil curriculums and, while it started out a positive experience, it quickly got overwhelming. For all of us. The kids were overwhelmed with all the writing. I was overwhelmed with the task of teaching my kids 1-1 lessons (because they were at different levels for language arts and math) and keeping track of all the papers that needed to be printed.
The relaxed, engaging, positive homeschooling experience that we seeked was nowhere to be found. We had to make some changes.
I asked my kids what they wanted to learn about and (again) how they wanted to learn.
I started researching (again). I asked friends what sorts of homeschool curriculum they used. I asked people in homeschooling groups online what curriculum they used.
Why Miacademy Works for Us
After getting a number of recommendations from friends and homeschooling parents online, we ended up giving Miacademy a try. To be completely transparent, Miacademy was not the first online homeschool program we used. We tried a few others before homeschooling with Miacademy and the kids said things like this about the other programs:
- “This is boring!”
- “Were these videos made in the 1980s?”
- “Please don’t make me do this again.”
Long story short, some online programs just weren’t going to work for our family right off the bat.
Miacademy, though? My kids were totally on board with Miacademy from day one. And thank goodness for that because, while I can be a patient person, it was getting super frustrating to have tried other online homeschool programs only to have upset & unhappy kids.
Why does homeschooling with Miacademy work for us, though? Let’s chat…
Curriculum Options
With lessons available from Kindergarten to Eighth Grade, there are plenty of subjects and electives to choose from when using Miacademy to homeschool online. Some people use it as a full curriculum, some will supplement. The choice really is yours.
We tend to use Miacadamy alongside some supplemental journal writing, book clubs, and co-op classes that my boys chose to take.
They’re always adding new lessons and new content, but the following subject areas and electives are currently available:
- Language Arts
- Math
- Science
- Social Studies
- Music & Arts
- Foreign Languages
- Life Skills
- Biblical Studies
- Daily Vocabulary Practice
Engaging Activities
From our experience, most of the Miacademy lessons have a fun video as part of the instruction. They don’t feel dated and I’ve actually caught my kids chatting about their favorite video instructors together.
In addition to video lessons, information is also presented through online text & graphics and a number of the activities also have (optional) printable PDF activities so the kids can do some hands-on activities.
Community & Rewards
While the academic portion of Miacademy is pretty cool, I really feel like their “My World” section is super cool. Like, if I were a kid, “My World” would totally motivate me to get my work done each day.
Within their “My World” section, students have the opportunity to create their own Miacademy businesses (to earn “gold”), take care of their own Miacademy pet, play games, and more. As an original “The Sims” player, it really does feel like a kid’s version of SimCity.
It’s really very cool! My kids love this part.
In addition to being able to earn “gold” in “My World,” students can even earn “gold” by completing their daily activities and receive “gold” from their parents for things like completing chores, feeding (real life) pets, cleaning up their rooms, and more.
Not only is Miacademy a great way for kids to learn their core content materials & electives, but it’s also a fabulous way to encourage kids be responsible and creative.
Parent Portal & Record Keeping
As a parent, I really appreciate that Miacademy makes it easy for me to assign & keep track of homeschooling lessons for my kids.
Within the parent portal, I can assign lessons by subject or even by individual units. I can set the first and last days of the homeschooling year, I can block off vacation dates, and even select the days of the week for my kids to do their assignments.
In addition, I can even make lessons optional or required, and (an important part that sometimes causes frustration for my kids, but is still important) I can set a minimum passing grade for lesson quizzes.
If you are homeschooling in a state that requires a certain number of homeschooling days or requires you to provide academic grades or reports…Miacademy has your back! New Jersey does not require such information, but it’s super convenient that Miacademy provides the details just in case.
Flexibility
If you’ve been around here for a minute, it’s no surprise that we enjoy traveling. While traveling affords itself several educational opportunities on its own, I certainly appreciate that my kids can keep up with their homeschool assignments even when we’re on the road. Just pack up the laptop, make sure there’s wifi available, and they can work on their studies practically anywhere!
In addition to being awesome for travel, I love love love that my kids can do their Miacademy lessons whenever they’re available.
We are not known for being early risers. We will wake up early if we absolutely have to, but we typically go to bed late and wake up around 8:30/9:00 or so. It works for us.
If there’s a morning when one of my kids (usually my youngest) happens to wake up at the crack of dawn, though? He can get a head start on his assignments by hopping on his laptop and doing lessons before I even wake up. He knows that if he has trouble with anything he can skip that activity so I can help him, but is generally pretty able to do assignments on his own.
Sweet, right?
Try it out!
You know how lots of online homeschool programs only offer you a week to try before making your decision to either move on or sign up?
It bugs me. A week is not always enough time to figure out if something as important as curriculum is the right fit for a family.
Miacademy, though? They let you try out their online homeschool program for a full month. Yep. Even better? It’s (currently) only $1.99 for their month-long trial. Score!
If, after trying this program out for a month, you decide to go ahead and sign up, I can help you to save on your membership! This post is not sponsored at all, but Miacademy generously provided me with a coupon code to share with you guys. Just use the code ELIZABETH20 at checkout to take advantage of some pretty substantial savings.
What questions can I answer about homeschooling for you? Let me know in the comments or send me an email – I’ll be happy to help!
Until next time, stay safe and enjoy quality time with your family,
Elizabeth Dukart is a proud Georgia-based born and raised Jersey Girl, wife, and mom of 2 human boys & 1 canine boy.
Created in 2021, Elizabeth owns and publishes That Homeschool Family: a free resource for homeschooling parents and beyond! A seasoned blogger, Elizabeth previously published a popular location-specific family resource blog, but decided to “Pivot!” her blogging focus after she started homeschooling her two boys in 2020. In addition to this blog, you can follow Elizabeth’s homeschooling and family adventures on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest.
When she’s not busy taking over the world or homeschooling, Elizabeth can be found listening to music (especially The Beatles & Harry Styles!), being silly with her boys, watching movies with family, shopping, or traveling!
Have a question or want to work with Elizabeth? Send her an email!
Hi! We are new homeschoolers – 2nd grade twin boys. I’m struggling! We are doing a lot of 1st grade review, but I think I’d like an online option for them. Does this lay out a curriculum plan for you to follow – as in, log in and the lessons are laid out sequentially? We are doing ABC Mouse along with a workbook – not sure how it compares or if you’d know? Any info for the younger kiddos would be great. Thank you!
Hi! Congrats on starting your new homeschooling adventure! From your Miacademy parent dashboard, you’ll be able to preview the upcoming lessons and even plan ahead by printing out (optional) PDFs for the kids, too. We haven’t done ABC Mouse, so I’m not sure how they compare, BUT…at $1.99 for a trial month of Miacademy, it’s totally worth trying out. I hope that helps!
This review is immensely helpful! I heard about Miacademy from another homeschool mom. Reading your review and seeing the screen shots answered a lot of questions for me. Thank you, Elizabeth!
You’re so welcome! Miacademy has been great for my kids, so I’m happy to share our experience!
I’m doing the one month trial right now. I plan on homeschooling my daughter after this school year is over so I’m researching programs. After reading your review I think Miacademy is the way we are going to go! Thanks so much!
You’re so welcome!! I hope the trial goes well for you!
Do you think MiaAcademy would be good for a 7 year old learning to read?? I am having the toughest time (she’s willing at ties, but gets bored and I don’t know how to teach it necessarily.) We have jumped around from one thing to the next, and I would just love to find something that is video or online based for the basics of reading and math that she would enjoy. We did monster math, not good. ABC mouse…I’m sure it’s good for some, but she was able to get on and play the games only and therefore didn’t do any work. Not what I was hoping!
Hi Chani,
I would definitely say it’s worth a try! Miacademy has options to have the questions & answers read out loud, so she could always take advantage of that. There are optional printable PDFs that go along with a number of the lessons, so she may need your assistance with those, but I think she could be pretty independent with the online portion.
Just in case our experience can help, when my boys were learning how to read, these things helped: turning the closed captioning “ON” on the tv, encouraging looking at graphic novels and any books of with topics of interest, reading recipes and making dishes together in the kitchen.
One other thing that helped my youngest learn to read: the Hooked on Phonics app. He really enjoyed playing the games and I feel like they were a big help.
I hope that helps!
This is an old post but my 8yo daughter loves MiAcademy and has even been choosing to do extra lessons. She did Kindergarten with FLVS and hated it. 1st-3rd grade she did EasyPeasy (allinonehomeschool . com) and that really helped her with reading when she was behind and really struggling. It’s a free, mom-created, on/offline curriculum that went really well for years with my older son but my daughter needed to learn a different way and MiAcadamy has been amazing for her. I’d recommend trying both out and seeing if either work for your child.
Hi Stephanie! So glad that Miacademy has been working well for your daughter, too! We tried EasyPeasy for a bit, too, but, like your experience, it just didn’t work well for us.
Not sure if you’ll even see this but you should try hooked on phonics for help with reading. My daughter struggled when she first started learning to read but hooked on phonics kept her interested and taught her to read within just a few weeks.
Can you begin courses mid year or do you have to start at the beginning? My daughter completed half of 8th grade in publuc school and we are now pulling her out to homeschool but don;t want her to have to repeat or start over
Hi Heather! Yes, you can definitely start mid-year with Miacademy. You can choose the start date, end date, allow for days off & vacation dates, etc.
This review has been super helpful! My youngest child, my daughter, is currently “de-schooling” (thank you for saying that!) and I’m looking for the best program for us to begin, even though we are doing other learning activities in the meantime. I am excited to start this trial! Thank you for sharing, Elizabeth!
You’re so welcome!! I’m glad you guys are taking time to de-school! It made a world of difference in our homeschooling experience and was definitely time well spent. I hope the Miacademy experience goes well for you! Let me know if you have any questions – I’m always happy to help.
Does Miacademy require printed worksheets? We need something that is all online. We are using an online public school right now and there is a lot of offline work and I feel we just can’t keep up with it. My daughter hates it.
Hi Destiny!
Miacademy does provide pdf activities for some lessons, but they are optional. My kids don’t do all of them and, honestly, many of the activities can be done without printing them out.
Do they have a summer bridge curriculum? We did a summer workbook last year that has both 2nd and 3rd grade topics.
We’re currently using The Good and the Beautiful and we like it but I feel like online style will be more entertaining like video games. We should be finished with this year 3rd grade mid May and I was thinking of doing the trial with Miacademy for a summer program so he doesn’t forget everything.
Your review was very helpful, it looks like a great website.
Hi Erin! Miacademy doesn’t have a specific summer bridge option, but you could always select some specific areas to review throughout the summer. We tend to homeschool throughout the year (we’ll take some time off in the summer, but not the entire time traditional schoolers would have off), so we’ve just automatically moved up to the next grade even if it was the middle of summer.
Thank you for this review! I’m about 99% sure that I’m pulling my daughter out at the end of the year and homeschooling her next year (and probably forever). She is in the 6th grade, but struggles academically and we may need to do some 6th grade review, or start with 7th, just not sure. Two questions: What do I do after 8th grade since this program is K-8? Also, how would I determine the grade level she “should” start with. I don’t want to buy 7th and then have to go back and buy another grade level so we can backtrack…..any advice?
Hi Dawn! So, my oldest is in 5th/6th grade, so while we don’t have any experience with middle school homeschooling, we will definitely be looking into MiaPrep. MiaPrep is the company’s online learning option for secondary levels.
With Miacademy, you don’t need to “set in stone” a grade level. You could always start her at the 7th grade level and see how she does with that. If there are any issues, you can always adjust the levels since membership isn’t grade-level specific.
Hi! Looking at starting my 7th grader in this for the last couple months and then possibly next year. Can you explain what deschooling is? Thank you!
Hi Lisa! I just published this article about deschooling . Basically, deschooling is a period of time spent to reawaken a love of learning after spending time in traditional schooling. I hope it helps!
Do you plan to continue using Miacademy in the fall and beyond?
Hi! Yes, we do plan on continuing to use Miacademy in the fall and beyond. I have purchased the “lifetime” subscription for both of my kids, so it’s my plan to have them continuing with Miacademy until they complete the 8th grade program.
HI, will you continue with Miacademy this fall?
Hi Amy! Yes, the plan is to continue with Miacademy this fall and beyond. I got both of my kids the “lifetime” subscription, so the plan is to stick with Miacademy until they finish their 8th grade classes.
Thanks for sharing this review! Does Miacademy have actual (human) instructors in their videos? We tried study.com but my kids don’t like the videos because so far there have been no instructors shown in them, just narration over cartoons and graphics. They like the video style in Power Homeschool that features actual instructors sharing information with them, but we are looking for alternatives to Power Homeschool.
Hi Laura! Miacademy does have actual people in the videos. There might still be some fun animations in the videos, but there are definitely people in the videos my kids have watched for their lessons.
I’m very interested in starting my twins to use this for 7th grade Science. Think this is an option but they’d like to try it for 1 month. That’s an option?
Hi! You could totally utilize the 1 month trial to try out the Science curriculum. Keep in mind, though, that Miacademy doesn’t charge by subject, but for their entire curriculum library, so you’d have access to all of their classes and not “just” Science.
Elizabeth, how academically sound do you think MiaPrep really is?
Hi! At this point, my kids are still in the Miacademy grade levels, so we haven’t had first hand experience with MiaPrep. It sounds like it’s a great program, but I really haven’t had the chance to try it out myself.