ABCmouse Review for Homeschooling Parents

Need help with homeschooling? Such is the plight of most parents during the time of coronavirus. Whether your plans include online, in-person, or hybrid learning come the fall semester, ABCmouse is an educational tool parents might want to look into.

Many parents want to know how ABCmouse works and ABCmouse reviews—how to get an ABCmouse free subscription with a school code or whether you can redeem ABCmouse for free at the library. Right now, parents need all the help they can get, so if that sounds like you, keep reading for everything you need to know about ABCmouse and how to get it for free.

What is ABCmouse?

ABCmouse is an early learning academy tool featuring educational programming for 10 different levels of learners ages 2 through 8.

ABCmouse’s programs include educational games and puzzles, as well as a level-by-level curriculum of reading and language arts and colors, math, art, music, and science and social studies for kids. Through animations, song, books, games, puzzles, artwork, and printables, kids learn about each subject at their level, at their pace.

ABCmouse uses progress tracking and a virtually ticketed reward system to motivate young students—think, the educational version of Chuck E. Cheese. These tickets allow children to “purchase” virtual items as a reward for their progress.

Other features ABCmouse offers students are an interactive virtual zoo, aquarium, and farm, and personalizable avatars.

Because it is a subscription service, parents never have to worry about pop-ups or spam that could lead children off the platform. ABCmouse is also Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)-compliant.

What age is ABCmouse for?

ABCmouse’s curriculums are designed for young learners ages 2 to 8 years old, though their digital library says ages 2 to 12 years old. However, the levels don’t go by age or grade but rather by progress and skill.

If you are looking for a similar educational program for older children, Adventure Academy is an online learning program, from the makers of ABCmouse, for ages 8 to 13.

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Can I get ABCmouse for free?

The first month of online learning with ABCmouse is free. After the first month, subscriptions start at $9.95/mo and grant young learners access to 10 different levels, over 850 lessons, and more than 10,000 individual learning activities.

Access for the purpose of homeschooling is also free during the coronavirus global pandemic. To access ABCmouse for free, your child’s school must request access from the Age of Learning form. Right now, there might be a delay in granting free access, as an overwhelming amount of schools—as you can imagine—have been requesting free subscriptions.

Some libraries also offer ABCmouse for free to cardholders. To find out if your library offers ABCmouse for free, check ABCmouse’s library directory by inputting your state, library, and library card number.

Is ABCmouse free with Amazon Prime?

The Amazon Prime member offer for ABCmouse appears to be the same: the first month free. On Amazon Prime, the ABCmouse.com – Early Learning Academy app is available for free download, but after a month, it will prompt you to pay for a subscription starting at $9.95/mo.

Is ABCmouse worth the money?

That’s the question most parents want to know! Especially now in light of coronavirus, there is a ton of free educational content out there, so long as you know what to search.

Whether or not ABCmouse is worth the $9.95 a month depends on a few different factors. How often will your child (or children) use ABCmouse? How many children will share the ABCmouse account? Will they be engaged by it and enjoy interacting with ABCmouse? Is ABCmouse’s content the right level for your child (or children)? These are all questions parents might want to ask before subscribing to a monthly plan.

Of course, to find out the answers to those questions, a good place to start is trying the first month of ABCmouse for free. You’ll get a good sense of your child’s ability to navigate the platform and apps as well as whether or not they like using it.

ABCmouse may work for some households and not for others. Even if it doesn’t work for your family, don’t be discouraged. There are plenty of other educational platforms, apps, and websites out there. A meaningful way to find out what other parents are using is to poke around in the reviews section of any app or website.

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Can you cancel ABCmouse at anytime?

Absolutely. ABCmouse offers what they call “Easy Enrollment.” According to their website, “If your family does not absolutely love ABCmouse.com, you may cancel your account at any time within the Parent Section to avoid future charges.”

If you cancel your subscription, you will continue to have access to the service until the subscription period ends. However, after canceling, you should not expect a refund. ABCmouse typically does not offer refunds after an account cancelation, even if you cancel the subscription immediately after renewing it.

Is ABCmouse free for homeschool?

ABCmouse is conventionally a monthly subscription that costs $9.95/mo, with some promotions as found in this article. However, during the coronavirus quarantine that caused schools to shut down, founder Doug Dohring decided to make the program free for homeschooling purposes.

“Providing quality educational resources specifically in this crucial time to kids is very important,” Dohring explained at the time. Though the service was pronounced free for homeschooling in May 2020, there’s no clarification about when that time period extends to.

To get free access to ABCmouse for the purpose of homeschooling, your child’s school must request the access using the Age of Learning form. Because of an overwhelming amount of requests, approval could take a while.

ABCmouse is also free at some libraries, though not all. To find out if your library allows cardholders to redeem ABCmouse for free, check ABCmouse’s library directory by inputting your state, library, and library card number.

Can it be used for homeschool?

ABCmouse is a web-based educational learning program that is often used for homeschooling. With 10 different levels, 850 lessons, and more than 10,000 individual learning activities, ABCmouse has plenty of interactive, educational content to keep young learners engaged during homeschooling hours.

ABCmouse also features its own lesson plans and curriculums, so if you’re looking for a program with a built-in curriculum, so that you don’t have to design your own, it’s perfect. However, if you are doing hybrid learning or getting supplied curriculums through your school, ABCmouse’s curriculums might not align. That being said, it could still be used in tandem with conventional, in-person or remote learning as an added educational tool.