Clever Dragons: A Review

Technology is making homeschooling very exciting - and also intimidating. The internet is a jungle of educational games, videos, and resources. And it’s mixed in with all kinds of things we don’t want our kids exposed to. I have been wanting to incorporate technology into our daily homeschool routine, but I had no idea where to start.

Until….

Clever Dragons to the rescue!

I subscribed to Clever Dragons two weeks ago and our family has been wonderfully blessed. Clever Dragons is an educational website specifically tailored to boys. BOYS ONLY. That definitely gets the attention of little boys. They have a site for girls as well called Always Ice Cream. If you are interested in the site for girls I think you will still find this review helpful. 

The Motivation

I have five little boys and let me tell you - Clever Dragons KNOWS boys. When my sons first started exploring the site I thought, “Did the creators interview my sons??” Set to a medieval theme, the site allows boys to race dragons, design their own castles, sell what they make in their own shops, and earn gold.

The site is multifaceted enough to reach a wide variety of interests. My seven-year-old is the most drawn to the social aspect. The boys on Clever Dragons can interact with each other and there are a variety of different teams to join. My son immediately joined a team called, “Boys who love God and want to share the gospel of His Son.” Probably the best name for a club ever. The boys can earn gold for their teams and they can send their teammates messages and presents.

My five-year-old son’s favorite part is owning his own pet. I just want to say thank you to Clever Dragons for postponing our need for a real dog (at least for now). He checks on his pet every day and buys him food and supplies.

Clever Dragons is not just an awesome online game. It’s a rich educational resource. In order for the boys to take full advantage of all the adventures in their medieval world they have to complete learning activities through videos and games.

Videos

There are videos for each subject in the program. The teachers give mini lectures about grammar, parts of speech, rounding, regrouping, etc. My sons already have their favorite teachers. The videos also show science experiments, how things are made, and geography. My seven-year-old’s favorite video is the states and capitals song. Within the first week he was singing along. He was also fascinated by the video on how marbles are made.

Games

The variety of learning games is impressive. They cover tons of interesting topics and use lots of different formats like multiple choice, races, matching, and timed games. My kids love the human body game. They learned the names of the bones and organs just by playing the game over and over.

Parental Involvement

Moms, this is where Clever Dragons gets insanely cool. Each time my boys log on to their accounts they go to “Learning Path” to see what I have assigned them. That’s right. I get to comb through the site and pick the exact games and videos I want them to finish that day. I can even assign them……CHORES! I think Clever Dragons knows moms just as well as it knows boys. There is a feature that allows you to lock all the other parts of the program until the assignments are completed. The parent account helps you keep track of what each son has done and see their progress. I can also adjust the grade level at any time and set different grade levels for different sons.

Safety

The Clever Dragons world is HUGE. My absolute favorite part about the program is that my boys could explore it for months and I know they are in a safe environment. There are no pop-ups and no ads. I have peace of mind knowing that whatever they click on will be fun and educational.

How I Use it

I have found it very easy to incorporate Clever Dragons into our school routine. The boys log on, complete the “Learning Path” assignments from me, and then have a half an hour to explore the site on their own. They use this time to make furniture for their castles, care for their pets, and watch extracurricular videos.

Clever Dragons is not a curriculum in itself. I use it to supplement what I am already doing. It helps reinforce what they're learning in their regular school curriculum. But the boys inevitably wind up learning something extra. Yesterday my son told me he completed his assignments and then he went on to learn ten new Spanish vocabulary words. Fine by me. I'm looking forward to continuing to use this program during our summer break. I know the kids won't complain. "Mom, is it time for Clever Dragons yet???"  

For more information on Clever Dragons visit Clever-Dragons.com!