Does anyone subscribe to Aquila magazine?

[strictlycaballine]

I want to buy dd (9 yrs) a subscription to a children's magazine for Christmas and I've heard good things about this one.

Would welcome opinions from anyone who already subscribes?

I'm slightly worried that it might be the kind of thing that parents enjoy buying for their dcs, but that the dcs themselves might find it a bit too worthy... any thoughts please?

My youngest child (age 9) has a subscription and LOVES it. The older ones did as well, when they were the right age. We donated a big pile of old copies to the school at some point and apparently they are still being read enthusiastically several years later.

So yes, I would recommend. As long as you're happy to humour requests for your child to enter competitions and try out various experiments and crafty things (like olden days Blue Peter, but a bit cooler).

Thank you AuntAda Your feedback is much appreciated.

May I ask if your youngest is a boy or a girl? And do you think it makes a difference in this regard? (My dd is not too keen on science and maths for example although I would like to try and persuade her otherwise.)

We have it in our classroom at school (teach yr 4). The kids love it, boys and girls.

Has been more popular with the girls than the boy. They have lots of features about particular countries, or particular topics, scientific, arty, all sorts. And competitions.

I do rate it. :)

All of mine loved it, the youngest age 11 the most and she still looks forward to it, so we are still getting it. It is only once every month tho so we also get First News once a week which is also well read and looked forward to by her.

We also have a huge pile saved up that she flicks through - good idea to see if the school wants it I guess.

Hello SC! 8 year old DD loves it; 10 year old DD isn't quite as keen (although she does enjoy doing the quizzes in the middle). Would definitely recommend; I've learned a lot from it as well. Plus the overseas subscription isn't too extortionate; it's so difficult to get hold of English-language magazines here, let alone good quality ones.

dd1 (nearly 9) has it and loves it.

Huge waves to Linzer!!

Thank you very much for everyone's posts. It is really helpful to get such positive feedback. It sounds as though it is in exactly the right age range as well. On the strength of all your advice, I am definitely going to take the plunge.

And as it's only monthly (which I hadn't realised) that should mean I can afford to buy dd a French pony magazine too which should satisfy the language side of things and hopefully keep all bases covered!

Thank you again everyone.

My older 2 used to have this and really enjoyed it. DD won a sledge once which might have had something to do with it!

Honestly? For us it was definitely in the "something mums and dads like doing but the kids find too worthy" category. Each month's issue is based on a specific topic. As it happened, DD1 wasn't particularly grabbed by the topics that had been chosen for her first few issues. She was doing the puzzles and laughing at the jokes, but not really reading the rest, so we cancelled after three months.

Buying the Beano for jokes and letting her read whatever she likes from the library seems to be working better!

DS who is almost 10 had it on subscription for the past year and doesn't want it renewed. He has enjoyed it in parts but not that bothered and I have to remind him to open it! DS is bright, asks loads of questions all the time and likes learning, but I think he found it a bit worthy. He did however really enjoy making the lava lamp as described in last month's magazine. I think it is quite expensive too, for what it is.

We have had it for 2 months. DS (8.5) really likes it. So far it's been on topics of interest to him. We made the lava lamp too :)

We had it for 6 months and it was enjoyed by then 8/9 year old however she whizzed through it very quickly so didn't really get a week out of it let alone a month. Swapped for First News subscription (weekly) was (for her) much better. I wouldn't dissuade you from it though but perhaps for 3 month trial rather than a year straight away.

My daughter 7 much prefers Discovery Box. We tried both and Aquila wasn't really read.

Sorry to be returning to this thread only now!

Thank you for the further helpful responses - even the less positive ones- it's really useful to have a range of opinons.

And I'm interested to see there are other options out there that I didn't know about. I'd never heard of First News or Discovery box for example. (The latter also deliver to the EU where we are.)

I'm keen for dd to read interesting articles in English (she is taught in languages other than English, which is her native tongue) to improve her spelling and vocabulary and to keep up with contemporary topics etc. At the same time, I also want to avoid anything too worthy as her schooling is already fairly turgid and she needs a bit of light relief when she is not studying!

Perhaps I'll just go for a six month subscription initially, and see how it goes ...

Thanks again everyone. Your feedback is much appreciated.

PrettyDaisies congrats on the sledge!

AchickencalledKorma have only just twigged that each issue of Aquila is devoted to a specific topic - (sorry - being very slow - must go to bed!) I can see that is a bit more of a gamble ...

Going to check out Discovery Box too ...

Thanks again everyone

Well that's certainly a good sign Turniphead (asking for renewal I mean) Thanks for the feedback.

Sorry for appalling grammar below, er, that should have read of course ...

" a pony magazine, written in French" ; French ponies suffering, in general, from the same lack of literacy skills as their British counterparts

Dithering now ... must make my mind up and subscribe ...

Why don't you just do 3 issues of each and decide from there. We did this and chose Discovery Box in the end. She also has First News which is sometimes read!!!

Yes I think that's a good idea Neutral - thanks