We have our winners!
Congratulations to:
Stephanie (comment #32)
Akili (comment #50)
& Kimberley (comments #57)
Your comments were randomly chosen using Random.org
Hip Homeschool Moms team member review…
Several years ago, my Husband and I began searching for a new way to have a little TV entertainment at home. We were so saddened by what we saw on television. It seemed (to us) that either shows deviated from what we felt was appropriate for our children or their main aim was to get our children hooked on a new toys that would change and require frequent trips to the store. We bought into that life style for a long time…..yet, as we changed, we sought something new. As we looked and shopped around, we kept running into a few problems: what we found was either not what we wanted, too expensive or not available in our area. However, our family recently had the opportunity to try AmebaTv…..and I can’t say enough about it!
If you are like me, you may have not heard of Ameba TV. It is fairly new and based out of Canada. Ameba TV delivers safe, fun, high quality television programs that are age-appropriate! It is delivered to your television through an Ameba Set Top Box or through a Roku box that connects to your internet (or your children can watch on the computer). You, as the parent have complete control over what your children watch. You have the ability to set up four profiles, with the parent profile having full access to all shows. So, let’s say you have a 3 yo, a 6 yo and a 10 yo. You can set up the exact shows you want each child to watch. Now, if your house is like mine…if the television is on….all of the children are drawn to it. That’s ok….even if your 3 yo watches the shows for the 10 yo. Why? Because the shows are still safe, it’s just that your 3yo may not understand or comprehend the shows your 10 yo will. AND…while your children are watching the programs….there are NO commercials!
Through the time I have spent getting to know Ameba….I have had the opportunity to speak with the owner, Tony Halveka several times. During our email conversations, Tony was gracious enough to answer a few questions for us….
We created Ameba because we have children. At the time, small children. We took a look at the children’s TV landscape and noticed an opportunity to modernize the medium. By creating a children’s only VoD system that was digitally delivered we could give parents a completely customizable media solution that both they would be happy with their children would love.
Why do you think this service better than reg. TV or cable?
“Ameba empowers children by giving them full control over the medium. Ameba lets them chose what they want to watch when they want to watch it. The Ameba library is full of great, wholesome, entertaining content that children enjoy. We also have lots of educational content that was developed with a young audience in mind. Ameba is completely customizable allowing parents to create a safe viewing environment for their children. Custom play lists, opt-in and op-out strategies make it easy for parents to ensure that only content that is in line with their social and moral values are shown on their Ameba. ”
My comments: I could not agree with this more. My children love having their own ‘profile’ and picking shows they can watch that are ‘theirs’. Me, I love that we (my husband and I) can select (behind the scenes) what they can watch each month. While we have ultimate control…the children are learning to manage their ‘time’ watching TV and learning the blessing that empowerment can bring them!
Can you explain your rates and billing?
“Ameba is a flat rate of $3.99/month for instant unlimited viewing on a wide variety of set top boxes and other consumer electronic devices. We also have a web page, http://watch.amebatv.com, where you can also watch the entire Ameba library online with your computer.”
My comments: I love the low fee! BIG win for this family! Also, having it online, allows me to watch the shows before my children so I can make an informed decision
Do you have plans in the future to integrate a live chat or 800 number for customer service
“Yes. 800 number support will be available September 1. Customer’s can also email us and, if we cannot fix the problem over email, we schedule a convenient time to call to do live support.”
My comments: We have a LOT of security for our wi-fi…you probably do, too. Not having an 800 number (right now) has caused us to take a little longer than normal to establish a wi-fi connection. However, Tony has personally been on the phone and online helping my husband and I work through our security issues. We have used the ethernet cable….but, that’s ok….we all (especially our children) love AMEBA!
What shows are your most popular (to date)
“Ameba is targeted at a 3-12 year old viewer. That large demographic has very diverse tastes in media. Early age viewers really like Mother Goose Club, Lah Lah’s Big Live Band and Monkey Monkey Music. Slightly older viewers like shows like This is Daniel Cook, Toy Castle, Raggs. Live action programs like A World of Wonders, Janet’s Planet and Timeblazers are very popular for the older viewers.Slapstick titles like Bernard and Alien Planet have a universal following from young to old.”
My comments: my children LOVE Big Buck Bunny…10 minutes of satirical humor that keeps us all laughing. We also enjoy A World Of Wonders, which allows us to travel all around the world and learn about other countries that we may never have the opportunity to visit. Janet’s Planet is also a great place to spend some time learning about astronomy (which happens to be what we are studying in science this year) and there are short, fun shows that teach about the history of Reformation, cute shows that teach about the Bible….and just fun shows that keep your children laughing…like Bernard and Alien Planet….
What are your children’s favorite shows?
“It really depends on their mood: Bernard is always popular – 2-3 minute animated shorts of a polar bear getting in trouble. A World of Wonders is also popular as it is about different places in the World and it is shot in amazing High Definition. Mr. Furry Fur Fur, an award winning show based on Eco themes, and Spend Time with D’Noddy-Oh, a live action interstitial of a cat, yes – just a cat, rank high on their playlists as well.”
Wrapping it up…
When we turned Ameba on (the first time)….my almost 10yo son rolled his eyes and said: “Mom, this is for babies!” Now…..he and my other two children are IN LOVE with Ameba. We recently told them we were going to turn cable off….they all three said “CAN WE PLEASE KEEP AMEBA TV?” (The 5yo recently asked to take it to the mountains with us….and sleep with it)….. I think it’s a pretty awesome way to spend a little down time. The variety is great…and I love having the ability to see a summary of each show before we watch it and see how long each show will last…..all in all…It’s a definite KEEPER!
You can find Ameba on
Rebecca is a Hip Homeschool Moms Senior Team Member and blogs at Mom’s Mustard Seeds
The Big Giveaway…
Ameba TV is awarding THREE lucky winners with an Ameba TV box (valued at $129) plus three months of service for free!! Here’s how you can win:
REQUIRED ENTRY
• Leave a comment on this post telling us why you’d like to win.
ADDITIONAL ENTRIES (leave a separate comment on this post for each extra entry)
• Click the facebook “share” button at the top of this post and share this giveaway with your facebook friends
• Tweet about this giveaway: I just entered to win @AmebaTV educational children’s programming with @HipHmschoolMoms http://wp.me/p1swZe-K2
This giveaway will close at 11:59 PM CST on Friday, 8/5/11
All entries posted after 8/5/11 will be invalid.
We will select our winner using Random.org and will announce the winner within this post sometime after 8/5/11.
Would love this! We canceled our cable last year, and I can honestly say our lives have been so much more peaceful! No smart mouths from our kids because they “heard it on TV”. No begging for toys we can’t afford. In fact, I made my daughter a quilt for her birthday and she was THRILLED! She would have been disappointed if we still had to watch all those commercials. (Why didn’t you get me this or that?) We have Roku and Netflix and are still having trouble finding appropriate programs for our children to watch on there! It is very easy on Netflx for the kids to accidentally watch something inappropriate because there are no “channels” you can just choose to have up! (No way also of taking something inappropriate off of your choices!)
I would love to win this for the kids! We have a 5, 6, 7, 9 yr old, and one on the way- all homeschooled and have no cable/dish due to the junk on them. This sounds great!
I also posted on facebook!
I shared on my facebook page! Thanks for the opportunity!
This sounds awesome! It would be such a help to not have to watch everything my kids watch before they do!
I shared on FB!!
Tweeted @KBSev
I would love to win this because I have a 4.5 year old who I am homeschooling and this would be a great tool. Also, as much as I love sprout the boy has no control over what he watches and when there is something on that he does not like he has no alternative. I also love the idea that I, not the company has control over what he is allowed to watch. I am so keeping my fingers crossed!
I shared on Facebook!
Just tweeted!
We are ditching the cable in October so this would be so awesome to win!
Posted on FB!!!
Retweeted!!! http://twitter.com/#!/kbalman/status/99551582701633536
I have 4 babies– 5mos to 6 yrs. I LOVE what I’ve read of Ameba, and I can’t believe how inexpensive it is monthly! We would LOVE to win the box– please please please!!! Sharing on FB, now =)
We would love this giveaway. We rarely watch TV due to the quality and this would be a great way to not worry about what there is on for her to watch!
We wold love to win because I am so tired of the television, but my kids really miss it. I want to make us all happy!! Thanks for the opportunity!
We would love to win the AmebaTV for my soon to be 3 year old daughter. We are cancelling our cable subscription next week due to all the inappropriate shows for the whole family and trying to acquire some other means of TV network. I heard about AmebaTV through the Hip Homeschool Moms and loved the concept for my toddler. Thank you for giving us an option to choose great educational shows for our little ones.
Would love a family-friendly entertainment option that does not conflict with the values we’re trying to instill in our kids (ages 8,6,5,4, & 11months)