I kind of lost interest at that point. I'm not interested in managing another subscription for this.

Edit: It looks like it includes a hosted server. That makes more sense, but I'd prefer an option without it.

I can totally see your stance here and in most instance's I would generally agree. This is probably one of those rarer cases where paying the $30 is a crap shoot at if they'd bite at something. If they really got into this, then with how fast kids learn it probably wouldn't be much use beyond the point of a year anyway as they're likely to have naturally progressed. If they genuinely love it then you will have made them godlike. When you consider this as a hobby product compared to others aimed at this demographic, surely it feels like stealing :)

Because servers cost money. Polished professional-quality software often costs money.

If $30 gets my kids interested in programming, it will be the best $30 I spend all year. And as another points out, either way, you won't need more than a year.