Typing Progress

Sometime last year I posted on my kids starting to learn typing. It is obviously a pretty essential skill in today’s world, one I didn’t want my kids to miss out on. I have deliberately prevented them from attempting to type on their own, because I know how hard it can be to break bad habits! From the beginning I really wanted them to learn proper technique. So at the ages of 11 and 9 my eldest two finally tried out typing.com for the first time last year.

Progress Report

So how are they doing a year later, aged 12 and 10? Grace has just recently completed the entire typing program and has now moved onto the general computing skills section. She seems to be very competent at typing now, and is quite quickly able to type up her IEW stories. It’s actually pretty amazing how simple it is for them to learn this skill, at no cost and with no outside help needed! She types correctly and will only get faster as she practises. Definitely a win!

Alex

Alex hasn’t been quite as disciplined, but he too is progressing through the program. He seems to be using the right fingers for the right keys, and passes each section without difficulty. Hopefully in a couple of months he too will be a competent typist – although for the moment Grace tends to type up his stories for him (typical older sister I guess!)

Jess

Jess, my 8 year old has started learning too, and loves it. The games help, plus time on the computer is something they don’t get much of, so she enjoys the novelty of it.

Worth Doing

All in all, I would definitely recommend using typing.com (or another free program) to teach your kids to type. As always, I would suggest having them use the computer in a public place so that any potentially harmful material that pops up can be dealt with safely. So far this hasn’t happened to us, but it’s always a possibility with the internet! It’s not worth the risk.

Also, I think the strategy of only letting kids type once they have properly learnt how has been a successful one, preventing any bad habits from forming. Another skill ticked off the list!