homeschool

 Hello!   Today I want to tell you about a typing program the lad and I have been working on for the past few weeks.  You see the lad is currently writing a book called Space Cats and the work goes a bit slower than he wants so he wanted to learn to type faster… he’s getting some great typing practice using The Typing Coach Online Typing Course and put together by The Typing Coach. 

This online audio based typing program for children comes with PDF’s to download.  Two ebooks, one that’s the manual and the other the workbook.   The manual breaks the keyboard down into different sections with practice sections.  The workbook has the quizzes and tests to take to show proficiency.  The online portion includes an audio component that breaks down the fingering and helps teach accuracy right from the start.

Admittedly we used the audio component in a limited manner.  We liked that it emphasized how to sit properly and how to strike the keys.  Teaching that finger movement was helpful to the lad as he had expressed a curiousity about how I could hit the q and the z so easily. 

The audio had some good basic instructions but we stopped using it because I found my lad arguing with it and talking back to the computer in a less than …. pleasing manner. It provided a talking point as, up until this time, I’d been setting him up and basically letting him work through it. The end result of our talking was this, the lad listened just enough to get the basic instruction but once the basic instruction was over he switched to just practicing and memorizing key placement.   Then I would call out the letters of the row (s) he was working on (thanks Mr. Kimball for the idea) and he would type them OR tell me where the letter was on the keyboard. This made for a much more pleasant learning environment.  It enabled us to cover the part of the audio that he found vexing, while working the program as suggested.

My son is working on memorizing key placement, doing the practice session and, when he is ready, taking the quizzes. He has learned it isn’t failing if he has to go back to do more memorizing.  Happy child learning to type.. which is exactly what I want for him.

Would you like to know what the course outline is?   Here it is:

• Course Introduction
• Before & After Snapshot
• Having Good Posture
• Home Row
• Top Row
• Bottom Row
• Shift Keys
• Evaluating Your Skills
• Typing Practices
• Number Row
• Serious Practicing
• Final Assessment
• Conclusion

 We are not working through the course speedily but I am seeing progress and his confidence being boosted in his typing abilities. I would say that more importantly HE can see that he is making progress and that is the important thing.  The tests that he takes tell him how he is doing and he’ll come down and say “MOM!  Guess what!   I got the first top row quiz right!!   I made no mistakes!”

As the tests etc are all done on-line it’s admittedly difficult for me to show you some of the lad’s completed work but… I can show you the book he’s working on.  🙂   He types for 20 minutes every day and I find that his daily output is getting longer the more confident he gets.  🙂  I can’t say he LOVES doing his keyboarding practice to get to this point, but he is starting to see the value.

We have a goal in mind you know.  To learn how to touch type quickly, but until then, the lad has figured out that it doesn’t matter how long it takes, as long as he eventually gets there.  He eventually wants to type as fast as his mom does without looking at the board.  It’s a good thing that eh?

As Dave says:

As we go through the course, we find the initial learning is done using your computer’s word processor but all practices and tests are done in the Typing Coach Practice and Testing Center. It’s starts testing from the moment you press down the first key.  All lessons and tests are in a pull up menu.  You just need to input the students name and email and select your item along with a time limit and it sets it all up for you.  You can find the correct time limit in the PDF.

The student knows immediately how they did, and you can get a copy sent to your email immediately.  As you can see, they spell out just what the error was, even if it was too many spaces, or a word spelled incorrectly.    The lad liked the immediate feedback, though occasionally found it frustrating if he accidentally put in one too many spaces and it threw the whole thing off.  But for my accuracy minded lad it made sense to him.  🙂

Our Opinions:

It works!   That’s the good thing right?   Mr. Kimball works hard to ensure that his students are learning well.  In the end, the lad is seeing progress, I am seeing progress and that makes for a usable, workable program.   Just make it work for you.

Vendor: The Typing Coach
Product: The Typing Coach Online Typing Course
Received: one year subscription to the online course
How many can use: multiple students 
Price: $17 per year

One hundred members of the crew are reviewing The Typing Coach, I hope that you’ll check us out, click here or on the image below. 

Social Media Links:

• Twitter:  https://twitter.com/thetypingcoach    Tag:@thetypingcoach   

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