How many WPM for typing proficiency?

[Melinda]

My older two kids are finishing 4th grade cursive this week and will be moving on to typing next. How many WPM should I expect them to be able to type before stopping typing as a subject and moving on to something else?

Edited May 10, 2011 by Melinda
put in wrong subject...oops!

[TXBeth]

I would say at least 35-40 with 100% accuracy, because that is often the minimum required for a job. But 70 would be even better.

[Tracy]

I would say at least 35-40 with 100% accuracy, because that is often the minimum required for a job. But 70 would be even better.

:iagree:I seem to remember having to shoot for 35wpm when I took it in high school. I have needed 65wpm for clerical jobs. But you have to take into account their ages. I don't know if one would expect children to type faster or slower.

 

I just bought a typing program for dd6. It starts with a goal of 5wpm with 90% accuracy. Then it just edges you up a little at a time.

[Brenda in FL]

:iagree:I seem to remember having to shoot for 35wpm when I took it in high school. I have needed 65wpm for clerical jobs. But you have to take into account their ages. I don't know if one would expect children to type faster or slower.

 

I just bought a typing program for dd6. It starts with a goal of 5wpm with 90% accuracy. Then it just edges you up a little at a time.

 

I just had to decrease the target for my 10 year old, down to 10 WPM! She was getting discouraged that she couldn't progress past the same lesson! I figured that she'll eventually get faster, but I wanted Typing Instructor to be more of a fun subject then a burdensome one!

 

Hmm - she's also the one that has trouble spelling. I wonder if there's a connection. And she just informed me that her eyes hurt when she wears her glasses while looking at the computer screen. Guess - I better get those eye appointments in.

[mims]

I would suggest 10-15 at this age and just plan on doing a typing unit every year. It worked best for us to do it in the spring when we were done with quite a few subjects. Every year you can increase the target.

[TXBeth]

I definitely wouldn't put 35 as the initial goal. That was my answer to "how fast before you can stop doing typing as a subject?" For the first year, I would think 10wpm is plenty.

[Lisabeth]

At this age I focused on making sure that they had good finger placement and could accurately get on paper what they needed to put down. Now in high school I've made it a semester class where they have to achieve a certain words per minute. They are already typing pretty fast but they advanced very quickly this year.

[min]

I'm about to start a 3 month program for my kids. I'm aiming at accuracy first, then speed next. FWIW, when I learned we had to aim at 99%, but 98% was deemed acceptable. Not sure that's nearly so important in these days of computers - that was in the dark ages on a manual typewriter!

 

I figure that if they're touch typing accurately that speed will build, but I'd probably drop speed drills at about 35wpm, I think. I'm not at all sure we'll get there in 3 months, we'll just have to see.

 

Min

[Ali in OR]

Your kids are so young...not sure that you need to focus on WPM. My 10 yo and 8 yo have been using Mavis Bacon for a few months and my 10 yo is at 14 wpm and 8 yo is at 11 wpm with a fairly high accuracy rate. My goal for typing is for them to be functional--to be able to type their own papers basically. They don't need to be super fast, but I'm sure speed will improve the more they type. It's nice to not have to go back and fix errors, but fixing them is pretty easy on a computer, so I am not going to stress about accuracy. Whenever they finish Mavis Bacon I will go on to teach them how to use MS Word--more word processing than typing.

[HappyCamper]

FWIW, at my son's school they start in September with a very low WPM goal (maybe 10 WPM) and by the end of May they are at 50 WPM. Their teacher states that she requires it because it will help them become better writers and take less time to do their schoolwork in general. The entire class has been able to do it. His class is for 10YO children. I will be doing the same program with my daughter next year - at home.:001_smile:

[Mom0012]

Gosh, I'm so glad to hear so many people say 10-15 wpm for children. My son has been working on typing for a few months and does about 10 wpm. He has all kinds of fine motor issues, though, so I've started to wonder if he'll ever be able to type with any sort of speed.

 

Lisa

[AStableBeginning]

:iagree:I seem to remember having to shoot for 35wpm when I took it in high school. I have needed 65wpm for clerical jobs. But you have to take into account their ages. I don't know if one would expect children to type faster or slower.

 

I just bought a typing program for dd6. It starts with a goal of 5wpm with 90% accuracy. Then it just edges you up a little at a time.

 

What typing program do you recommend?

[cschnee]

I was just going to ask the same question. We've used the free BBC Typing Mat, but need more than that. Have also tried Garfield's Typing and Timon and Pumba. Not very exciting!

[kchara]

We start out with a 5 WPM goal, and then go up from there. I think I read somewhere that 80 WPM was a very good goal, so that's what we set for the end of high school, but it might be a little high, looking over all of these posts. :confused: So, I might research again and reset that for our long term goal. We used Typing Instructor for Kids last year, and this year, we're using Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing Deluxe.

[cschnee]

Why did you switch from one to the other? Which one do your kids prefer?

[kchara]

My kids finished Typing Instructor, and were just playing the games. And they still do play the games, but I wanted some more instruction time, so that's why we switched to Mavis Beacon. Typing Instructor was great for them, but as they get older, I don't want them just playing games all of the time. Mavis Beacon still has games, so they get that, too, since they're still young. Typing Instructor was cartoons, and is awesome for getting kids to learn how to type. For really getting serious about typing, I like Mavis Beacon better.

[Satori]

We started with BBC Dance Mat Typing, which she finished in a matter of days. We also tried Typing Instructor for Kids and Type to Learn. The one we take the most seriously is Mavis Beacon for Kids.

 

My daughter is only six, but when she first started, her WPM hovered around 8 with 100% accuracy. Now it's about 10, with her best being 12 WPM. She learned all her keys and then stopped practicing. We'll need to practice every week to get that speed up.

[Dana]

My kids finished Typing Instructor, and were just playing the games. And they still do play the games, but I wanted some more instruction time, so that's why we switched to Mavis Beacon. Typing Instructor was great for them, but as they get older, I don't want them just playing games all of the time. Mavis Beacon still has games, so they get that, too, since they're still young. Typing Instructor was cartoons, and is awesome for getting kids to learn how to type. For really getting serious about typing, I like Mavis Beacon better.

 

:iagree:

 

Worked for us.

My son's roughly at 20 wpm after about 1-2 years of occasional typing drill. I painted over the keys on the keyboard so I know he wasn't looking. I'm stopping formal instruction for a while. I'll let him just type to build speed and then we may do more formal work in 7th/8th grade to really push for speed and accuracy.

[robsiew]

Just a little tangent for those who might be interested. I came across Individualized Keyboarding by Don McCabe. I purchased it through Heppner's Legacy Homeschool Resources. It's not a fancy computer program, however it is quite unique. It uses spelling patterns as the kids learn to type. They say this is particularly good for dislexic/poor readers.

 

I'm going to use it with my 5th grader next year (starting this summer) who is a good reader, but I thought how wise it is to learn typing using spelling patterns he will actually be using as he types.

 

Anyway, for those who are looking for something a bit different this might fit the bill. Also, it's inexpensive.

[Carpe]

I think of 40wpm with 95%+ accuracy as a minimum level for a proficient typer.

 

I agree with everyone else start with accuracy and then build up speed.