Elizabeth86 Posted December 19, 2020 Share Posted December 19, 2020 Is there a typing course you prefer, hopefully a free one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted December 19, 2020 Share Posted December 19, 2020 (edited) No personal experience, but I keep hearing good things on these boards about the free Dance Mat -- or maybe it's this UK version? -- Dance Mat. Here are two more free sites for learning to type for kids: - Typing Club - Type Racer And, NOT free: Typing Instructor Edited December 19, 2020 by Lori D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted December 19, 2020 Share Posted December 19, 2020 We used this freebie.... typing.com https://www.typing.com/ 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lulalu Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Not free but we really liked keyboarding without tears. The same company that does handwriting without tears. I think a year is $10. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristin0713 Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 We tried a bunch of free programs, but the one that really worked for both of my kids was Mickey's Typing Adventure by Typing Instructor. They have the same program with different themes, we did the Disney one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porridge Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 We tried Dance Mat, and one of the characters scared DD — I think it was the hippo. I don’t know why but it was scary for her so we had to find another option. we ended up with Typing Instructor for kids - if I recall we paid $15. It was effective and not scary 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathmarm Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 (edited) We haven't gotten there yet, but I remember reading on WTM forums that whatever program you go with, get a roll of electric tape and cover up the keys after the kids have been through the lesson a couple of times. This will help with touch-typing as looking at the keyboard is less useful and kids develop muscle memory faster and are trained against looking at the keyboard. Edited December 24, 2020 by mathmarm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 3 hours ago, mathmarm said: We haven't gotten there yet, but I remember reading on WTM forums that whatever program you go with, get a roll of electric tape and cover up the keys after the kids have been through the lesson a couple of times. This will help with touch-typing as looking at the keyboard is less useful and kids develop muscle memory faster and are trained against looking at the keyboard. Totally agree about covering the keys as an aid to touch typing, but electrical tape -- yikes! The sticky residue when removing it would be a horror to get back off each key 😱 -- Faster, easily removed and replaced, and less sticky might be a keyboard learn-to-type "skin" like this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizabeth86 Posted December 27, 2020 Author Share Posted December 27, 2020 On 12/21/2020 at 2:17 PM, kristin0713 said: We tried a bunch of free programs, but the one that really worked for both of my kids was Mickey's Typing Adventure by Typing Instructor. They have the same program with different themes, we did the Disney one. Is this free? Can you link it? I thought I looked at a Mickey one, but it wasn't free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristin0713 Posted December 27, 2020 Share Posted December 27, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Elizabeth86 said: Is this free? Can you link it? I thought I looked at a Mickey one, but it wasn't free. No. What I meant was, we tried a bunch of free programs that didn’t work well enough. What worked for them was *not* free—Mickey’s Typing Adventure. (It’s really cheap though. I think they offer a free trial and after that it’s like $7/month IIRC. Edited December 27, 2020 by kristin0713 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purpleowl Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 We tried Dance Mat typing (free), because I'd seen good reviews here, but it wasn't a good fit for my kids. I don't think they found it scary, just not very appealing. And it didn't seem to have a whole lot of practice, just a few introductory lessons - but maybe I missed something. Also, I found the sounds very annoying, lol. Typing Instructor (not free) was a much better fit, less annoying sounds, and plenty of practice available. It was worth paying for, in my opinion. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 On 12/24/2020 at 11:42 AM, mathmarm said: get a roll of electric tape and cover up the keys after the kids have been through the lesson a couple of times. Yeah, I got the narrow tape from Hobby Lobby to do this and my ornery ds peeled it off! LOL Of course I'll have the ultimate revenge, because I've been teaching him Dvorak instead of QWERTY. I bought a cheap keyboard and pulled up and rearranged the keys to match. Had to use whiteout on a few. As soon as we've gone through all the lessons, I can switch him to a nicer QWERTY keyboard and he won't be able to see the letters anymore, hehe. For op, if there are SLDs, also consider Talking Fingers, which makes a strong connection between the keys and the sounds. Dictation can also be good. It's really a different skill. If my ds is copying from a text he sees, that's visual motor integration (see it, type it). But to type something from his head, he has to think about the spelling, hold it in his memory, and then motor plan and type the sounds out. For some kids, those steps are going to be natural and easy, but for some they are NOT. For my ds it's literal rocket science. For him, I made my own little typing program, introducing a letter every few days with pages that he types (eyes to fingers) and then page he types via dictation. When we've gone through all that, my plan is to move him over to the Mavis Beacon Dvorak typing software (because I have it and it uses games) or the Expository game on Steam. But Expository isn't going to hit his need for dictation to be functional. I never had to do that for my dd, because she could do it for herself, forcing herself tediously to get proficient enough to type her thoughts. For ds, it's much, much harder, meaning I'll probably need to continue typing dictation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeolianharp Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 not free, but I love Typetastic. typingclub is free and good but layout is more dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.