My dd needs to learn to type STAT

[MicheleRMT]

Hi there.

We changed from a Waldorf school to a different school in Sept.  My dd is in grade 5.

The teacher told everyone to write an essay and said you can type it 'if you want' except my dd - you need to learn to type so you must type it.

It was due today.

I guess everyone else knows how to type.  My child would take about 3 days straight if I made her type it!  I typed the darn thing for her.

Is there a book or online course that can teach her to type?

I learned in grade 8 with a course called typing.  I guess people are on their own nowadays.  I REFUSE to let her have a facebook account.

Thank you.

Michele

[mtiger]

Honestly? The more she does it, the easier it will become. I doubt many/most of her classmates have FB, but she could use email, type letters to friends/family, type any and all of her written assignments.

As for courses? I'd try Google. But really think that it's just a matter of practice. I never took a course, but write for a living and am very quick on a keyboard.

[homemademom]

My kids have played around with this site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/ 

[karne]

My kids have used Type To Learn with some fairly good success.  You can Google it, and purchase it for home.  However, I would ask the school if they have a typing program she could access, either during the school day, or after school.

[whatsnextmom]

http://onlinetypinggames.org/

Here are a bunch of free typing games online. My eldest used an old computer game to learn but that was years ago on a game they no longer make. My youngest just learned by doing. He has has been typing all his essays and projects since 2nd grade. It was slow going at first but now at age 11, he's pretty fast.

[nextcommercial]

I learned in high school, but my daughter just learned it while using the computer.  So, my suggestion is to let her have some computer time.  

It's been a long time, But i bet there are still some computer games that teach typing.

[nextcommercial]

Originally Posted by whatsnextmom 

http://onlinetypinggames.org/

Here are a bunch of free typing games online. My eldest used an old computer game to learn but that was years ago on a game they no longer make. My youngest just learned by doing. He has has been typing all his essays and projects since 2nd grade. It was slow going at first but now at age 11, he's pretty fast.

Those are cool!  I wish they'd had that when my kids were learning.

[LynnS6]

My kids learned starting in 3rd grade with the BBC's Dance Mat typing that someone referenced above. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/ (OK, dd is in grade 2, but when ds was in grade 3, she wanted to learn, and she's now a passable touch typist!)

I think it's important to start out right because very few people will learn the proper letters and fingering just by being with a keyboard. I can type so much faster than many of my colleagues that it makes my life much much easier. One of my colleagues types everything out with 2 fingers,and it sounds like he's going to kill his keyboard!

[AAK]

We have Mavis Beacon at home.  It cost about $20.  It is what our school district used -- now we homeschool so that isn't relevant.  I did like that it kept track of progress, and actually taught finger placement.  When dd did well on the home row keys, they added some more keys.  It wasn't always fun because for my kids, learning to type was hard work.  My dd did like the games that were included though.  

I don't know if any of the free stuff keeps track of progress.  For us, that was a really helpful aspect.  

Amy

[emilysmama]

I bought Mavis Beacon from Scholastic Book Club, but could not use it.  Although the CD claimed to run on MacOS, it wouldn't run on our OSX machines. The CD would have run on Windows, but the only Windows machine we have is my husband's work laptop, and  my husband refused to install non-work-related software on his work laptop.  So we gave away the CD, and my husband downloaded the free Tux Typing.

http://tux4kids.alioth.debian.org/tuxtype/download.php

You can download it for free for any platform.  (We have it running on our Linux computer.)

I have to say that it's very good.

My daughter (8 y.o.) likes it, and she learns from it pretty independently without any need of adult help.  I am grateful because my dh uses only two fingers to type.  I too took a typing class in 8 th grade, when we used actual typewriters, and it was THE most useful class I have ever taken. (And I took many useful classes in high school.)