Thursday 4 December 2014

Typekids Review

This is a really thorough programme if you really want to learn to touch type. It spends a few lessons on a combination of a small number of letters making sure that you have got those letters off pat before moving on to the next set. One thing I did like about this programme is that you can sign up for a free trial before you commit to buy to make sure it's a good fit for your child.

Typekids is an online course of 30 lessons that will teach your child to touch type. This seems to be becoming an all important skill these days as more and more writing happens via technology. I was pretty keen to try this out with my children to give them this skill.

The programme has a pirate theme complete with animated boats, canons, sharks and rousing music.
The instructions are pretty straight forward and graphically illustrated to help make them even easier to follow

As well as the exercises, there are games to play which build on the lessons. After completing so many lessons students get to unlock new games. There are also badges to be earned and chapters of a story that become available to listen to as you progress. Parents/tutors are emailed a progress report after each lesson so that they can check on their child's progress. There's a review screen so children can check their accuracy for themselves too.

Boykin had a go on this programme. He enjoyed the games and the story, but found some of the exercises a bit repetitive for his liking. He can type faster with two fingers though at the moment so learning to touch type hasn't got that much appeal to him at this stage. However, I'm hoping that he will persevere and will, hopefully, begin to see the benefits soon.

Typekids.com seem to have everything pretty much covered in terms of thoroughness, progress reports, ergonomics information and incentives - there's even a Diploma at the end of the course. Now it's just down to the Boy to keep at it and finish the course :)




Disclosure: I got given a free account at Typekids in order to write an honest review. No money changed hands. All opinions are my own.

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