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I know I will have to have my DC up to speed with typing as with Common Core in our public schools we are going to have all tests taken on computer going forward. Can anyone recommend a typing program for 7 and 9 year olds? The computer instructor at school recommended Type To Learn 4 but when I read the reviews it appears that the home version is not nearly as good as the school version. Does anyone have a program they can recommend? We are on Mac.

LAF, each of my kids first practiced keyboarding with BBC-Mat, which is online and user-friendly for little folks We also had a typing software package that we tried to move our oldest into after he'd completed the BBC-Mat program, but he wasn't interested in it. Ultimately what worked the best for my kiddos to learn typing was to let them practice it without typing software - practice by writing stories on the computer, sending emails, playing games that required text entry.

A big piece of advice we were given early on (by professionals) was to not force our kids to use conventional touch-typing, but to let them come up with their own form of adaptive typing. Don't worry if they only use thumb and first fingers or if they have their own set of finger-key preferences. Ts worked really well for our kids, and they haven't had any issues to date typing fast enough to keep up (they are in middle/high school now).

I also wouldn't over-focus on teaching keyboarding just because of the testing on computer at school. I'm guessing that your school will also be teaching skills to help kids do their best on the cc tests, so they will most likely teach whatever test taking skills they feel the kids need. At least that's what happens in our district! learning to keyboard is a worthwhile skill for lots of other seasons outside of the cc tests though, and it can be fun!

Best wishes,

polarbear

DD had to be taught touch-typing with correct ergonomics, because her invented method was leading to evidence of repetitive stress injury. Her piano playing reflected a huge shift once we did that.

I'd heard the same thing-- that just letting them keyboard was the key. I don't know if that works well for some kids and not others, but it didn't work for our DD, that's all I know.

We used a combination of things to teach home row and basic skills, and then let her figure the rest out on her own. Her speed also improved DRAMATICALLY as we did this, so that was encouraging enough all on its own. She went from about 40wpm using her bizarro chicken-claw hunt and peck method to about 95 wpm using conventional touch-typing. That shift happened over the course of roughly one year, so it wasn't just maturation. At the same time, even increasing the amount of time she was spending on keyboarding didn't worsen her pain when keyboarding or playing the piano.

BBC-Mat-- tried, didn't really "click" for DD

Mavis Beacon-- booooooring, and DD didn't enjoy it

Typing Instructor for Kids (version 4 and later version 5 when we upgraded to windows 7)-- this was the most successful tool, at least in combination with the following things, which I'm going to recommend only with some serious misgivings/caveats--

WebKinz. {sigh} The verbal requirements were an unbelievably potent inducement to type well and fast-- and there was an embedded typing game, too, in the arcade style games.

Online Pokemon and other RPG-- again, this was a double-edged sword because of the time invested and the slyness with which she used it as an escape from other work that she found boring or unpleasant, but hey...

Coding
IM/Chat
Skype


Mileage may vary, but I mention those things because mostly I think that this is a matter of using your child's particular currency to leverage practice with the skills, and to see the NEED for the skills.

Good luck!!

DS gets to type as part of his IEP so we tried a bunch of apps for iPad. OT recommended the smaller keyboard approach to start. Our favorite was typing fingers and it looks like they have it for Mac too. What we liked it that it was good positions instruction reinforced by a game dropping. Key for us was being able to adjust the speed of the felling letters for the training

Typing fingers

DeHe

Thanks, this is very helpful

These are great!

Another one that is lovely for younger kids is a Disney Software Title: Typing with Timon and Pumba. It's really inexpensive and cute and fun. typing lessons and games, with saved progress, several profile slots and progress report feedback all in-game.

Only issue is that it works best on older Windows O/S environments. My oldest loves it still - he has been using it for a year but keeps going back to it. Middle son is about to start on it next week.