Posts tagged typing practice

I have become aware over the past couple years that many parent-teachers are using parts of this site as a resource for improving typing skills in a homeschooling environment. As such, I wanted to share a few words with any parents/teachers about this practice and try to shed a little light on why this is valuable and also to answer a few questions that I have been asked.

First of all, let me point out that typing skills are a very important aspect of most homeschooling curricula. Unless you are preparing your child/students for a life working the land or learning a very specific craft, learning how to use a computer properly is an important skill to develop. Typing proficiency is particularly important for anyone who will be doing any degree of writing on the computer, which is hard to avoid. The difference between a hunt-and-peck typist who is capable of typing 25 words per minute and a trained touch-typist who can type anywhere from 50-100 WPM means an efficiency factor of 2 to 4 times. And while not all things should be measured in speed and efficiency – certainly there are things worth doing slowly and carefully – being able to get your computer work done quickly leaves so much room to do other things away from the computer, so it’s definitely a skill worth cultivating.

Now that I have established the importance of learning how to type and developing strong typing skills, let me remind you that games are one of the most effective ways to learn since they are so engaging and encourage students to keep playing. The various typing games offered on this site were developed with that purpose in mind: providing a fun learning environment that keeps students coming back. So these can be valuable resource once the groundwork has been laid.

But first you need to establish that foundation, and this is best accomplished through an online typing tutor of some sorts. While this site does not offer such services, we do have an extensive collection of links to other websites and software where you can find useful typing programs.

Now on to the two questions I am most commonly asked:

Q: Are the games here appropriate for children?
A: All of the original games here draw words from a carefully edited word list that contains kid-friendly vocabulary. I am unable to certify that regarding the third-party games offered elsewhere on the site, but I have never received any complaints about inappropriate language in these (the only critique I can point out is that some of them involve shooting and weapons)

Q: Is there any way to track typing speed and progress over time?
A: No, this is not a feature currently available here. At this point, there are only individual tests that will output WPM typing speed at the end, but do not track it at all. However, if you are looking for that sort of functionality, it is available at my other typing test site

Enjoy. Please let me know if you have any other question or comments regarding the use of this site in a homeschooling curriculum!