Typesy The Best Homeschool Typing Tool – Make It FUN To Teach Kids Typing!
Do your kids know how to type? Much of our life revolves around technology. Knowing how to type correctly is a valuable skill for both homeschool and life. Learn how we are using Typesy in our homeschool.
I was busy typing at my desk when my son strolled out to chat.
As he started talking, I turned to look at him and kept on typing to finish my sentence. I knew if I didn’t get that sentence out of my head, I would forget what I was thinking at that moment.
He stopped talking and stared at me.
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Touch Typing Is A Skill
I asked what was up?
“Mom, no one should be able to type while looking the other way.”
“Sure you can. It’s called touch typing and it’s a very important skill, especially now that so much is done online and with computers. With a little practice, you could do it too.”
The truth is, I took about 4 typing classes both in high school and college to learn to type. Man, I struggled! But considering how much I type every day now, I am so glad I stuck with it.
Of course, when I learned to type we didn’t use computers. No fun games to help us learn. No online programs that made you laugh and learn.
Instead, there was an electric typewriter and a book. Yeah, I just aged myself.
Kids today will never know the “joy” of carbon paper or trying to use the “erase tape” correctly.
But knowing how to type was how I landed my first office job. And re-learning how to type years later when I entered the workforce would have been so much harder had I not had that solid foundation from school.
Make Typing Fun, Gamify Your Homeschool
When Typesy asked me if was interested in testing their typing program for homeschoolers and share my results with you, I was thrilled. I knew this was my chance to have some fun, gamify my homeschool, and teach my son a valuable life skill.
Because typing is a skill everyone should learn, I was given access to Typesy to try out with my kids. Although this is a sponsored review, all thoughts and opinions are mine.
Typesy Typing Program for Homeschoolers
I love using online programs as a working mom to homeschool because they allow my kids to learn without me.
However, not just any program will do. Online tools must reach certain criteria before I will even give them a second glance.
The program needs to be:
- Easy to use
- Includes both text and video to teach
- Self-paced
- Has a separate login for both the children and me
- Tracks their progress
- Is simple and effective
- Requires no preparation or grading on my part
- Fun
- And affordable
Surprisingly Typesy Homeschool meets all of these. I signed up and within a few moments, we were ready to go.
Getting Started With Typesy:
Have you ever signed up with a program and after 30 minutes you are completely stuck? So frustrating.
Typesy makes getting started easy!
Let me walk you through the process and you’ll see what I mean.
1. Click here to visit the Typesy Homeschooling Page.
That link will open up in a new page so you can follow along if you like.
Choose one of the 3 packages that best fits your homeschool.
These packages are for 5 YEARS!! Which you need to keep in mind when you look at the price. It is a lot more affordable than first glance.
Please note: Typsey now offers a 7-day free trial period followed by a monthly fee. You can start using Typesy Homeschool in the next 5 minutes, at absolutely no cost. There is no charge for the first 7 days, and you can cancel anytime, even before you are charged.
2. Fill out the purchasing information.
3. A post purchase page details will be provided that includes the download links, web version, and activation code.
4. After 5 minutes, you will also receive an email containing your activation code. Look in your spam/junk folders if you can’t find it.
5. Once logged in, you may need to go to the Admin Interface > Users > Add New User (to add your kids’ account).
6. Once the Student Account has been added, go to Class >Create Class > Fill In the Details. After creating the class, enroll your kids’ account (click the “enroll students”) in your class to provide them access.
7. At this point, you can choose to have their email address added or not. I decided to go with a password and name.
8. Adding secondary children is easy as 1, 2, 3 after the initial work is done.
Choose add user > Fill in the name and you can also add them to a “class” right there.
Note: You will be given a password. However, your child does have the opportunity to create their own. They can also have fun playing “dress-up” creating their profile avatar and more.
What’s Next? Homeschool Students
When your child first logs in, they will be given a step-by-step walk-through. It will cover finger placement and posture for typing.
This is important to prevent injury. Learning to type accurately and speed is important but learning how to sit and hold your wrists the right way helps prevent injury.
The first time you log in you are able to set and adjust your goals. You can change both the speed and the accuracy goal. Just move the slider where you want.
If you need to adjust these later, you will find them under the profile settings.
Then they can choose how to learn.
You can learn through courses or playing games.
I highly recommend starting with courses and choosing the interactive option from the drop-down menu on the right.
Because this is the BEST of both worlds. I, of course, didn’t find this until my son pointed it out.
The classic is very similar to old school lessons, if you’ve taken any typing programs you’ll recognize the screen right away. You’ll start with the home row and space bar, repeating combinations of the letters.
The interactive combines both the classic style plus games. It is a great way to break up the learning and have fun.
The videos are great for teaching kids where the keys are located. Instead of staring at their fingers and “pecking” at the keys, they learn not to look at the keys. Typesy teaches touch typing for speed and accuracy.
How We Added Typesy To Our Homeschool
When adding new programs to our homeschool I need to be careful to make sure not to overload the kids with “all the things”.
My 16 yo is testing it along with me, we’ve got a friendly competition going on. Can he type faster and better than mom?
Now you might think I had the advantage, he sure did. He’s kinda beating me at the moment. I am so used to typing from my head that when I have to type what is on the screen I’m stuck! *Wait, where is the “T”???
When I type, I type in words from memory or thought. I am not typing what I am reading. You’d be surprised how many times I had no idea where a certain key was since typing now comes naturally.
My son beat me out on a few of the lessons because he didn’t have to stop and think! He was learning. I had to stop and think where the heck the keys were.
This was a great eye-opener for both of us and showed the value of learning to type. Once we got past learning the letters and started typing words, I flew past.
I also may or may not have done a happy dance around the living room. Why have teens if you can’t embarrass them once in a while?
By keeping it light and fun, Typesy added to our homeschool instead of making it just another thing to do.
A really cool feature of Typesy is that it stores everything in the cloud. This means all your computers automatically stay in sync. You get unlimited installs on all your Windows, Mac, iPad and Chromebook devices.
You can start typing on one device and continue right where you left off on the next.
Make Typing Fun With Games
What is the best way to learn touch typing skills, increase typing speed, and improve accuracy? Through games!
This was my second favorite part of Typesy.
As a mom of teens, finding programs that have “decent” games can be tough. Most of the games come off as childish or too easy.
Typesy’s games are worth fighting over.
Kids can build their avatars, collect points, and play games – all while they learn to type like a pro.
The games are divided into 5 sections:
- Accuracy Building Games
- Speed Boosting Games
- Keyboard Skills
- Typing Fun
- Standard Activities
Within each of these sections is a selection of games.
My kids are not a fan of calling “games” learning. They are very textbook based kiddos but they had a blast trying to figure out the way to beat the games.
New Online Typesy Community
Typsey now has an online community on their site called Typesy Community. This page is dedicated to discussing all possible topics about our program including features, concerns, and updates, as well as touch typing as a whole. Their aim is to provide an avenue of interaction among users and product knowledge to the visitors and readers.
To log in and post a topic, visit the Typesy Community page and click the “Log In” button at the top right corner. It will redirect you to the web app in which you need to input your email address and password. Once done, you can now write a question and the details of your concern.
Why Typing Is Needed In Your Homeschool
Like it or not, learning, working and living using online tools is part of our everyday life. Making sure our kids have the skills they need to succeed is our job as parents, homeschooling or not.
Incorrect typing technique makes students do everything slower, every time they use a computer. But learning how to touch type can help your kids to complete assignments, do research, and communicate in a timely manner.
Is your child required to take computer testing? Having great keyboarding skills can help with required computer-based testing from the state, or from other apps.
Understanding that keyboarding will be the primary input method for “real work” on computers for at least the next 20-30 years is important. Having good keyboarding skills can set your kids up early for big success in life.
A really neat feature of Typsey Homeschool is that it monitors your child’s progress and adapts to their needs. Each lesson is customized for their current skill level.
Because online programs make it easier for me to continue to homeschool while I work, I love that I can provide my kids the tools to learn what they need through fun, easy to set up and affordable programs like Typesy Homeschool.
How can a typing course help prepare your kids for the future?
Take care,
Jen
PS. Typing is a life skill our kids need. Check out Typesy Homeschool Program and make it fun to teach kids typing skills!
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Hi, I’m Jen. I help working moms juggle their career and homeschool their kids by providing support, systems and tools. You are warmly invited to Join the Online Community Here!
