typing

Ultrakey Online {Crew Review}

February 21, 2018 by Dana

Here we are on this beautiful spring day, ready to write our first review for the Homeschool Review Crew! I’m so excited to be back on the Crew for another year and ready to bring you many amazing products that I know you guys will enjoy just as we do! Our first vendor and review this year is from Bytes Of Learning. We were so excited and blessed to be able to review their Ultrakey Online Family Subscription.

Ultrakey Online is a wonderful designed program that teaches typing to students. There are various levels to the program which allow you to start from the beginning and work your way up, or will allow you to assess where you need to begin and build from there. So you can use the program for any skill level and increase those skills to become better at typing overall.

We were given access to Ultrakey Online Family Subscription which allows us to use the program with the entire family. You can use this program with up to 8 users but you can email Bytes of Learning if you do have a larger family and they also have wonderful suggestions for that. 8 was just the right number for our family of 7!

As a parent/teacher, I was able to set up the program really easily for my students. The directions are easy to understand. The program also talks you through each step in some areas which is nice as well, especially for the younger kids who are still learning reading.

At this time, the program uses the North American keyboard and spelling but there are plans to adapt this for the UK, Australia and New Zealand in the next year. As we live in the US, this was not a problem for us. We were able to use the program immediately and have enjoyed it.

When you begin setting up the program, you will log in the information, user name and password for each of your students. You can then choose Family settings which are basically the settings for how the program will run. You can allow your student to choose as they work through the program or you can set the program to one paragraph up to an entire text to type. You can allow access to the gaming zone or block it. The gaming zone is a reward program for working through the program and rewards the user for completing goals, encouraging them to continue with the program and discouraging boredom.

In Student Management itself, you can set individual goals for your student’s typing. You can customize these as you see fit or you can allow the program to develop goals for your student. You choose whatever is best for you.

In Student Settings, you can choose backgrounds that fit that student, as well as color choices and hand settings.

You can choose their spoken support, more or less. You can choose step-by-step learning, how much practice is allowed, and whether back spacing is or is not allowed during use of the program lessons and tests.

The program allows for reports of the students work, as well as reports for the family itself to compare. At the end of the program a certificate can also be printed to show that you have completed the work. This is a great addition for homeschool portfolios and for college entrance.

Through this program you will learn not only typing, but also finger position and posture. You will be able to develop these as you work through the lessons. Proper posture and finger position is an important part of any typing program.

The program is filled with videos for each lesson, too. This shows you how to type correctly, gives you pertinent information on use of the program and also encourages you to do your best while using the program and for years following. All Win-Win-Win for the program!

One of our favorite parts was the Game Zone that I mentioned above. These are just fun little extras that we were able to play around with to make typing fun. A nice break from the regular typing program as you worked through.

The program is able to be used by anyone. If your child is able to sit and knows the basics of letters and words, they can begin this program. If you are 67 and want to build your typing skills, you can use this program. So long as you have the skills to type, it’s something you can use to help build stronger skills with typing.

We truly enjoyed working with Ultrakey Online Family Subscription from Bytes of Learning. The 8-User Family Subscription that we were given costs $49.95. There are other smaller versions available as well for slightly less cost.

You can find Bytes of Learning online at:

https://www.bytesoflearning.com/

https://www.facebook.com/bytesoflearning/

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The Typing Coach {Crew Review}

May 25, 2017 by Dana

typing, typing coach, typing test, learn how to type, typing for homeschoolers, typing for kids, learn touch typing, keyboarding, keyboarding practice, typing practice, learn to type

The Typing Coach Online Typing Course is a fully online course from The Typing Coach. This course is designed to teach children and adults to type and use the computer. This work at your own pace program is perfect for anyone to use.

What Is The Typing Coach?

As I mentioned above, this is a fully online program to teach typing to all ages. It was created by David Kimball who has gone above and beyond to make typing an easy task (class?). No matter, he’s made the complicated issue of typing instruction EASY!

The program uses a combination of written, video and audio instruction to develop teach the skill of typing to students. Through the program you learn the proper stance for sitting when typing and hand structure with typing. My favorite part of this program is that it goes at your personal pace so you are never behind.

This program also allows you to test your progress to see how well you are learning and what areas you need to work on. Some of these tests are timed which measures how quickly your student is typing. Some are scored to give you an idea of proficiency.

The program’s goal is to get students typing at a standard employment goal of over 45 words a minute! By the program’s end, your student should be typing at at least 10 words per minute. This is a wonderful start for typing.

Since this is a self-paced course, you can set your own timeline for completion. Access to the program is for one year but the cost is fair at $17 per Typer for the One Year Access Pass. This is a steal for a good typing program!

How The Typing Coach Works:

The course begins with a quick introduction and explanation of the layout. There is a visual tour of the course and an explanation of how to use this course and a word processing program at the same time. It also explains how you can use the audios and type at the same time. It’s easier than you may realize.

There are student packet printables that should be printed at the beginning of the course in order to prepare for the course. These printables are used throughout the program for instruction in typing. They are a PDF download and easily printed.

There is a section of slower paced lessons for your struggling typer or the beginner to use for practice. They are the same as the core lessons and great for younger students or special needs children who are finding typing more difficult as well.

There’s a section that gives an explanation of how to use the testing part of the program. This part is important for this program to show progress and measure how quickly your student is able to type, as well as how well they are learning their typing lessons. I never worry with testing but I do feel it’s important with typing so to me it’s an important aspect of this program and I was glad to see it included.

Next you jump right into the lessons, beginning with posture. Students learn how important good posture is in typing and for business as well. Good posture is so important so that you don’t have stressed muscles and end up with a hunched back or carpel tunnel issues.

The next step is learning the rows, beginning with the home row where your fingers rest while typing, moving up to the top row and then down to the bottom row. This is the tricky stuff. Memorizing the key patterns and placement and how to make them come together is taught through these very important steps.

Following learning the rows, comes learning how to use the shift keys and their importance in typing. After some practice with these steps, students then learn to add the number row into the mix. To me the number row is a little more complicated as it contains the symbols we use as well as numbers for typing.

This section is followed by some serious practice where you put everything you’ve learned in these lessons to use. It is followed by a final session and then the Conclusion to all the lessons. This is the basic explanation of the course provided.

The audio’s provided are clearly spoken and easy to understand. The video’s could have slightly better quality but they load quickly and are easy to follow along with. They work great together for instructional purpose though.

How We Used It:

As this program is self-paced, we took our time to use and learn with it. For review purposes, I used the program as well as my older daughter, mostly. All the kids showed interest but they lost interest quickly due to the lack of interesting characters to capture their attention and keep them interested in following along.

My daughter learned a lot from watching the videos and following along. Some of the course parts she was able to complete quickly while others took more time because she kept going back over what she was learning. She learned that typing properly is tricky stuff. You really have to pay attention and remember the key placement which can be very challenging. She kept have to stop and correct herself which was a little frustrating for her but she managed through it.

Overall, I found this course to be a fair program for instruction in typing. The price is fair, the work isn’t too hard though it can be a bit confusing for some students. It’s one I’d recommend to others looking for a typing program for homeschool though or to an older person who needs instruction in typing as well.

Where You Can Buy It:

You can purchase an online subscription to The Typing Coach Online Typing Course for $17 per person for a One Year Subscription directly on The Typing Coach website. This is a really great deal as I previously mentioned.

You can also find The Typing Coach on Twitter:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thetypingcoach Tag:@thetypingcoach

You Can read more reviews of The Typing Coach by clicking the banner below!

The Typing Coach Online Typing Course {The Typing Coach Reviews}

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Keyboard Town Pals {Crew Review}

November 14, 2011 by Dana

Keyboard Town Pals is one of our absolute favorite reviews. Both my 10 and 8 year olds loved the PALS Learn To Type program. The program doesn’t take long to use but helps to greatly improve typing skills in a fun way.

Recommended for ages 6-12, Keyboard Town Pals Provides a wholesome, stress-free and self-motivated way to learn to type in just an hour at a time. No games, no tests just quick instruction through quick video instruction.

My two greatly enjoyed the simple, quick videos provided to excel in typing by Keyboard Town Pals. This is one review item we will be recommending and comtinuing to enjoy for a long time. You can find more reviews on the TOS Homeschool Crew.

Disclaimer – this review item was given free for use from Keyboard Town Pals and The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew.