Typing tutor kids – Typewiz – New Kids Touch Typing Tutor Free Trial available

How long does it take a child to learn how touch-type?

First off let’s define what touch typing is:

Although the phrase refers to typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys—specifically, a touch typist will know their location on the keyboard through muscle memory—the term is often used to refer to a specific form of touch typing that involves placing the eight fingers in a horizontal row along the middle of the keyboard (the home row) and having them reach for specific other keys. (Source: Wikipedia)

Touch typing is being able to type without having to look down at the keyboard. Just allowing your child to master the keyboard and to be able to multi-task like read and type at the same. Giving them a precious skill and leading to great efficiency and accuracy using the keyboard.

For a child to learn how to touch type there are several things to consider.

Childs age

Child’s age

As a general rule the older a child age is the quicker they will learn how to touch type and master the skill of touch typing. This is down to the ability of a child concentration and the ability to learn in a new skill. We find that for example a 16-year-old will be able to do double the work of 8-year old within an hour period. So using this example a 16 year would be able to complete our Typewiz tying course usually within 40 hours whereas an 8-year-old would take 80 hours to complete.

Motivation

Like learning anything new, if your child is motivated and see the benefits of learning to touch type. Then they will be successful in achieving this goal. In Typewiz, we have several motivation aspects to the course for children. Students will be super motivated to do our Typewiz course as they can earn avatars badges and coins.

They earn these by either completing a lesson or achieving a score greater than 95% or word per minute greater than 15. The coins can be used to access our typing games. Only one game coin can be used per game. Any only one game is available initially until they complete 5 lessons and then the next game gets unlocked.

When a child plays a typing game their result is showing on a leaderboard thus encouraging to earn more games coins so that they can compete. All these aspects encourage and motivate a child to learn how to touch type

Practice, Practice and Practice!

Practice

As the old saying goes practice makes perfect. Regular exercise of an activity or skill is the way to become proficient in it. The regular your child practices the skill of touch typing the faster they will get at it. We recommend that a child does a minimum of one hour per week. If they can do more then the will learn quicker. They will generally need to practice at least ten hours to learn to touch type.

In order to earn our bronze badge in Typewiz which is fifteen words per minute, a child would normally on average need to spend ten to fifteen hours to get to that standard. They would need to spend twenty-five to thirty hours to get to our Silver grade which is twenty-five words per minute. In order for a student to get to the gold standard on the course which is forty words per minute usually would require a student to spend forty plus hours to learn how to touch type.

Learning difference

Learning differences

If your child has a learning difference such as dyslexia, dyspraxia (DCD) or dysgraphia then it will take them longer to learn to touch type. This is because they may have additional needs that may slow them down i.e. concentration issues, motor hand coordination issues etc. All these things will lead to a slower time to learn how to touch type but they will learn in their own time and become a proficient typist.

Conclusion

Overall a child will learn to touch type but it is hard to be very specific as each child is unique and will learn the skill of touch typing in their own time. The times referenced in this article are just estimates and do vary for each child depending on the factors mentioned above. The only way to know for sure is to try your child out with a typing course. At Typewiz we offer a seven-day free trial where your child can try out our typing tutor and see how they get on with it. After the seven day trial, your child will know if the ability to continue on with course.

Eleven things to consider before using a typing tutor for your child

Your child needs to learn how to touch type and you are wondering what program features would be best suit your child to learn how to type at home.

We have compiled a list of the important features that you should consider before enrolling your child typing course.

The first thing consider is whether you require a typing tutor that needs to be downloaded and installed on your computer or one that you can access online. In our opinion, the best option would be an online typing tutor that allows your child to access the typing tutor online on any computer or laptop device. The typing tutor should work on any browser and not require any third party add ons to be installed.
The typing tutor should not require a fast internet connection to work. It should work on low internet bandwidth.
The program should be easy to use and navigate for a young child.
The typing tutor should have no adverts to distract your child from learning how to touch type and redirecting them other sites.
Your child should be motivated by the typing tutor. Built-in rewards should be a core element of the typing tutor. Your child should be able to earn avatars, coins or badges. A child that is motivated will learn quicker and become a successful typist.
The typing course lesson plan should be well structures with the first lesson emphasising the home keys and not random letters of the alphabet.
As your child progresses on the online typing course, the hands that guide your child should be removed as a child is not fully touch typing until on-screen hand aids disappear. This should happen relatively early on the program so your child doesn’t get too used to him and become dependent on them to type.
Is the typing tutor engaging and fun to use? Kids need a typing tutor that allows them to be engaged and fun.
The typing tutor should offer a comprehensive report of their progress on the online typing course.
A completion certificate should be available once your child finishes the course and detail their word per minute and accuracy.
A typing tutor should always allow you to try for free so your child can try it out and see if suits them.

Once you consider all these requirements. You will find that you will have a great guide to finding what is the best typing tutor that is available now on the market.

Our typing tutor Typewiz.com has all these features. Why not get your our seven-day free trial? Typewiz is a great new typing tutor for children that get your child typing really fast within 30 to 40 hours of practice.

Click here to try it out. Our free trial is for seven days and there is no obligation to continue on past the seven days. We provide full support via email or chat.

Typewiz online typing for children

How do I motivate my child to learn how to touch-type?

So you want your child to learn how to touch type but how do you go about motivating them to type correctly?

Touch typing is the ability to type without looking down on the keyboard. All fingers reside on the home keys, your left fingers rest on ASDF buttons and right fingers on JKL; buttons. Your thumbs operate the space key.

The other approach to typing would be to use a method called hunt and peck where the fingers reside over the keyboard and pick out the keys by looking down on the keyboard. If a child learns to touch type correctly then they master a skill that can stay with them for the rest of their life. They become efficient at typing and save a lot of time and effort.

First off you must explain to your child the benefits of learning how to type correctly as opposed to the hunt and peck method. The main benefits are as follows:

Touch typing will provide you with great speed and accuracy as opposed to the hunt and peck method.
If you learn how to type at 40 words per minute then you can type quicker than you can write, which is an amazing skill.
Touch typing allows your child to multitask. So your child can be typing and also be doing another task like talking, reading etc.
Once learn it become ingrained in your child’s brain so it can be used in future
Touch typing will allow your child to gain confidence in using a computer
Touch typing will allow your child to have an advantage over children that can’t type properly.

The next thing is to obtain a typing tutor that will work with your child and keep them motivated. A typing tutor that allows your child to become engaged and want to use all the time. Our Typing Tutor (Typewiz.com) was designed to keep your child motivated and has several motivating aspects built into the program.

The first motivating aspect of our program is our game coins. A game coin can be used in our game arcade for all our typing games.

First, a child can earn game coins if they do the following on the program:

Earn 100% perfect score on any exercise they work on
Earn three 95% scores
Get a word per minute of 15 words per minute

These game coins can be used in the games arcade in Typewiz. Each coin allows a child to play one game. When a child finishes a game, their score is recorded on a game’s leaderboard which motivates them to get a high score and play another game

Once all the coins are used up they are no longer able to play the games. This motivates a child to achieve high accuracy or high typing speed to earn a high score and play another game and to compete to get a high score to become on top of the leaderboard.

The next aspect of Typewiz is that your child can earn an avatar after each lesson is complete. A lesson comprises 20 exercises that your child has to complete before moving on to the next lesson. There are 39 lessons in Typewiz, each with their own unique avatar that your child can earn. This will motivate them to complete the lessons as quickly as possible.

The final aspect of Typewiz is the ability for your child to view the profile and see their accuracy and words per minute in a simple to view the report. This can be printed to show you how well they have achieved on the Typewiz program.

All these aspects help your child to stay motivated and remain focused on becoming a typing guru. To learn the correct way how to touch type and to learn a skill that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

If you are interested in trying out our touch typing online lessons. A free trial is available at the following link.

Happy Typing!