Mood:  not sure

Believe it or not, I do remember a day before computers. Hmmm ~ maybe I am historical after all?!? I used to love to type. I would get out my mom's old college manual typewriter, and begin a novel or some such thing. Of course I would have to hunt and pick to find the correct keys. Then, if I made a mistake, I would have to use one of those old white out pencils to cover over the mistake so that I could correct it.

In high school, I was a college prep person, so I didn't have to take all of the business classes like book keeping etc. but all college prep kids did have to take a couple of semesters of typing. I loved it, and loved the way that it improved my skills so that I didn't have to hunt and peck anymore. 

Nowadays, of course, typewriters are obsolete. Everyone has a computer, and even toddlers are using them. Kids in elementary school are now taking keyboarding classes so that they can learn to type correctly from the start. I had been looking for something like that for my kids. I had even searched the internet for free keyboarding programs that they could use. When I found that, as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I was getting free downloads for Keyboarding for the Christian School and Keyboarding for the Christian School Elementary Version from Christian Keyboarding in order to try out and review on my blog, I was thrilled.

Both of the courses are well written by Leanne Beitel and are essentially the same, except for one main difference. The Elementary Version, written for for fifth grade on down, is more colorful, with a colored picture of the keyboard row that you are using for that lesson. It also has larger type, and is spaced differently so that it is easier to read. That makes it spread over two pages whereas the Regular Version, for sixth grade on up, is all on the same page. 

Both begin by teaching the proper posture typing and proper way of holding your fingers. They start by using the main middle row keys where your fingers naturally set and then advance to the outer keys and the rows above and below. The Elementary Version finishes with teaching the student how to use the bold, italic, underline and

center keys. 

The Regular Version, however, goes much, much further. It goes on to teach the student how to type a cover page, reports, letters, tables, and more. One slight word of caution, though, both courses use Microsoft Word as their basis. This only matters, though, when it comes to the special functions, and, even then, Microsoft Word is the standard for word processors, and most other word processing programs are very similar.

Keyboarding for the Christian School and Keyboarding for the Christian School Elementary Version are just what they say. They are Keyboarding courses that are Christian in nature. That is probably what I like best about this curriculum. From day one, there are encouraging and relevant Bible verses at the top of each page of the Elementary Version, and verses scattered throughout the Regular lessons. Better yet, when the student gets to the point of typing sentences - Lesson 18 on both - they don't just type regular sentences, they type Bible verses!

These courses are exactly what I was looking for. It's something that reminds me of the typing course that served me well when I was in high school but, is very Christian in nature. Both Joshua (Elementary Course) and John Allen (Regular Course) are really enjoying using this. I'm really excited that they are learning keyboarding a lot earlier than I did. I would definitely recommend this course for homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers alike. 

The elementary course is currently priced at $12.95 with the regular version priced at $15.95, but the website is offering both courses for $22.00. AND, there is also a $5.00 of coupon code for any order of $12.95 or more. Christian Keyboarding also offers other specialized keyboarding courses for things such as creating tables or columns. You can find it all by just clicking here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above. As usual, you can find out what the other TOS Crew members are saying about this product by clicking here. Happy keyboarding!

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