Mood:  don't ask

• Do you want to know one high school class that I use almost every day?
• Do you want to know one high school subject that has been more of a benefit in life than 95% of my high school classes?
• Do you really want to know what this wonderful class is?
• Okay, I'll tell you...

Typing!

Yep! that was it! Typing. I have used typing more in my life than most of my other classes. Don't get me wrong. Most of my other subjects were beneficial as well. But I use typing everyday! And, that was before computers. Today, kids begin using the computer even before school starts. That's why I have always been determined to teach my kids typing at an early age. That's why I was excited to find out that we were getting to review an online typing program called "Read, Write, and Type" by Talking Fingers.

I'm going to admit. At first I was expecting a regular typing program where all you do is read letters off of the screen and type them. Something like:

fff aaa fff aaa faf afa faf afa

You know! That type of thing. But, I was wrong. Read, Write and Type is much more than that! Since it is computer based, it can use neat animated graphics which are really cool, but definitely not the best part! The neatest part is that it teaches you phonics while you are typing! Before I explain, let me describe the program a little bit.

The basic story line is that an evil computer virus named Vexor tries to steal all of the letters to prevent the story writers from completing their stories. With the help of Lefty and Rightway children defeat this virus by going through a series of typing lessons. The animations are really cute and entertaining. They really help to keep the kids attention. But, that's not the best part!

As each letter is introduced, the name is mentioned, but, most of the time after that, it isn't the letter name that is used, it is the sound of the letter! So, when a child types a letter, they are hearing the sound, letter blend, or even the words as they are typed!

So, the neat thing about this program is that it teaches phonics as well as typing! And it does it well. There are 40 lessons in this program and they progression is very well though out. It starts with the student just typing the sounds and spaces. Then as more sounds are introduced, the child begins to build words. Eventually the child is building sentences and then stories. And, along the way, they are learning to read. Hence the name Read, Write and Type! They even have a downloadable activity book that you can print out and also a keyboard that you can print out to use to practice whenever a keyboard isn't available.

Joshua loves this program. The past few weeks have been hectic, with a lot going on. We haven't been able to complete all of the lessons yet, but this is one subject that Joshua does not hesitate doing at all. We have even started it with Jacob even though it is recommended for ages 6-9. Now, I know that Jacob is going to make a lot of mistakes, but, the really neat thing is that a student can go back and redo any of the lessons as many times as they need. They just can't try to skip lessons and move ahead.

So, you may think that this is going to cost you a lot of money! WRONG! This program is only $35 per student and can be used for up to five years! That gives plenty of time for a struggling child to master all of the levels. And the online program has special a special log-in area for parents with special printable reports of how their child is doing. Have a lot of kids, or don't want to mess with an online thing? You can buy a CD version for $79. Have kids that are too old for this? Talking Fingers has programs for older kids as well. Just check out their website. Still not convinced? Well, you can get to the Read, Write and Type website by clicking here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above to either purchase a subscription or read more about the program. Or, you can click here to read the reviews of other TOS Homeschool Crew members who got to review this product. I don't think you will be disappointed. Happy Home Educating!

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. I was given to free one year subscriptions to Read, Write, and Type in order to use and review on my blog.

Subscribe to Families Again