Free Typing Tutor Web Site Review

It seems as if computers are absolutely everywhere these days. In the home. At the office. Portable devices. In preschool. Yes, that's right--in preschool too.

One of my most valuable classes that I took in high school was keyboarding. I remember that electric typewriters were just beginning to become popular. Half of the class had manual typewriters. The other half had manual ones. I was one of the students pounding on a manual typewriter, but I have used those skills almost daily through my adult life.

Waiting until high school to take keyboarding would be a grave disservice to our kids today. My oldest child is in second grade and my second child is in preschool. They are both learning to use a mouse and to type on the computer. I discovered this free typing tutor website one day as I was trying to give my 7-year-old a chance to practice keyboarding. I will admit that I played with it a bit after the kids went to bed.

What I like about this free typing tutor:

• You do not have to sign up or pay any money--just pick a tutorial and start typing.
• It is simple. It has a picture on the home page showing the home keys along with an explanation of where to place the fingers on those and other keys.
• It has sample lessons, from beginning to advanced, from which to choose. The advanced level is not particularly advanced because it does not incorporate numbers or punctuation other than periods and commas.
• It times your efforts and provides that time for reference during and at the end of the exercise. My 7-year-old at first thought that big numbers were good. After a bit of explaining, she cut her time in half within a few practices!
• A figure at the bottom will alert you if you have mistyped.
• The home page also offers advise for improving typing skills.

Other information:

• The tutor requires the use of Java, which is a free download at java.com.
• If you make a mistake, the program will not allow the cursor to move until you correct the error.
• It does not save your results, but it can give you the opportunity to practice over and over again.

My Viewpoint:

We have come a long way since those days when I was plunking out letters on a manual typewriter in high school. I think the Free Typing Tutor Web Site is a great basic tutor for beginners. My 7-year-old has been using the tutor and has improved her times greatly in just a few practice runs. I also had a little bit of fun and realized that I can type 70 basic words per minute. It would be great to have practice with numbers and other less used keys--those are the ones that tend to slow me down; however, this is a nice basic, simple, and free typing tutor.