Friday, July 11, 2003

Educational software du jour

One of the goals I set for my kids this summer is to learn how to type (or what are we calling it in these typewriter-free days -- keyboarding?) I've tried to get them interested in this before with a "Lion King" typing game and "Mavis Beacon" software, but it never took -- possibly because the former was not structured enough and the structure of the latter was too daunting for language impaired kiddos. We're having much better luck with Read, Write and Type, a program designed for kids five and up that works in distinct short lessons and puts a strong emphasis on phonics, which my two can certainly always use reinforcement on. There's a little bit of story running through it, but nothing so daunting that my kids can't keep up with it, as often seems to happen with hip-and-clever educational software. I'm impressed to report that they've willingly done a lesson every day for the past 12 days, and are actually tapping out sentences now. I'd recommend the program to anyone who's looking for a low-stress way to teach learning or language disabled kids to type. Or, for that matter, read and write.

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