Christian Keyboarding, a Mom looking for a skills program with a moral background

As a mom of two young boys I try and make sure all of their computer time is quality time and that the programs they use are of moral character. It is a challenge sometimes as so often the program we want them to use are filled with corny characters that only end up turning them off to the program. I was thankful to find a Christian based keyboarding program for them to use as an elective course to practice their typing/ keyboarding skills. I learned a few things about my boys while reviewing this program. The e-book we reviewed retails for $12.95 which is a great value. Being an e-book actually was a handy feature this time around. Rather than printing the e-book for the boys to look at, I ran it on our Nook sitting next to the computer screen so they could see the book.
I love that this is a fundamentals program without too much extra fluff. I learned to type using a college textbook my mom gave me at age 9 so I know the value of learning to type at a young age. I did find out that my boys struggle isn't finding the keys or remembering where the keys are, but simply their hands can't really reached the keys while staying in the home position.  So, before we continue the program (which we will be doing through out the summer) I am going to get them a smaller keyboard to use for typing class.
Keyboarding for the Christian School offers a variety of levels and add-ons to their program and while it was designed for a school setting , it worked well in our relaxed eclectic school setting just fine. The value is definitely strong with this e-book since we can use it without printing anything and we can use it as a jumping off point to further their typing skills.

Check out what the rest of the crew thought of this program!

disclaimer: We received an e-book copy of this program as a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for our honest review of the program.

Keyboard Town Pals Typing in our #Homeschool #hsreviews

Keyboard Town Pals is an interactive online program to teach basic QWERTY keyboard skills to students ages 6 and up. The program uses puppet style characters and a community keyboard to teach students where the various keys are.  The program is a very relaxes comfortable environment to learn in.

I set up the program for my 6 year old who is our local computer geek in training, he has been using the keyboard for a while and actually we used an old unplugged keyboard to help him learn letter recognition when he was younger.

Nathan and I used the program a couple times to see how he liked it, I had hoped he would work through the whole program but that didn't happen. As a mom of 2 boys I pick my battles and if something is a battle in the classroom I will usually step back and look at what is the battle and decide if it is worth a fight before I require the boys to do something. When it comes to typing and learning to type I decided if the program wasn't working for him but the desire to learn was still there it wasn't worth the fight.  We talked about what he didn't like about the program and came up with some things.
First, he isn't a big puppet fan so having the program based on puppets really didn't fit well with him.
Second, the program while thorough didn't move fast enough for him. (I am actually going to try him on my typing program from when I was a kid)
Finally, and this isn't a negative toward the program but more of a personal thing, he is so use to another subject using street terminology that he kept getting confused and then frustrated.  Keyboard Town Pals uses directionals for key rows: Homekey Street,  Down Town, and Up Town.

I can see this being a wonderful program for kids that interact well with puppet style characters and need the repetitive style learning. While it wasn't a good fit for us, I think some students will benefit from this program. Isn't that the beauty of homeschooling, finding the perfect fit for our children.  There are several resources of interest available on their website as well as articles. The program in a download single user license retails for $30 which is very reasonable. If you look through their shop they carry a variety of add-ons to the program as well.

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 You can also check out what other Crew Members thought of the program HERE





We received a online trial of Keyboard Town Pals as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew in exchange for our review of the program. All opinions are honest and personal, no other monetary compensation was received.