Learning to Type

We started typing lessons this week.  There is a free website that does a good job of teaching the kids the keyboard.  On the first day they learned where to place their hands as well as the 'j' and 'f' keys.  They typed jjj fff jjj fff jj ff jj ff jf jf jf jf and many other j's and f's in different combinations.  They each commented how hard it was, which was pretty funny given it was only two letters.  The site compiled their words per minute as well as their accuracy.  They obviously had no clue what words per minute meant because they would start a round and then turn around to have a conversation with me.  They were getting 7 wpm and 11 wpm.  They did keep an eye on the accuracy, but they mostly looked out to see the number of stars earned.  Three stars per round meant they had two or fewer errors.  The boys were all about getting the three stars.  By day two, with the addition of four more letters and the space bar, Henry was getting very frustrated.  His hands are still small and every time he tried to hit the 'i' key with his right middle finger, his right index finger would accidentally hit the 'j' key at the same time and he'd get an error and get all upset.  We kept telling him that he just needs to practice more and grow longer fingers.  He can't expect to be perfect from the outset.  We'll keep it up every day and see how much they can type at the end of the summer. 

They have played a lot with their neighbor friend again this week.  A lot. A lot.  Basically from 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. they are together.  (And even at this point they would play longer if we didn't cut it off.) This kid liked Josiah's puppet so much, that he bought the same one for himself.  So now they have two chefs talking to each other as they roller blade around outside.  They play a ton of Legos and Nerf battles.  Unfortunately, their friend is off to camp for the next three weeks so our kids feel that their world is sort of ending.  They don't know what they'll do all day.  They'll be sooooo bored.  Hopefully we'll be able to get to our neighborhood pool.  The HOA deactivated everyone's key fobs until we signed a new waiver saying we won't sue if we die of COVID.  We've turned in our forms and are awaiting reactivation.  Ideally it'll be early in the week and we can make use of this time.

One evening the kids worked on their Supa Girls comic together.  They have a really good system going.  Josiah draws the pictures, Caroline inks them with a Sharpie and then Henry colors in the pictures.  With this system they don't step on each other's toes and they get along really well.  It's a breath of fresh air to hear them working together.  The younger two seem to be at each other's throats all day long.

That was our week.  There isn't much to write about when the kids are off playing all day.  But I suppose that makes for a fun summer to have some independence outside with friends.