A homeschool typing curriculum for ages 4 to 9

The scope & sequence

1. Home Row Harbor (weeks 1 to 3): the two bumpy keys F and J, then D K, S L, A ;. Space bar with the thumb. Goal: all eight fingers home without looking.
2. Alphabet Peaks (weeks 4 to 9): the remaining letters, added by finger. Pointer reaches (R T G V B / U Y H N M), then middle (E C / I ,), ring (W X / O .), pinky (Q Z / P /). Real words from the start.
3. Sentence Springs (weeks 10 to 13): Shift with the opposite pinky, capitals, periods, question marks. Short sentences.
4. Number Ridge (weeks 14 to 16): the number row, one hand at a time.
5. Story Speedway & Victory Volcano (ongoing): longer passages, symbols, and speed. Only once accuracy is boring.

Ages 4 to 5 vs 6 to 9

Little ones (4 to 5) should do letters only, big targets, everything spoken, no speed. It is fine to stop at home row for a year. See typing for kindergarten. Six and up can run the whole sequence. Most reach all letters by touch in a semester at ten minutes a day. Wondering what counts as fast? Typing speed by grade.

What you need

• An iPad. Any keyboard case or Bluetooth keyboard is best for real touch typing. No keyboard? Bumpy Keys starts on the screen with big keys and a hands guide, so your child learns where every key lives first.
• The poster on the wall next to it, the progress road on the fridge. Both are in the free printables.
• Three certificates to hand out: home row, alphabet, super typist. Ceremony helps.

Running it in Bumpy Keys

The app is this curriculum. One hundred short levels on ten roads, a daily quest that picks the next step and warms up weak keys, hands that fade as accuracy holds, and Bumper the bear coaching out loud so pre-readers can play alone. All 100 lessons are free. The browser includes Puppy Park and Dino Dash. One $4.99 browser purchase adds all twenty worlds; the iPad and Mac apps use a separate Apple purchase. No accounts, no data, works offline. A co-op can put it on every iPad in an afternoon, and co-ops get free browser-game school codes too. New to all of this? Start with how to teach a child to type.