A finger reaches up or down, taps, and comes home before the next letter.
Think of the keyboard as a building with three floors and a lift. Home is the middle floor, with the top row above and the bottom row below.
A finger rides up or down, taps, and rides back to the middle. The lift goes straight up or straight down.
The golden rule: only the finger that reaches should move. The other fingers stay home and keep the place.
Words that mix the home, top and bottom rows use all three floors.
These are some of the questions on the sets. The printable sheets have more and an answer key.
o. The f is at home and the x is a reach down.
u and p. The j is at home and the m is a reach down.
They stay home. They keep the place.
dad. Dog has an o on the top row.
All twenty-six. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog has every letter of the alphabet.
At a keyboard with a grown-up, type: the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. It uses every letter of the alphabet. Ask the grown-up to watch that only the reaching finger moves and every finger comes home.
Ask your child to type Pop's sentence in two parts, the quick brown fox and then jumps over the lazy dog, and watch that only the reaching finger moves; slow and right is the goal.
