A 10-minute daily routine that actually sticks
Ten minutes every day beats an hour on Sunday. Here is the routine we use at home with an eleven-year-old who would often rather be doing almost anything else.
The routine
- Warm up (2 minutes). Play the home-row lesson, or the lesson you learned most recently. Don't chase speed; just let your fingers find their keys.
- Main lesson (6 minutes). Pick the current lesson and play it through. If you finish early, play it again and try to beat your best score. The game remembers your personal best for every lesson.
- Story time (2 minutes). Type a paragraph or two of one of the book passages. This is the reward: real sentences, real story, Mog collecting coins at every word.
Then stop, even if it's going well. Stopping while it's still fun is what makes tomorrow's session happen.
Accuracy first, speed second
The two numbers at the top of the screen are WPM (words per minute; a "word" is five characters) and accuracy. Beginners want to watch WPM. Please don't, not yet. Speed comes by itself once your fingers know the keys; accuracy does not come by itself if you practise mistakes.
A good target for the first weeks is 95% accuracy or better at whatever speed that takes. In the game, a wrong key makes Mog stumble and you have to press the right key before moving on, so slowing down is always cheaper than rushing.
When to move on
Move to the next lesson when you can finish the current one with two stars or more without looking at your hands. If a lesson feels impossible, go back one and stay there a few more days. There's no prize for finishing the list quickly; the prize is hands that type on their own.
What to expect
- Week 1: everything feels slow and clumsy, around 10 WPM. Normal.
- Week 2-3: the home row is automatic, 15-20 WPM. You'll catch yourself typing a word without looking.
- Week 4-6: 25-35 WPM with the book passages. Faster than most adults who never learned.
- After that: speed keeps growing with everyday use. 40-60 WPM is a comfortable adult level.
For parents: sit nearby for the first few sessions but resist the urge to correct. The game already shows the right finger; your job is to keep the mood light and to make sure the routine happens at the same time every day.
Start today's session