Neither of my sons really learned cursive well. They are successful college students now, but to this day they type everything on the computer. Their handwriting is just atrocious. Their elementary school never forced the issue, and by middle school they never needed to use cursive for much.

Anonymous wrote:Here's the deal with Keyboarding:

It is very helpful but 15 minutes per day, 4-5 days per week for 6 weeks over the summer using Mavis Beacon or Type to Learn and your DC should be in great shape. I don't think I'd use up an entire elective for Keyboarding.

A good Keyboarding class will teach you more than speed and accuracy, it will teach you how to format different types of documents. In my Keyboarding class you learned how to format letters, reports, works cited pages, etc. Even now I rely on the skills I learned in my Keyboarding class.

"problem-solving across the spectrum" - What spectrum is that?

I'm really surprised to hear that some high schoolers haven't taken keyboarding classes much sooner. My kids learned keyboarding through nightly online work (school-paid subscription) in second grade, and they learned cursive in kindergarten. How can children get through all of the in-class writing assignments in elementary and middle school if they can't write quickly in cursive? And how can they get through homework writing projects in late elementary and middle school if they can't type quickly on a computer?

Of the other subjects mentioned, I consider financial literacy to be my responsibility as a parent, but I would love for my kids to study economics in high school. I would hope that public speaking is integrated across the board.

By high school, I hope my kids will be focused on:

research, writing
languages
math
science
world history/geography and US civics
problem-solving across the spectrum

Here's the deal with Keyboarding:

It is very helpful but 15 minutes per day, 4-5 days per week for 6 weeks over the summer using Mavis Beacon or Type to Learn and your DC should be in great shape. I don't think I'd use up an entire elective for Keyboarding.

Anonymous wrote:What do you think about skills such as grammar, geography, financial literacy, public speaking?

9:51 here. My kids learned grammar in (private) middle school. It was a rigorous program. Both kids also had grammar in 9th grade and had grammar proficiency tests in 9th grade. So that seemed to be well covered. Geography was covered in part in world history. One kid had to memorize the capitals and countries on every continent for a series of tests. Of course there is always more they can do on this, although I think Geography is an elective at our public school, maybe even an AP? Not sure about financial literacy. One of my kids is very interested in the stock market and does invest already. I think there is a personal financial class at school but it's not one DC plans to take. Will take AP micro and macro econ instead, but that's not really the same as financial literacy. Public speaking is one that they've both had to do a surprising amount of through class presentations. I am not sure they have actually had formal teaching in that though so that may be worth considering.

What do you think about skills such as grammar, geography, financial literacy, public speaking?

I have one in private and one in public and I have to say I think they both are getting nearly everything they need. The only shortcoming is enough writing feedback in the public school. But I expect AP English to change that as it is very writing intensive. My kids don't need keyboarding - they had that in elementary school and seem to be accomplished typists.

Anonymous wrote:PPs, you really want your HS student to be learning keyboarding and handwriting?

I'd rather see more Science, Economics, Geography, and History.

New poster here. It's interesting that you ask about this. My mother forced me to take typing in high school. I procrastinated and waited until my senior year, hating the idea of it. I was completely loaded with college prep classes -- AP, honors, etc. -- and thought typing was "beneath" me. It was one of the best investments in time, ever. I type all day at work. Not having to think about how to type helps me focus on constructing my workproduct instead. And considering there is no real support staff anymore (everyone is expected to type and edit their own workproduct), it really helps to be quick and accurate.

My child isn't in high school yet, but yes, I'd want him to have a formal keyboarding class of some sort. At the very least, it will help in high school and college when typing papers.

Anonymous wrote:PPs, you really want your HS student to be learning keyboarding and handwriting?

I'd rather see more Science, Economics, Geography, and History.

^ agree with most of this except there is plenty of history - too much.
What matters most is not the "knowledge" classes, but skill classes, i.e, writing and math.

PPs, you really want your HS student to be learning keyboarding and handwriting?

I'd rather see more Science, Economics, Geography, and History.

Advanced Writing Skills
World Social Studies - Econ, Geography, Religions

Science
Geography
Key boarding and handwriting
How to edit your writing

1 writing and public speaking
2 math and science
3 computer science and programming
4 key boarding techniques

Not necessarily in the order presented

Educator here. Question for the parents of high school students: What are your students NOT learning in school and you wish they were?