Hello

Did you know that the most asked question by parents on my homeschooling survey is to know more about how to apply different learning styles in homeschooling? This is such an important aspect to homeschooling as it will not only assist you child with their learning but will definitely help to keep conflicts and "battle of wills" to a minimum!

See my recent blog post on HOMESCHOOLING AND DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES where I look at the different learning styles, how to implement them, where to find suitable resources as well as extra information for your late preteens/teens.

It is important to note, that explanations are generalisations and that each child is unique. Although each of us may have a preferred learning style, we do incorporate a variety of approaches and so do our children.

It is really worth the while to spend time and just objectively see what "makes them tick" and what comes naturally to them. It's these strengths that we work with.

For those interested, I've included a reflection of my own experiences with my two boys.

Personal Experience:

My Visual Learner

My eldest has a great imagination and is such a visionary! I love listening to his ideas and he has a desire to invent things. He totally sees everything in him mind's eye...it's just the technical side of making it happen that stops him...for now. He is naturally a quieter boy and doesn't do well with loud noises, many distractions or too many instructions at one time.

When I started teaching him how to read and write, I saw that he had a preference for types of fonts & illustrations in readers. Some would totally put him off before even trying. So I found simple readers that didn't have a lot of colour, had mostly simple illustrations on the page and basic, easy to read large font. This worked for him. He used the pictures as clues to help with read.

When we started out with writing, I realised that the lines were causing problems so I removed all use of lines. We also just used a notepad and he could write any how he liked. I only brought back "writing within the lines" in grade 3. By then he had the maturity to handle imperfections and had better fine motor skills to get those letters within the lines. 

We've used Life of Fred for Math and this worked well. It requires very little writing, there are interesting images in the black and white text and the story ignites critical thinking. My son would "see" in his mind what to do and although he didn't always have a way to express himself and explain how he'd get to an answer, his answers were correct. It was only a few years later that he could express verbally what he "did in his head". Later, as the Math become more abstract, I would sit next to him and show him in diagrams if he didn't understand - then he'd complete the work.

Although, not every visual learner is like my son - everyone is unique with their own personality traits - there will probably be some things similar. I'd love to hear you experience. Let me know what you have discovered works well for your visual learner.

My Tactile Learner

My youngest son is such a "do-er". He loves to be active and create and build and dress up etc. Making box forts is one of his favourite pastimes. He is, however, a little "heavy handed" with toys or objects sometimes and is surprised when they break.

He chose to join his older brother with homeschooling instead of going to a nearby play school - he was 3 years old. Trying to homeschool with a very busy toddler is an exhausting experience, especially when the child you are trying to teach can't handle a lot of distraction! Out of desperation one day, I put a box of duplo blocks in front of him and told him to build something. He didn't know how to start so I showed him how to connect the blocks to make a long train...little did I know that this was the beginning of amazing creations he would do with blocks and then later Lego. Over the years, he would "sit in" on the lessons and stories and then build what he had heard or dress up and act out a story's character.

When it was his turn to learn to read and write, I quickly saw that what worked for my eldest son, was not in the least appealing to him. I could see that he needed to be active, so I tried a few ideas that is suggested for the kinesthetic learner e.g. jump from one number or letter to another, or throw a bean bag at the right word to practice reading sight words etc....but this didn't go down too well. This was new territory for me now and I wasn't too sure how to proceed as I had thought I knew what would work for him. So I decided to let him lead and make suggestions.

 Our first "official" lesson, he had taken out the blackboard, set up a chair and table and said instead of doing readers, I must show him some words, how to write them and he'll copy them. He didn't have a problem with letter sounds or phonetic reading as such but preferred to do dictation and rather write the words he saw and then read them. Being actively involved with learning content is a key for him.

Again, not all tactile learners will be like my son, but perhaps you can relate to some aspects? Please feel free to share from your experiences too.

To find out more about the different learning styles and how to implement them

Click Here!

If you have any questions or have suggestions that have worked for you, please do share, I'd love to know.

Keep going, take a breather when needed and choose to SEE your child for who they are and their beautiful uniqueness.

Warm regards,

Angela