Learning Style

You'll want to discover your child's learning style when you start homeschooling so you can tailor lessons to his or her needs.

There has been extensive research about styles of learning. To make it simple, there are three main styles.

1. Auditory - Auditory learners prefer to listen to information. They prefer oral directions, discussions, and orally repeating information.

2. Visual- A visual learner prefers to see information. They prefer reading, charts, maps, graphs, and demonstrations.

3. Kinesthetic - Kinesthetic (also called tactile) learners prefer to manipulate information. They prefer touching, arranging, acting, and experimenting.

It is not a requirement of homeschooling that you identify your child's learning style; however, teaching and learning is easier for the teacher and the student if the child's learning preference is considered.

For example, auditory learners generally prefer tasks that favor the left side of the brain. They tend to do well in a traditional school setting. On the other hand, (or should I say, on the other side of the brain *smile*) visual and kinesthetic learners retain more information when it enters their brain through functions controlled by the right brain. Although they can do well in a traditional school setting, it is more difficult for them than for an auditory/left brain learner.

A young child's style may not be fully developed or recognizable. If you have a young one, make sure you implement each of these modalities sometime during your school day. For example, you may read a picture book about the seasons(visual), sing a song about the months of the year (auditory) and organize one of those "magnetic" reusable calendars(kinestetic).

Everyone uses all of these methods at some time or another, but as we age we generally develop a preference even without knowing it. You may discover that your older child prefers a different style for different subjects, so it's a good idea to continue to include different modalities even as your children age. Even though as a homeschool parent, you may cater to a child's auditory, visual or tactile learning style it is important for students to learn to make simple adjustments to less than ideally presented lessons when learning on their own. For example, a kinesthetic learner might write down information from a textbook, a visual learner might make a word web or sketch pictures from a science lab, or an auditory learner might read aloud from a textbook.

Once you discover your child's dominant style get practical suggestions pertaining to each style. It will also help you decide which homeschool curriculum might be best for your child.

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