What is Your Child’s Learning Style?

Why do you need to figure out your child’s learning style? You are their teacher and if you can enhance their learning experience and figure out the best way to reach them then why not? When I first started homeschooling I found a wonderful book that was a textbook about my son, he is a visual spatial learner. called Upside-down Brilliance: The Visual Spatial Learner. This revolutionized our homeschooling, being an auditory learner myself I was teaching him using the methods that I liked best and wondering why they were failing. Once I realized what I was doing wrong and I started to cater my teaching style to his learning style, he learned so much more and retained a lot of the info that we were working through. Does this mean I only teach in a visual manner? No, I also want to incorporate other styles to strengthen the other areas where he is weaker in as well. He’s not going to be able to go to college or work at a job that is specifically catered to his way all of the time. He’s going to have to find ways to use his strengths and make it work for him. When M1 was younger, I’d read aloud to him and he’d like to follow along on the page right beside me before I asked for a narration. I don’t always let him do that, I read aloud to him without him seeing the words, I have him read aloud, I have him read aloud while he’s walking around the room. You’d be surprise at how much he takes in while he’s moving around. I have him read silently to himself. You need to change things up. Let them explore other ways that may help them learn as well.

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Auditory Learner

If your child is an auditory learner they learn through languange. They remember things when it is given to them orally. They enjoy your read alouds and oral direction and can remember them well.

• give oral instruction
• enjoy discussing ideas
• may enjoy background music or need to work in a quiet environment

 Kinesthetic Learner

Children learn by doing, they want to hands-on interaction with what they are learning. They cannot sit for long periods of time. They enjoy movement and they want to do whatever it is that is being taught.

• hands-on projects and fun experiments
• allow them to color or play with a quiet toy while you read aloud
• may need to write down information
• frequent breaks

Visual Learner

Visual learners learn best when they are shown something, they may think in pictures and they do best when they can see what it is they are suppose to do.

• teach through demonstration and not oral instruction
• use different colored markers to teach or write
• learn through videos, use graphs and charts
• make their own flash cards
• drawing out their narrations

What kind of teaching style do you have? This will influence how you teach as well. I’m an auditory learner and didn’t realize my visual learner need me to write down and show him how to do specific questions rather then just telling him how to do it. Learning can take shape in many forms instead of in a workbook. You’ll find that they can learn through building models (or Legos), dioramas, plays, and field trips. I’ve incorporated more audiobooks into our lives because I was not able to read them as often as I liked. Well my younger son loves to listen to them, my older one has to follow along in the book. Great books about learning styles:

• The Way They Learn
• The Big What Now Book of Learning Styles: A Fresh and Demystifying Approach
• 101 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum – breaks down each curriculum into how it would suit each type of child and their learning style

If you need help finding the right curriculum or more about how I teach my visual spatial learner take a look at what we’re doing. This week’s letter is L so follow along on the ABCblogging series and see what everyone else is writing about as well.