Finding out what type of “learner” your child is can mean treading on foreign ground for most parents. “Learning styles” is still a relatively new, largely uncharted territory for everyone but specialists in this field. “Learning styles” is a philosophy that recognizes that we all perceive and process information in unique ways. Discovering your own or your child’s learning styles is time- and energy-consuming—but worthwhile.
The majority of schools and teaching institutions are just starting to consider “learning styles” a meaningful way to analyze how children learn, and few have a clue how to use the information. Given the limitations of mass-schooling, school systems that choose to analyze and sort children by their learning styles may find it a logistic impossibility to accommodate all learners. Or perhaps it could be done along the lines of the magnet school method. For instance, all students whose intelligence is predominantly linguistic could attend one school, those with primarily musical intelligence another, and so forth. Still, given the highly individual nature of learning styles, it’s unlikely that institutions like public schools will ever use this valuable tool.
Fortunately for the family who chooses to homeschool, there is no logistic problem. You can read the excellent material available on learning styles, possibly visit a counselor who specializes in advising families about learning styles (such as our interviewees at the conclusion of this chapter), and then implement your own personalized teaching plan for your child based on your findings.
Learning styles analysis can also be used in the home to understand the relationships between family members. By understanding ourselves and our family, we can build a healthy family of individuals with a strong, unique self-image. They, in turn, can go into the world and work with other people with different personalities and learning styles and, in general, be tolerant, understanding, and happy.
* How We Discovered Our Child’s Learning Style
Before we knew anything about learning styles, we realized that certain ways of learning would make it possible for our son to really learn—have the knowledge at his fingertips “forever,” the authority to discuss it, and the ability to use it when necessary and repeat it when desired. If his particular learning way was not followed, the “learning” would be like writing in water—gone immediately after he went through the motions.
For example, the math book we used introduced skip-counting (1, 3, 5 . . .) by each number from 1 to 9 as preparatory practice to learning multiplication. The author said that multiplying these simple numbers is the same as fast addition, and skip-counting teaches that. So we began and quickly realized that incorporating skip-counting into a game would facilitate the learning. So we began playing catch with a beanbag, saying “our” number aloud as we threw the bag back and forth. We could practice all nine sets of numbers every day without breaking a sweat—speeding up, slowing down, throwing behind our backs, between our legs, fooling around with the game within the game. He would often beg to do them again and again!
Later, we tried having him sit and do multiplication worksheets of larger numbers. It was like dragging a heavy stone through the desert—nothing could have been less fun or more unproductive! We wanted him to practice the material and to prove that he knew it (as every program advised), and when you begin multiplying two-digit numbers by two-digit numbers, skip-counting cannot be used.
After struggling with the worksheet method, we finally took to using a lecture approach (which we still use, by the way). My husband would stand at a dry-erase board where our son (lounging on his bed, possibly holding one of his cats) could easily see him write, for instance, a two-digit number times a three-digit one. Then dad would say, “Okay, now walk me through this problem.” Our son would tell him what to do at each step, instructing him exactly what to do before dad would write anything down. This activity has an immediate cause-and-effect dynamic, to which he responds very well. He must tell dad to “put down the 0 and carry the 1” before anything is written down; therefore, he must know what to do. This method allows him to use his knowledge in a functional way in a comfortable atmosphere, and we can also teach him new concepts and skills at the board just as effectively. We receive tremendous satisfaction from actually teaching him and seeing him learn from us!
We use this dry-erase/lecture method for English grammar and vocabulary, too. At any given time we have spent over an hour telling him about the history of the English language, the wars and fortunes of it, or explaining why pronunciation and spelling are not standardized. He has listened raptly without being distracted until he has a question. We’ve heard him repeat this information to someone else days later, showing that it “stuck” with him. This gives us both such satisfaction that we look forward to working the next day, and often, when we have to stop after 20 minutes, he will groan and moan, “Do we really have to stop so soon?” He never groaned about not doing a worksheet!
Since our son hates to sit and write problems out, the lecture method is about the only way that works for us. Were he in school all day, the teacher would definitely be telling us he had “problems.”
Here is another anecdote illustrating that you can realize great profits by catering to your child’s learning style. While my husband was still working his day job, mom was doing most of the homeschooling. At the time, we were using a boxed curriculum and following the teacher’s manual fastidiously. Then she started The Link, our homeschool newspaper, and soon, due to lack of time, started homeschooling in a different manner. For example, while she was doing the bulk mailings, she would open the spelling book and ask our then-seven-year-old a word. If he spelled it correctly, she “let” him do two laps around the inside of the house. He would run laughing through the den/kitchen/living room twice, thinking it was great fun! He would work on spelling for hours if she continued the game. We had previously used the workbook approach, which he went along with because he took pride in being a good speller, but his enthusiasm multiplied with the running/spelling method.
For all children, there is at least one “right” way (the most productive one) and a few “wrong” ways (those that are unproductive and merely drudgery). Finding out your child’s learning style can be easiest when you know what he or she likes (within learning) and dislikes. Dislikes are often simply a matter of different learning styles.
