As a former special education teacher, I know the importance of knowing the learning styles of your students and catering your instruction to their specific needs.
This was made blatently apparent to me on Monday, our very first day of homeschooling.
I’ve been aware that EA is more of a auditory learner. She can learn a memory verse in no time. All it takes is for her to listen to it a couple of times.
And I’ve known that MC is more of a visual learner. She takes in lots of information visually and has a more of a visual, creative bent.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t keeping these two differences in mind during school on Monday morning and it didn’t take long at all for me to learn the error of my ways.
We were sitting at the table working on a math worksheet from Kumon. It was a simple dot-to-dot type worksheet where the instructions were to simply to draw a line from one number to the next in order (1-10).
They both struggled with this activity, so we put it away to practice counting.
After just a few repitions of counting from one to ten aloud, EA had it! She was able to count on her own and complete the activity.
But after those few repitions of counting from one to ten, MC was still quite lost when I asked her to count all on her own. In fact, she was barely making it past three.
I was honestly getting frustrated with her at this point because I knew that she could count. I’ve heard her do it before. And I even thought, “I know she knows her numbers, she always points them out in the commissary aisles”.
And then it hit me….she points the numbers out that are hanging from the ceiling at our commissary because she can see them!! She needs the visual aid of actually seeing the numbers written out.
So, I got a sheet of paper from the desk and with a sharpie marker wrote out the numbers one through ten in order.
Then with them in front of her, I asked her to count to ten on her own.
And VOILA! she was able to do it with absolutely no problems at all and she was so incredibly proud of herself.
I know that in time, she won’t need this specific visual aid, but I also know that as her “mommy, teacher” as both girls have been calling me lately, that I need to make adjustments to her learning style. I need to present things visually to her to aid in her educational growth.
And this is one of the many reasons that we are a homeschooling family. I want to see both of my children succeed and have a school experience where their teacher is instructing them out of love and looking out for their best interests.
As their mommy, that’s what I’m doing when I keep their learning styles in mind and make allowances for their individual needs. A classroom teacher cannot adequately do that. Try as they might, they just do not have the same emotional connection to want to in the same degree as I do, nor do they practically have the time and resources to do this for every student.
Do you know the learning styles of your children?
Just in case you’re wondering, there are three main styles of learning. They are auditory (hearing), visual (seeing), and kinesthetic (doing). There are more and you can really get into the weeds of studying learning styles, but these three are the main ones.
There are many inventories and questionaires out there to find what learning style matches your child (or yourself for that matter), but the best way to discover them is to just observe your children in how they learn and how they play.
Kristen says
What an inspiration you are!! Your girls are so precious…
and thanks for reminding us moms that our kids can be so different and sometimes it just takes a little patience and understanding for them to have a great experience in things.
*Love reading your blog, by the way…even from stateside* 🙂
Pat says
What a great post! You are a great mommy teacher! Most of my students were auditory learners and I have been a visual learner so I had to make sure I wasn’t trying to teach them to learn my way. I have lately found out that I am actually a visual and kinesthetic learner. If I am listening to a lecture, TV or something that I have to concentrate on hearing, I focus better if I am doing something (like knitting or doodling).
Luke Holzmann says
My mom often comments about how all four of her children are so different. And it’s true. We are. Adjusting to each child’s needs is one of the many things that makes homeschooling a great educational option! Keep up the fantastic work [smile].
~Luke
LifeAtTheCircus says
I love figuring out what makes my kids tick and the fact that each one is different. Great job assessing your daughter’s needs and helping her to succeed! Sounds like you are off to a great start on your home school career!!
Erin @ Closing Time says
It sounds like you’re doing a great job with school! There is no doubt what kind of learner my oldest is – auditory! We tried to do Hooked on Phonics a couple of years ago, and she could remember what the CD said after hearing it once. I quickly figured out that she was not reading, but instead repeating what she had heard. So we had to go about learning to read a completely different way!
I’m a visual learner. If I don’t see it, it is very hard for me to remember it. I took LOTS of notes in school!
My youngest is a bit more of a mystery. I am still trying to figure her out. I am wondering if she is kinesthetic…not sure how to teach that way…
Donnetta says
As an adult educator, we have a learning style assessment we give on day 1 of class. This helps the adult learner know how to best learn the material and helps us as educators how to best deliver and teach it.
I didn’t realize (or don’t remember) that you are a former special ed. teacher. That is great!
Carrie Anne says
I have read about the different learning styles of children and really believe in it. My two oldest go to public school and we’re fortunate enough to have two great teachers that understand and respect a child’s different learning requirements. My oldest is an auditory learner and my middle child is kinesthetic. The teachers use this knowledge to help. Plus I know how best to reinforce lessons based on this knowledge. Now I just need to sort out my youngest 🙂
Great post. Cheers