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Teaching Tips May 1, 2009 |
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by Lori Coeman 
One of the advantages of homeschooling is that you can adjust the curriculum and training to fit your child's learning style. Learning style has to do with the way a child naturally learns. There are different styles of learning just as there are different “natural” abilities such as being mechanically inclined or being creative and artistic.
Ideally, you should cater to a child's learning style during the elementary years, when the child is learning basic skills. That's because it's easier to learn something new using your natural way of learning or preferred sense such as hands-on learning or visual learning. Children who are trying to learn a subject that is the opposite of their natural way of learning will take longer to master the skill. For example, random and global children find it hard to memorize math fact families, master spelling, learn grammar rules, and retain historical dates and figures. Likewise, sequential and concrete children find it hard to make inferences, draw conclusions, evaluate evidence, and recognize the underlying meaning or symbolism in literature. Fast-paced children become bored easily when dealing with detailed, sequential subjects such as history and grammar. By recognizing these differences, you can adjust the type of curriculum used, the number of skills that must be mastered, the use of supplemental activities, and the amount of time devoted to each topic in a way that will maximize your child's learning. There's just one catch. Sooner or later your child will need to be able to learn any type of material even when it does not match his or her natural way of learning. In other words, learning style should never become an excuse for not learning something. If you have been able to cater to your child's learning style during the elementary years, then you can begin to show the student how to learn opposite skills throughout the intermediate years. If you are beginning to homeschool during the intermediate years, then you may still need to work with the student to bring basic and key skills up to speed using the preferred learning style. But once a child reaches the intermediate levels, he or she should have the basic skills mastered. The curriculum and skills shift to learning how to apply basic skills and knowledge to other subjects and applications. What many parents don't realize, however, is that students don't necessarily know how to synthesize information together or make the appropriate applications. They have to be shown how to do it in the same way that you showed them the sound-letter connections in phonics and how to count objects for addition and subtraction. Some students don't automatically know how to write an outline or take notes. Others don't automatically know how to use an algebraic formula to figure out how many cans of paint to buy when changing the color of a room. Still others don't automatically see an author's thesis or purpose. In short, they don't automatically know how to learn something that is the opposite of their natural way of learning. Things are further complicated by the fact that learning something that is the opposite of one's natural way of learning takes work, sometimes hard work, and for a prolonged period of time. There is a tendency sometimes that when we do cater to a child's learning style, that we fall into a rut of trying to make things easy or interesting to the child. Unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. So it's important that as you make adjustments for learning style, your child understands the process and why you are doing it. Students must be taught how to remain teachable, and be willing to tackle skills or tasks that are difficult or boring. It's not uncommon for students to complain, “Why do I have to learn this when I will never need to know it.” Of course we parents respond that they can't possible know what they will need to know. But apart from that, learning something just for the sake of learning has value in itself. It trains us to be teachable all the days of our life. Learning Styles Set How to Teach So They Can Learn Discovery Zone Navigating Through Homeschooling Waters Homeschooling Navigation Compass |
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