Celebrating the Learning Styles

I think one of the first things homeschoolers discover is that the decision to homeschool opens a door to a room full of more doors.  So many more decisions lie ahead: to test or not to test (and if so, when, by whom, how often, in what subjects…), school-at-home or unschool (or something in between), curriculum-in-a-box or piece together your own lessons (or something in between), farm out or teach it all by yourself (or something in between)?  You get the picture.

One of the elements of schooling, whether in a traditional building school, or driving in a car (or—say it with me—something in between), is to understand how important it is to tailor lessons best as possible to a child’s strengths and weaknesses.  To effectively convey information, it is important to know the audience.  An important part of that is to know about learning styles.

I have a great curriculum.  I knew I was going to use it when my firstborn was a baby.  My older sister used it and I read the catalog—worth the read, whether you choose the curriculum or not—and I was sold.  I loved the heart of the family who founded the company.  I loved the style of teaching through stories.  This was my future!

My son ‘came of age’ and we began.  It was a wonderful two years of reading to my wriggly boy.  I read for hours.  We had fantastic conversations.  I saw him playing out the story lines and taking on the persona of the characters we’d met.  He shared with his little sister the Truths being planted in his heart.  Life was a sepia-toned photograph, if you ignored the sticky fingers, the pile of laundry and the boy who learned best either by hanging upside down or perching like a frog on the coffee table.

Then my daughter ‘came of age’ and we began.  I was excited to visit old friends.  I read for hours.  But our conversations went more like this, ‘Why do you think Wilbur did that?’  “Jesus?”  “What?”  “I don’t know…is Jesus the right answer?”

I will leave the reenactment there, since the rest doesn’t color me in sepia tones. 

I couldn’t understand it.  What was this girl’s problem?  These are great stories, she sits still far better than my son does (still), and she is even older than he was when I read these books to him.  What is the problem??

I rented the movies that corresponded to our books.  All of a sudden, it clicked.  I saw her playing out the story lines and taking on the persona of the characters we’d met.  We had fantastic conversations.  What was the difference?  Had I let my kids watch too much TV and ruined them for books?  Was I a horrible mother?

All of a sudden, it clicked—sad to say, my sudden clicking took far longer than the sudden clicking of my daughter.  She is a visual learner.  She is a kinesthetic learner.  She is NOT an auditory learner.

Oh!  The suffering I could have avoided!  I dutifully set aside my beloved curriculum for another year, and found one that used picture books, even for older children, and a lot of repetition.  This armed her with skills while allowing her to continue in daily lessons.  It equipped me, as well.  I learned to read aloud with more inflection, with more explanation and a lot more gesticulation.

I am so thankful for the mercies of the first years homeschooling.  I learned far more than they did.  I know my kids’ strengths and weaknesses.  I know when they are listening and when they’ve tuned me out—even when there is no discernable difference in their demeanor.  I know better how to teach and reach both of them.