At a training workshop recently, I was asked what I believe is the first thing every parent should know when homeschooling. Thinking for a minute, I recalled the opening section of my recent ebook, Homeschooling To College and Career, and responded, “Every parent needs to become a student of their child. Understanding how a child learns is the key to delivering education in a way that best meets their needs and helps them learn.”
Knowing how a child takes in the world around them is also fundamental to forming strong connections and unlocking the gifts within them. I learned this firsthand, homeschooling my six distinctly different children, and also within our homeschool tutorial as both leader and instructor. Every child is unique and learns differently. Every child experiences the world differently. Every child needs an approach that will meet them where they are.
While there are several broad categories of learning styles, please understand that just as few adults fit neatly into a single box, even fewer children will fall squarely into one category. While one style may dominate, it is not uncommon for children to reflect a mixture of learning styles—all the more reason why we, as parents, must become great students of our children. To learn more about this topic, check out the work of famed Harvard University professor Howard Gardner whose “theory of multiple intelligences” captures these learning styles:
- The Visual Learner: Visual learners quite literally learn by seeing. For these learners, anything that helps them visualize or “see” a concept—pictures, diagrams, colors, charts, and even videos—makes all the difference in their ability to take in information. My daughter Samantha is a very visual learner, and I flooded her learning with bright colors and diagrams. Given her learning style, it’s no surprise that she ended up studying visual arts in college. In my math classes, students are used to seeing lots of color, as I try to ensure that my very visual learners can meaningfully connect with the material being presented. When we were studying combining like terms, I had one student whose homework was a kaleidoscope of color! She was a very visual learner, and giving her the freedom to use color in her work helped her to master and enjoy Algebra!
- The Reading/Writing Learner: Reading/Writing learners are similar to visual learners; however, the written word is their primary vehicle for learning. These learners enjoy books, writing, and anything that engages them through words. These are the kids who will pull out the instructions and thoroughly read through them before assembling that toy. Actually, they may quickly ditch the toy and instead write a paper about their experience assembling it! These are the kids in my English/Language Arts classes who, when given an assignment to write a three-paragraph expository essay about their summer, will give me three pages expounding upon their glorious adventures! These are the kids in my math class who thrive on the notes I have them take. This is my son Samuel, who to this day swears he doesn’t like writing, but is an absolute natural writer—he wrote a perfect paper in his college English class—and has books all over his room.
- The Auditory Learner: Auditory learners best take information in through listening. For these learners, discussions, stories, rhymes, and music are great vehicles for presenting information. There’s an old saying that “if you put anything to music, you’ll remember it for the rest of your life.” In my own life, I have experienced this truth, as I still remember “The First 13 Colonies” song I learned decades ago as a first grader. In both my English/Language Arts and Math classes, music abounds in the form of jingles, many of which I created on the spot to help the auditory learners in my classes. Recently, a former student contacted me and shared that in his college math class, he caught himself singing a “Mrs. Kent original” song about multiplying and dividing signed numbers. I can assure that if any former students are reading this article, they’re singing it right now! A positive and positive’s a positive; a negative and negative’s a positive. A positive and negative? THAT’S a negative!
- The Kinesthetic Learner: Kinesthetic learners are always on the move, and they learn while in motion. For these learners, manipulatives, hands-on activities, and outdoor play in the midst of learning create the magic for them. These are the kids who will not be tied down to a desk but will thrive when given the freedom to move about. My son Joshua is a kinesthetic learner, and I often share the story of being a frustrated mamma trying to teach a history lesson to him and his sister as he was moving around the living room floor. Exasperated, I shouted, “Joshua! Tell me what I just said!” He gave a perfect recitation of the information, and in that moment, I understood that he was a kinesthetic learner. I apologized, and from that moment forward, he was free to move about and play with manipulatives. In my English/Language Arts class, my kinesthetic learners do all of the hand and body movements to the Shurley Grammar Verb jingle—they “wiggle, jiggle, turn around, raise your arms and stomp the ground. Shake your finger and wink your eye; wave those action verbs good-bye!”
- The Social Learner: Social learners learn best in group settings. For them, everything is better with friends, and these are the kids who thrive in the co-ops, learning pods, and almost any type of cooperative learning environment. These are the social butterflies who will thrive when they are learning with others. My daughter Jordy is a social learner and thrives in environments where she can build relationships and connect with others. Homeschooled in an academic tutorial, she lived for study group time with her besties, and excelled when group projects were a part of the equation. Now, with her degree in Psychology, she is a preschool teacher and has built strong bonds with her students and the families she serves.
- The Solitary Learner: Solitary learners are polar opposites of social learners. These learners thrive when given the freedom to be by themselves. These students can be seen as introverted, often preferring to work alone, and are excellent self-directed learners. My good friend’s daughter has decided to study mathematics and wants a research career, where she is free to be alone in a quiet lab, her thoughts uninterrupted by others.
Knowing how your child learns is one of the first steps in the journey of unconventional learning. As both a homeschool parent and the founder of a homeschool tutorial, having this understanding has proven invaluable when engaging with my children as well as my students. When we understand how children learn, it minimizes potential frustrations in our learning environments. Kinesthetic learners can fidget with manipulatives, and can have time to move around while engaged in learning; auditory learners are free to make a song that helps them remember what’s being taught; visual learners are free to color-code everything in their world; social learners can work together in groups; and solitary learners are free to engage in personal reflection as they process information.
As a close friend of mine likes to say, “It all belongs!” For us in the unconventional learning space, everyone belongs, and we can make room in our learning environments for all of these learners and truly meet them where they are! I encourage you, whether you are a parent in an unconventional learning space or a program founder, to become students of your children so that you can be their most effective educator.
