Comments on: When teaching and learning styles conflict

By: HSCC

HSCC — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:55:12 +0000

One of the greatest benefits of teaching your own children is the fact you know them better than anyone else, and therefore are much better equipped to adapt your own teaching style to your students needs. This is huge! Since every kid is different, he or she will learn differently as well. It really isn’t any wonder why homeschooled students constantly out-test their public-school peers. I know I’m probably ‘preaching to the choir’, but it begs repeating over and over, because it’s so important!

By: Centaur

Centaur — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:06:45 +0000

Thank you so much for this story! I love reading stories like this. I was homeschooled, and I know that Mom felt the same way about it when she taught us (two of us thought like Mom, three of us thought like Dad). Thank you for what you are doing for your children, even if your kids don’t tell you that for a few years. Thank you.

Have a wonderful day!

Centaur

“I watch the stars, for it is mine to watch, Badger, as it is your’s to remember.” — Glenstorm

By: Jennifer in OR

Jennifer in OR — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:20:24 +0000

I have varied styles in my family, too. Sometimes it’s nice when my husband works with the kids like him, and I work with the kids like me.

By: Cathi-Lyn Dyck

Cathi-Lyn Dyck — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:56:59 +0000

Opposite situation here…my oldest *hates* worksheets. Getting him to do any formal learning is like pulling teeth. But, likewise, although we do lots of unschooling, paperwork comes under life skills. And so does basic math. I haven’t answered for myself, satisfactorily, how I feel best dealing with that. I’m no example of engaging in math for the sheer fun of it.

By: Anita Tedaldi

Anita Tedaldi — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:05:55 +0000

My kids are younger right now but I can already see that my older daughter an I can easily disagree on things. I like that she’s independent and so interested in finding her own way of studying and being involved with learning but sometimes it’s a tough balancing act

By: ChristineMM

ChristineMM — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:40:54 +0000

I think there are a few issues here that I’ve separated out that you have still mixed together in one pot.

1. Homeschool method or style (unschooling, classical and so forth)

2. Learning Style (auditory, visual, kinesthetic and the others).

3. Brain dominance (concrete sequential = left brained or visual spatial = right brained)

There is what works for mom and what works for the kids. In non-dictatorship home schools, IMO the learning is customized to each child as best as possible to give a unique learning experience which is a major reason why I am homeschooling (and why some others are too, for freedom in learning not just to escape being inside of a school building).

It is not easy to let go of our own ideas to do what is best for a child.

It is not easy if the family has more than one child and the kids are different, since sometimes radically different activities and learning experiences wind up being done with each kid (lots of work for mom).

I should probably blog about this to go deeper into what I discovered and what my opinions are so I don’t hog up your comments space.

If anyone wants more info on what the difference is between right and left brained learners see the article authored by Linda Silverman, just google her name and “visual spatial” and it comes up on her site (for gifted kids).

By: Dana

Dana — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:06:38 +0000

I always feel like I’m being lazy when I feed her worksheets. OK, maybe that is because I usually am being lazy when I do that, but she loves them. Learning to let go is a long (life long?) process, at least for me.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:15:54 +0000

Have you looked at Cathy Duffy’s “Top 100 Homeschool Picks” (or something like that)? The first half of the book is a look at learning styles and she discusses how our learning style is going to also be our “go to” teaching style. She discusses the need to meet our children’s learning styles, but also recognizing that we have to take our teaching style into account.

How this works out for me is that I just chose curricula with certain styles (mine or the child’s) in moderation: not all kinesthetic, nor all visual. And I tend to overcompensate in the area of each of our weaknesses (a good kinesthetic approach in the kinesthetic learner’s weak area; a good visual approach in my, the teacher’s, weak area).

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:18:57 +0000

I have workbook-and-clearly-defined-assignment lovers too. The Scientist, I’m learning, doesn’t like oral narration because she isn’t comfortable speaking out loud. She’s not crazy about written narration either. However, when I mentioned that I was putting study guides together for her to work on independently (because I want her to do some deeper thinking than plain old narration requires), she was thrilled. She doesn’t like when I draw spelling words from her ordinary, non-assigned writing, and she doesn’t want to write about her interests as part of lessons (even though kids are “supposed to” prefer that, aren’t they? Truth is, she does lots of writing about her interests). She likes knowing what I expect of her so she can comply and move on, keeping her own interests, writing, and projects as her own intellectual and creative territory. I’m learning to just determine what I think is most necessary for study, make some sort of well-defined requirement, and give her time and space to do her own thing.

By: abby

abby — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:54:54 +0000

Ah, this is another way homeschooling is hard sometimes, isn’t it? I’ve realized over the last couple of years that while my older son learns well in my lang-based teaching style, he has a lot of visual learning gifts as well that I rarely utilize. It is hard to stretch ourselves- but being aware of it is a big step, right?

And on the plus side, isn’t it easier to find a good workbook than spend hours putting together creative hands-on projects, or is that just my lazy bias talking?