4/14/2024 0 Comments Homeschool roadblocks game![]() ![]() I saw four basic categories being represented: tactile and kinesthetic were there, but as two separate and distinct styles, plus visual (seeing), and auditory (hearing/saying). I watched kids at our homeschool group activities and kids at play I watched parents at the grocery store and people of all ages wherever I saw them. I started making notes of how people acted and what people did that could be indicators of how they would learn best. I further read the descriptions of how these numerous categories were supposed to be utilized, and I again thought “Okay, this child does do this, but he/she would be totally bored by that method… and what about the other subjects that don’t work that way at all?” What to do… what to do? Other learning style proponents created far too many divisions, leaving me even more confused, as my children seemed to fit some of the criteria from each and every category, without dominating any single one. ![]() However, my kitchen table was home to one very tactile child, who was not so very kinesthetic, and one very kinesthetic child, who was not so very tactile. Many of them combined tactile (touching) with kinesthetic (moving), as though they were one and the same style of learning. Those scholarly works on learning styles either contained too few or too many categories. (See the links at the end of this article) I eventually wrote my own books on learning styles, and my methods have been proven successful over and over again in my own children, in the children of my friends, and in the children whose parents have attended my workshops or read my books and blog articles. ![]() Some of those trends were repeated in other kids (and adults) we knew, and I realized that learning styles are revealed more in the things we do away from the lessons, than they are in any particular learning situation, and the teaching methods that will be most effective will be tailored to match those preferred, leisure-time activities. As I paid attention to what my kids did throughout their days (not just during school time), I began to spot some very consistent trends. Child “B” fit most of the descriptions from that list, but its suggested teaching methods didn’t interest him in the least. Child “A” did seem to fit with several items on this checklist, but not that one or that one, and these three items she would never do in a million-billion years. I had two case studies sitting at my own kitchen table that disproved most of the things I was reading about how kids were supposed to learn and how they should be taught. I read many scholarly-sounding explanations that looked very impressive on paper (or on-screen), but they failed to hold up in practice. However, the learning style descriptions that I found in my studying also did not match the reality I was living. I began studying learning styles when the teaching methods I was using did not work well at all with how my children actually learned. Note that this information applies equally to boys and girls behaviors and fictional names are used for examples only. Based on these descriptions and what you already know about your own children, draw your own conclusions and make your own decisions. Regardless of what you’ve heard or read before about children, about how they learn, or about the things that influence learning, I ask you to put aside all those preconceived ideas and consider what you are about to read with an open mind. ![]()
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