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The Rookie Workshop for New Homeschoolers


Part 4: Learning Styles


How to Design a Curriculum from Preschool Through High School
What your child needs to know, and when.



Understanding your child's learning style is one of the most important thing you'll need to know before you begin homeschooling. It'll impact everything you do from this point forward: which homeschooling style you choose, your teaching methods, and how long it will take your child to grasp what you're teaching. It will also determine your homeschooling satisfaction level. If you're teaching, but the kids aren't 'getting it', you're certainly not going to be very satisfied.

If you're not exactly sure how your child learns, a good way to find out is by getting them to do something engaging, like playing a game. Computer games don't quite cut the mustard here, because the visual focus is straight-ahead, making it harder for you to tell what your kidlet is actually doing. Board games work much better. Try ones you have on-hand already, or, if the kids are bored with those, try these newer versions. What we want to do here is capture their full attention.

Hail to the Chief! This is how my kids learned the Presidents.

Here & Now Monopoly Never mind boats and hats and owning a railroad. Play with RAZR cell phones, laptop computers, and buy the Mall of America. It's like Friday after Thanksgiving super-shopping mania. Except you get to stay home and avoid the fruitcake traffic.

Risk: Star Wars is great for your resident sci-fi fan.

CSI The Board Game Made for kids 13 years and older who want to be a super-sleuth for a few hours. (It's completely up to you if you also want to mention that all this "investigating stuff" just happens to be very educational.)

Sorry! Disney Starring the friendly characters that will appeal to littler ones.

Now, watch your child as they play and ask yourself: are they learning the game by reading the instructions? By listening to you? Through the actual playing of it?


The Basic Styles

I'll explain each one in brief, but remember, nothing is black and white. There are shades of grey and a wide variety of clues to watch for. Between playing games and observing, I'd also suggest doing some reading on learning and multiple intelligences. The detailed explanations will help clarify all that I'm saying here.

intheirownway
In Their Own Way and
Seven Kinds of Smart by Thomas Armstrong
7kindsofsmart


These are the books that helped me when I first started out, because they're not written in psycho-speak gobbledy-gook. I don't know about you, but I prefer Plain English.










The Visual Learner
This child likes to read, read, read and read some more: books, the backs of cereal boxes, street signs. These kids 'mentally visualize' what they read and will pour over the directions on that board game while you play. They also love to draw and doodle and usually have an adept sense of direction. (I add the 'usually' caveat, because I visualize what I read too, but tend to get lost on the way to 7-11.) They're also great at taking tests.


The Audio Learner
This child often prefers listening to you tell a bedtime story, rather than reading the words along with you. They may fidget or sit still while you explain the rules of the game, but they will absorb every word you say. They also enjoy rhymes, and playing musical instruments and/or singing.


The Kinesthetic (Hands-On) Learner
This one learns best by 'doing'. Of course, we all do that, but this child will probably not absorb well through reading or listening. If he can't "do it", he won't "learn it." These kids love activities like building with Legos, creating play-dough sculptures, playing sports, and taking things apart to see how they work. (Yup, that's probably what happened to your toaster, alright.)


The Eclectic Learner
Any combination of 2 or more of the above. Many of us fall into this category. (And this is that shades-of-grey thing I was mentioning before.)


Now, what do you do with all this knowledge? Be wise when choosing your curriculum. If you've got an Audio Learner, don't go out and buy a textbook-filled curriculum unless you have money to burn and like to be driven crazy. He won't learn from it, and you'll just get frustrated. Find alternatives to learn the same thing, like books-on-tape. Or talks given at the local planetarium.

If you've got a kinesthetic child, like my youngest, trust me - spend the money you were intending for your math program on a nice, extensive set of Legos or Lincoln Logs. Count them as you help build the structure. (261 pieces to make a snowman? Wow, how many would we need to build two snowmen?) Spell out words with your finger drawing in sand. Have lots of construction paper, markers and glue on-hand. Suggest that the child make his own board game for the family to play. Or signs for your upcoming garage sale.

A visual learner, like my oldest son, (the one who, to this day, reads until the cows come home), will often do fine with a textbook-filled curriculum. Just one word of caution. Don't, I repeat, do NOT pick a curriculum you like, but they don't. Let them choose. Start with used, and expect lots of changes! - until you both figure out what's the best fit.

Believe me on this stuff. It's the most useful advice I can ever give you.


Next: What Else Counts As Curriculum?