After getting an idea of the different homeschool styles or philosophies, the next thing you want to do is get an idea of your child’s learning style, and just as important, your teaching style. We’ll focus on learning styles here, because you will probably find your teaching style along the way.
There are several schools of thought on learning styles. Some feel that there are seven or eight styles, but I’m going to focus on the four basic VARK styles. Before I begin I feel I need to say that this is in no way meant to be a comprehensive assessment of your child. No child is common or typical so I don’t believe there is ever one size that fits all. This is just to give you a general idea, or a jumping off point to start discovering the best way to teach your child.
I am not a neuro scientist or an educational expert, but I do love learning about the brain. Every first grader knows about the five senses and the way our brain uses the sensory system to gather learn about the world around us. In my non-expert opinion, the senses are the foundation of learning styles. Keep reading, I think you will see why.
What I find with my own kids is that they tend to have one dominant learning style and a strong secondary style. The commonly accepted idea is that we only have one dominate style, but that is not my experience with my kids. We have five senses, so I don’t think we can say we only have one that is strong enough to learn.
VARK Learning Styles
Let’s start with VARK. Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic. I actually think this can be narrowed down even more by eliminating reading/writing from the list (that could easily fall under visual learning). Since VAK doesn’t sound as good as VARK we’ll leave it. We’ll begin with V.
Visual (Seeing)
As the name suggests, visual learners need to see to learn. Kids that are visual learners tend to thrive off of models, diagrams and written instruction. Your child might be a visual learner if:
They love beautiful pictures and illustrations (like picture books and art studies)
They have a good memory for written facts or things they’ve read
They tend to observe and learn from the world around them
My youngest son is a visual learner, as am I. He does well with the Charlotte Mason method of learning as there is a lot of observation and making connections from those observations. I also mix in some traditional type of materials as he learns better by looking at examples on a worksheet than having things explained to him.
Auditory (Hearing)
Auditory learners learn by hearing. They tend to be talkers too and thrive off of a conversational teaching style. They love being read to and need to talk through instructions. You may have an auditory learner if:
They enjoy auditory input such as music
They strongly prefer being read to or audio books over reading on their own
They can easily follow verbal instructions or explanations
My oldest is primarily a kinesthetic learner but his strong secondary style is auditory. He does well with a mix of literature based curriculum as he has always loved being read to and DVD based traditional curriculum. I can’t just hand him a workbook and expect him to learn from the visuals in the book, so DVDs are essentials so he gets the explanation and direct teaching I don’t always have time for.
Reading/Writing (Seeing)
I won’t say too much about this style as I think it can be part of other styles with many traits that are similar to visual learning. The best description of a student with this style would be the constant studier, or the bookworm. Your child might fit into this style if:
They like to read and write outside of school work
They write down instructions to stay on task
They are a note taker
This learning style screams traditional or classical education. I think this type of student can thrive with either education method.
Kinesthetic (Touch sometimes taste)
Last but not least is the kinesthetic learner. These students learn with their whole body. They need to touch and experience what they are learning. No matter what curriculum they use, they need a hands on component.
Your child might be a kinesthetic learner if:
They like to move or fidget while they are learning
They need to keep their hands busy in order to follow instructions
They like to do crafts or fix things (also take things apart in my experience)
My oldest is a hands on learner, but this is totally out of my element as far as teaching style. I am not the crafty type. Thank goodness he has strong auditory tendencies or I’d be in trouble. He does get his experiential learning when we travel as we like to experience as many things as we can on our trips. These types of learners would thrive off of unschooling or unit studies. Most curriculum styles work as long as you add in the field trips, cooking projects, and manipulatives. The exception might be the classical method as it is a bit more rigid, but even that can be modified by the creative parent to make it more hands on.
That’s a wrap on learning styles. Here’s a fun learning styles quiz you can take (not my quiz and I don’t make any guarantees, it’s just for fun). You will probably read this over and over again on my page, but don’t worry if you don’t figure this all out right away. Even though I knew my kids’ learning styles from the beginning, there was still a lot of trial and error finding a style and curriculum that worked for us. I hope I have given you some good ideas that you can take and make your own. You know your child best and you will figure out what works!