Page 33 - North State Parent April 2020

for community By Christina Katz
A More Adventurous
Approach to Education –
Exploring Learning Styles to Enrich Your Child’s Life as Well as Your Own
School should be an adventure in learning, and so should life. But if you have not taken the time to observe how your child learns best,
your child might be struggling in school unnecessarily. Identifying prominent learning styles in children is crucial in helping them identify their strengths and overcome their weaknesses as they progress into a more diverse spectrum of courses grade after grade. We often need- lessly separate creativity from learning. But when parents help children understand their dominant learning styles, parent and child can both use this knowledge to improve the child’s experiences, not only in school, but also in life.
Most people use a combination of learning styles. Do you know yours? Generally, there are six types of
learning styles: visual, auditory, verbal, kinesthetic, tac- tile and logical. As a parent, knowing your own learning styles helps you become a better lifelong learner and a better learning coach for your child.
You might think your children will possess the same proclivities as you. But even though there may be some overlap, each person’s learning style is uniquely their own. For example, my daughter seems more vi- sual than me and more auditory, is likely equally kines- thetic, but maybe not quite as verbal. Logic and tactile probably fall lower on both our lists, whereas her dad, my husband, likely dominates these last two learning categories in our home, as well as being highly visual and auditory.
You don’t have to get tested to find out what kind of learners are living in your house. You simply have to be willing to reflect on what makes each of you tick. Where do you see a family member leaning in, and where do you see a family member leaning out? This is usually enough information to help you experiment with learning styles and see how they benefit each member of the family.
Under each category, I’ve listed approaches for test-driving each type of learning style. Why not invite the whole family to explore their learning styles and report back on what they discover? You’ll learn things about yourselves and each other that will make your ad-
ventures in life and learning more enjoyable.
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