Have you noticed how different your younger child is in comparison to your older child?
You might have found that your older child responded better to visual stimuli and could sit and learn without fidgeting.
Why is your younger child battling when it comes to sitting down and learning? Why won’t the same images excite your younger child?
If you are asking yourself these questions, you are already acknowledging that each of your children has a different preferred learning style.
As a parent, you may be wondering how you can identify what learning style your child prefers. Well, the truth is that the learning style that your child prefers won’t also be apparent when you just look at your child. So, as a parent, you may need to dig a little deeper to find out what your child’s preferred learning style is. We have to mention that it won’t be easy at first, but it surely will be worth all the digging. Trying to find out what your child’s preferred learning style is will give you the chance to bond with your child some more and may allow you to learn about your own preferred learning style too.
Put on your investigator suits mom and dad and let’s investigate learning styles!
One thing to note when you set off on this journey to identify your child's desired learning style is that there is no set-in-stone method on how to investigate. You can play around with the idea of teaching your child differently each day.
However, we have a few suggestions to make the process of investigating your child’s preferred learning style simpler.
You will need to watch your child. When your child is alone, what does he or she reach for? Does your child enjoy reading and writing? Does your child learn new words from television shows? Does your child enjoy moving around and finding new objects to play with?
Is your child drawn to looking at pictures more than words?
There are many questions you need to ask yourself when you observe how your child interacts with objects at home. You may also need to look at how interested your child seems when doing a particular task. If your child enjoys doing worksheets for homework, you will need to make note of this. If your child doesn’t enjoy reading and gets bored easily, take note of this too. You also need to observe for how long your child enjoys doing a task before getting bored or annoyed with the task.
The best way to identify how your child prefers to learn is by trying to incorporate different objects and types of resources during learning time. You can use a worksheet one day, and an audiobook the next. Try to be creative when teaching your child a single concept. See if your child performs better to complete a task when he or she is given verbal instructions or when the instruction is written down.
Ask your child how he or she prefers to learn. Probe as to whether your child will enjoy reading a book or listening to an audiobook. Ask your child if he or she will learn to spell the word, "CAT,' better if it is written down, spelt out verbally, or when he or she has to write out the word a few times. Your child will be able to tell you what he or she prefers and this is your best indicator.
At parent meetings, it is good to ask your child's teacher what your child is good at and where he or she needs improvement. If your child's teacher mentions that your child doesn't enjoy writing, your child's preferred learning style may not be reading and writing.
The thing to remember is that your child’s preferred learning style is not set in stone either. It may change as your child grows older, so make sure to keep an eye on your child constantly over the years to see if you notice any changes in how your child chooses to learn something.
The process of identifying your child's desired learning style need not be tedious and mind-boggling. Try not to think too much about it and have fun with the idea of introducing new methods to help your child learn.
Here are some activities to try for the different learning styles
If your child is a visual learner, he or she would bevery good at visualizing ideas. Your child may also prefer color coding andnotice differences in shapes and objects.
You will need to get your child to doodle and draw ideas to get your child to learn a concept. You should encourage the use of color when learning. Highlighting a word with a certain sound and highlighting another word that sounds similar in the same color may help your child recognize and identify the sound produced by the words. Use images or drawings to reinforce concepts taught.
If your child is more of an auditory learner, he orshe will prefer listening to you over having to read the information. You willnotice that your child is an auditory learner if your child is good atrepeating after you.
You will need to use apps that provide verbal instructions to get your child going. Use the voice recorder on your phone should you wish to teach your child something so that your child can listen to it again.
If your child prefers to learn by reading and writing, you will notice when your child chooses to read out words that he or she knows by himself or herself. Your child will want to write down what he or she is learning.
Use books on your tablet to encourage learning. Buy your child notepads so that your child can write things down. For the child who enjoys writing, worksheets work best.
If your child is a kinesthetic learner, he or she will enjoy hands-on activities. You will often find your child bouncing about and moving around while learning.
To cater to your child who enjoys movement, allow your child to walk around with the shape that he or she is learning about. In this way, your child can feel the shape and count the sides of the shape. Use experiments to explain concepts as well. You can even get your child to use clay to model the object that your child is learning about.
You may be watching your child like a hawk as you are reading this in hopes that you will discover what his or her desired learning style is. The truth is all parents should try and uncover their child’s desired learning style to make learning more fun.
While you are still going through the steps of uncovering your child's learning style, remember to use learning apps to not only make learning fun but to help your child learn irrespective of what your child's desired learning style is. Interactive games and apps work to keep visual learners stimulated while catering to auditory and kinesthetic learners too. There may also be some reading and typing in these games and apps that will work great for those kids who prefer reading and writing.
We hope investigating your child's desired learning style is not too difficult.
While reading this, have you uncovered your own preferred learning style?