Homeschoolers with Unique Learning Styles? It’s All Good Learning!
There are a million great ways to homeschool. The best way is the one that fits your children’s unique learning styles. Not everyone learns the same way. The challenge is to find the way that will help YOUR child learn. Here is what Carol says about her daughter’s graduation.
My daughter Sarah was homeschooled from 1st grade to her high school graduation in May 2011. It was one of the joys of my life to homeschool her. She’s a lot of fun to have around and always laughs at my jokes. I’m going to miss her when she heads off to college in the fall.
Sarah learned differently from me, my husband and my older daughter. She is very visual and I had to adapt to her style of learning. I remember thinking she would never learn her multiplication tables. We drilled, did timed tests, bought cute computer games, but she still struggled until I bought a book with funny cartoons and a story of the multiplication facts. That clicked with Sarah! I asked her, “Isn’t it easier to just memorize the facts than to remember the cartoon and story?” “Not to me!” she replied. That’s when I realized this daughter learned differently!
Sarah discovered a love of photography in early high school and started a micro business doing senior pictures. She will be majoring in Media Communications at Taylor University in Indiana. I’m very proud of her and I look forward to what she will learn in her next phase of life and where her skills, talents and education will take her! Sure, I’ll miss her, but how can I be sad, when she is so happy to start the next phase of her life?
Carol Topp
MicroBusinessForTeens.com
Don’t worry about having your child learn the same way as everyone else. Focus on getting your child to LEARN. That’s the skill that will last a lifetime and determine success in college. If you are stuck and don’t know how to begin determine children’s unique learning styles, Cynthia Tobias’ The Way They Learn may be helpful.
Please note: This post was originally published in June 2011 and has been revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
If you need any extra help, you will appreciate my Gold Care Club, with templates and tools that will help you along.
I’m happy to report that Sarah did very well in college. She got an A in her required math class and will graduate in May 2015 with honors.
She’s a Film Production major with a Photography minor (I’m an engineer turned accountant!), but I love going to movies with her because she explains cinematography and camera angles to me. I also have hired her to do graphic design and edit videos for me. Things I am horrible at!
It has been so fun to see her use her unique gifts and talents. I’ve continued to appreciate the way she learns and sees the world, even though it is very different from my way of learning and seeing the world.
Dear Carol,
It’s a HUGE blessing to see a mom who appreciates the gifts that the Lord gives her children, and encourages them to pursue a future that puts those gifts to work, while helping them strengthen those areas where they are not as strongly inclined! Well done, mom!
Robin
Assistant to The HomeScholar