As parents, it’s easy to think our struggles or our children’s struggles come down to a clash in learning styles. Think about the last time you tried to help your child with a homework assignment and it didn’t go well.
- Did you wonder if you clash because you learn in (or teach from) a different learning style?
- Did your child say something like, “I can’t learn it that way,” or “This isn’t how my teacher does it”?
Sometimes in our rush to understand why a child is frustrated with school or homework, we naturally want to make a graph, put our child in one section of it, and find a solution that fits that section. This is normal and understandable — God created us with a desire to empathize and come up with solutions.
Unfortunately, when it comes to learning, none of us are just one coordinate on a line graph. We look more like a Venn Diagram with a variety of learning preferences that are true to different degrees and in different situations. For example, we may be an introvert, but it does not mean we don’t enjoy being around people. Or we may understand one subject through charts and graphs, but another subject makes more sense when we hear it read aloud while we are doing something with our hands. (Does this make us an audi-visual-kini learner? Maybe.)
It’s important to recognize that we all operate within a continuum of learning styles. Very rarely does a person fall so extremely on one end of a learning spectrum that he or she can’t learn differently. It’s a myth to believe that there is a specific one-way learning street, and you can’t go the opposite direction or sit somewhere in the middle.
There are no one-way streets in learning. Roundabouts are a little more accurate.
We have an entire series on learning styles, and we hope it will give you a little more understanding of how you are wired and how your children are wired. God created us so uniquely, and His designs are perfect.
When we discern how our children learn best, we are better equipped to meet their learning needs. Knowing how our children learn best is valuable whether our kids are homeschooled, in private school, attend public school or a hybrid school. It doesn’t require a degree in education, but with a little insight, we can help our children make progress on their learning journeys.