Learning Styles
Home-Schooling: Learning Styles
The underlying claim
Home-schooling philosophy rests on the observation that different people have different learning styles, so different teaching methods must be used if learning is the objective.
Definition
A learning style is a method of perceiving and processing information.
Physical (kinesthetic)
- Identifiable through restlessness.
- These learners think best while on the move.
Intrapersonal
- Usually shy and introverted.
- Think better when allowed to focus completely and independently.
- Excel with self-paced activities or independent projects.
- Prefer to do things alone rather than as part of a large group.
Interpersonal
- Often described as social butterflies.
- Enjoy group activities and time sharing ideas.
- Always anxious to help.
- Volunteer for anything involving interaction.
- Cooperate well; prefer researching and performing tasks in small groups.
Linguistic
- Language is important.
- Wonderful vocabulary, used in both writing and speech.
- Almost always found with a book.
- Enjoy speeches, oral reports, reading, creative writing.
- Gain knowledge by listening to lectures, reading textbooks, trading anecdotes.
Mathematical
- Thrive in logic.
- Understand and follow rules, often to the letter.
- Keen understanding of mathematics, numbers, and patterns.
- Enjoy brain teasers and math puzzles.
- Benefit most by experimenting and using statistics and calculations.
Musical
- Feel musically; sing and hum constantly.
- Hear and understand melodies in the world around them.
- Music links to mathematics: the study of numbers in time.
- Understand the mathematics in musical rhythm.
Visual
- Doodlers and artists; keen understanding of colour and lines.
- Pictures, images, and art appeal to them.
- Enjoy painting, graphing, creating maps.
- Use drawing, diagrams, colours, and spatial relationships to understand lessons.
Identifying Learning Styles
Mixed styles
A child’s learning style might be one of these or a mix of two or more.
Best-suited methods
By identifying the child’s style(s), parents can find methodologies that help the child succeed.
The struggling child
In a classroom, teachers often cannot identify why a child is struggling because they have many children to teach. A home-schooling parent can identify the child’s learning style and find activities that work with it.
Practical observation
Home-schooling parents must understand whether their child learns best by writing facts, drawing images, or talking about scenarios.
A central conviction of home-schooling is that children learn in different ways, and education that ignores these differences fails many of the children it claims to serve. The article works through the standard learning-style typology home-schooling uses and how parents can identify and match the style of their particular child.
Learning styles and why they matter
Home-schooling philosophy rests on a specific empirical claim: different people have different learning styles, and different teaching methods must be employed if real learning is to happen. A child who is taught in a way that matches their learning style will learn well; a child who is taught in a way that does not match will learn poorly, even though the same content is being presented to both.
A learning style, in the working definition home-schoolers use, is a method of perceiving and processing information. The two halves of the definition matter. Perceiving is how the child takes in information from the environment: through sight, hearing, touch, movement, or some combination. Processing is what the child does with the information once it is taken in: how they organise it, what they connect it to, how they store it for later use. Both halves vary across children, and both halves shape how the child actually learns.
The implication for teaching is direct. A teacher who presents content in only one mode (typically verbal lecture supplemented by written text) will succeed with children whose learning styles match that mode and fail with children whose styles do not. The conventional classroom presents content in a narrow range of modes; the children whose styles fit do well, and the children whose styles do not are diagnosed as having learning difficulties or as being insufficiently motivated. Home-schooling allows the parent to present content in modes that fit the particular child’s style.
A modern note about learning-style theory is worth flagging. The strong claim that there are discrete, stable learning styles which determine how any individual child learns best has been contested by educational research over the past two decades. The empirical support for matching teaching style to identified learning style is weaker than the home-schooling literature usually claims. The weaker version of the claim (that children vary in their preferences and that varied teaching methods reach more children than uniform methods) has more empirical support. A modern educator can take the home-schooling commitment to varied methods seriously without endorsing the strongest version of learning-style theory.
The seven styles the home-schooling literature most commonly identifies are physical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, linguistic, mathematical, musical, and visual. The list is drawn partly from Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory, which the home-schooling movement absorbed early on. The next sections work through each style.
A method of perceiving and processing information; children with different styles need teaching presented in different modes
A learning style covers both how the child takes information in (sight, hearing, touch, movement) and how they process it once it is in. Both halves vary across children. The implication: a teacher who presents content in only one mode succeeds with matching children and fails with others. Conventional classrooms present narrow modes; home-schooling lets parents match the mode to the particular child. The strong version of learning-style theory has been contested by recent research, but the weaker version (varied teaching reaches more children) has empirical support.
The seven learning styles
The first style is physical or kinesthetic. The physical learner is identifiable through restlessness in conventional settings. They cannot sit still for long periods; they need to move while they learn. These learners think best while on the move. The conventional classroom, with its requirement of long periods of sitting, works against the kinesthetic learner. A home-schooling parent can let the child stand, walk, or even pace while engaging with lessons; the movement supports rather than disrupts the learning.
The second is intrapersonal. These learners are usually shy and introverted. They think better when allowed to focus completely and independently. Self-paced activities or independent projects suit them well. They prefer to do things alone rather than as part of a large group. The intrapersonal learner can do excellent work, but the conventional classroom’s emphasis on group activities and verbal participation often does not match their style. A home-schooling parent can give them the independent project time they need.
The third is interpersonal. These learners are often described as social butterflies. They enjoy group activities and the time spent sharing ideas. They are always anxious to help. They volunteer for anything that allows interaction with others. Interpersonal learners cooperate well with others and enjoy researching and performing tasks with small groups of people rather than independently. The conventional classroom can suit them, especially when it includes group work; home-schooling families with multiple children can support them, as can co-operative arrangements with other home-schooling families.
The fourth is linguistic. Language is important to the linguistic learner. They have a wonderful vocabulary and use it in both written and spoken language. They will almost always be found with a book. These learners enjoy giving speeches and oral reports almost as much as they enjoy reading and creative writing. They gain knowledge by listening to lectures, reading textbooks, and trading anecdotes. Conventional schools, with their heavy verbal emphasis, can suit linguistic learners reasonably well; home-schooling can extend the verbal opportunities to match their preferences exactly.
The fifth is mathematical. Mathematical learners thrive in logic. They understand and follow rules, often to the letter. They have a keen understanding of mathematics, numbers, and patterns. They enjoy brain teasers and math puzzles. These learners benefit most by experimenting and using statistics and calculations. The conventional curriculum’s mathematical content can suit them, but only if it goes beyond rote computation into the deeper structures they enjoy. Home-schooling can let them engage with more advanced mathematics earlier than the conventional sequence allows.
The sixth is musical. These learners simply feel musically. They sing and hum all the time. They hear and understand melodies in the world around them. Music is often linked to mathematics; it is a study of numbers in time (the same link the Quadrivium made in the classical tradition). Musical learners understand the mathematics in musical rhythm. A home-schooling parent can use musical patterns and rhythms as teaching aids for these learners; counting set to music, history learned through period songs, vocabulary practised through chants and songs.
The seventh is visual. Visual learners are doodlers and artists and everything in between. They have a keen understanding of colour and lines. Pictures, images, and art appeal to them. The visual learner enjoys painting, graphing, and creating maps. Drawing charts, creating diagrams, using colours, and spatial relationships gives understanding to the lessons they are learning. A home-schooling parent can incorporate visual elements liberally across subjects to support these learners.
Physical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, linguistic, mathematical, musical, and visual
Physical/kinesthetic: think best while moving. Intrapersonal: shy, introverted, focus best independently. Interpersonal: social, group-oriented, cooperative. Linguistic: language-loving, always with a book, enjoy speeches. Mathematical: thrive in logic, follow rules, understand patterns. Musical: feel musically, link music to mathematics in time. Visual: doodlers, artists, understand through pictures and colour. A child’s style might be one of these or a mix of two or more.
Identifying the child’s style
These are the general learning styles; home-schooling parents need to identify which style or styles best fit their particular child. A child’s learning style might be one of these styles or a mix of two or more. The mixing is common; many children show preferences across multiple styles, and the combinations vary.
By identifying the learning style or styles that best suit a child, parents possess the information that allows them to proactively find the methodologies to help the child on the path of successful learning. The identification is not a one-time event; the parent watches how the child engages with different kinds of material, what they enjoy, what they avoid, what they remember, what they struggle with. Over time, a pattern emerges.
Often, children struggle in the conventional classroom, and the teacher is unable to identify the reasons because they have many children to teach. A teacher with thirty students cannot give each one the individual attention needed to identify a learning-style mismatch. The struggle gets diagnosed as a problem with the child (insufficient effort, learning disability, behavioural issue) when it may actually be a problem with the teaching mode not matching the child’s style.
By undertaking their child’s education themselves, parents are in a better position to identify the learning style and find activities, or a combination of activities, that may work well with that child’s individual style. The parent has more time with the child, more chances to observe, more flexibility to try different methods. The identification work that a conventional school cannot do, a home-schooling parent often can.
Home-schooling parents need to be able to understand what method of learning best fits the needs of their child: whether they learn by writing down facts, by drawing images, by talking about scenarios, by physical activity, or by some combination. The practical understanding is what enables the matched teaching that the learning-style philosophy calls for.
Through ongoing observation of how the child engages with different kinds of material, what they enjoy, what they avoid, what they remember
The identification is not a one-time event; the parent watches over time, and a pattern emerges. A child’s style might be one of the seven or a mix of two or more. A conventional teacher with thirty students cannot do the individual observation needed; a home-schooling parent has more time, more chances to observe, and more flexibility to try different methods. The practical understanding (does this child learn by writing, drawing, talking, or doing?) is what enables the matched teaching.
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