Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike:
Many resources are available that can help you identify your child’s learning style, both online and at the library. You’ll find checklists, detailed descriptions, and suggested teaching tools. If possible, have your child fill out a learning-style checklist herself. By combining your child’s perspective with your own observation, you’ll be able to confidently identify her learning style. There’s no formula for teaching each particular learning style. Just dive in—and have fun! The point of identifying your child’s learning style is to make learning a joy, not a burdensome list of requirements. Ask your child for feedback as you try different teaching strategies. She can tell you when a lesson makes sense and when it doesn’t. She may even have suggestions for how she can learn more effectively.

As your child moves through the high school years, teach her how to take charge of her own education. You may even want to award high school credit for a course in learning styles and strategies. Have your student research ways to adapt various classes to her learning style. Challenge her to develop study techniques that take advantage of her unique strengths.

College and the working world can sometimes seem inflexible to the student who learns “outside the box.” But with a good knowledge of learning styles, your child will know how to make the transition with flair.

And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.