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| Date: From: Subject: | 10/21/2010 10:19:33 AM Home School Legal Defense Association HSLDA's Homeschooling Thru the Early Years Newsletter--October 2010 |
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- HSLDA's Homeschooling Thru the Early Years Newsletter October 2010--How Do They Learn? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---[ Take the struggle out of spelling! ]----------------------------- Are you looking for the best way to teach spelling? All About Spelling brings clarity to spelling, with step-by-step lesson plans, multisensory learning, and built-in daily review. http://www.hslda.org/alink.asp?ID=273 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Friends, Children learn best if they can place new material in the context of what they already know, sort of like having "hooks" on which to hang the new material. Jesus did this with his disciples, every time he said, "Ye have heard it said... I say unto you...." They also need to understand the relevance of what they are learning: "What am I trying to learn and why do I need to know this?" They need a clear picture of the goal toward which they are working. Imagine handing your child a thousand-piece puzzle. Do you give him all the pieces with no box, and expect him to put it all together? Or do you give him the pieces with a picture so he can see what it should look like when he is finished? He will probably group all the sky together first, or build the straight-edged border first and then add on from there--beginning with what is familiar to him (his hooks) and fitting the new pieces in from there. Your child's natural strength and learning preference is his learning style. The sensory way he remembers things is his learning modality. According to Cynthia Tobias in The Way They Learn, http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=9436 five guidelines can help you understand how your child learns and processes new material best: 1. Observe patterns of behavior. When your child experiences success, what were the circumstances? 2. Listen to how he communicates with you. This is generally what he needs back. 3. Experiment with what works and what doesn't. Keep an open mind. We don't all learn the same way. 4. Focus on natural strengths, not just weaknesses. It's easier to pinpoint weaknesses and work on them, but we should also build on the strengths. This gives us a better foundation! 5. Learn more about learning styles in general. Pay attention to your child and to yourself. We all overlap in the different categories, so use your learning styles results as a guideline, not as a hard-and-fast rule or to label your child. The goal is to help you find ways to unlock your child's mind to be receptive to the knowledge and information you want to input. In other words: He is accountable to let you know the key isn't fitting--not to make it fit! Your job is to find the right key. Learning Styles Dr. Anthony Gregorc's model of learning styles is the basis of many studies and approaches to learning: PERCEPTION is how we take in or seek out information to gain knowledge: The concrete learner utilizes the senses, dealing with what is here and now, the obvious. He may have challenges looking for hidden meanings, subtle clues, or trying to make connections between ideas or concepts. What you see is what you get! The abstract learner visualizes or conceives ideas, to understand what he can't see. Think: intuition, imagination, intellect. We use both, but which is dominant? This will influence how your child best learns new information. By the way, almost all young children start out as concrete thinkers, but as they mature, some develop greater abstract thinking abilities than others. ORDERING is the way we use the information we perceive, or how we sort information to reach conclusions: The sequential learner follows a step by step, logical train of thought and prefers a conventional approach with a plan. He follows the steps. On the other hand, the random thinker organizes information in chunks, skips steps, and still produces desired results. He might even start in middle or end and work backwards. Sometimes he seems impulsive or spontaneous, and doesn't seem to have a plan! We are all a bit of both styles, but which is dominant? This will influence what your child does with the information he gathers. Again, I stress that there is great overlap as we evaluate learning styles because most of us have a combination of learning styles, but we are usually dominant in one style. One of the most fascinating realizations, as I read through Cynthia Tobias' book, was that the little "synopsis" page for each learning style (at the end of each style chapter) was written in a format that would be attractive to that particular style. I figured that out when I had trouble concentrating on or "following" any of the pages other than that of my dominant style! How does your child concentrate? Where should he study? How quiet should it be? What about lighting? Is the temperature okay? What about food? You might have him draw a picture of the ideal study place, then do an experiment: For 2-3 weeks, let him pick where, how, when to study. If he gets his work done well, he's okay. If not, he goes by your methods. If your child has trouble identifying preferences, try options. Let him study in noisy room and in quiet room, in bright room and dimmer room, etc. How does he remember? While we use many of our senses to take in the information, to understand and remember what we are learning, there is usually one that is more dominant. This is called our learning modality. These learning modalities are generally divided into three categories, with sub-categories: 1. Visual a) Pictures b) Words 2. Auditory a) Listening b) Verbal 3. Kinesthetic/tactile Notice that it is possible for your child to be auditory and still have trouble processing things he hears, if he processes by speaking, not hearing (verbal vs. listening). He may need to talk through things to work out a solution for himself. He may be visual and still not be able to follow a map, but be able to follow written directions well and to remember them by their position on a page. When I had to recollect information for a test, I could often recall the material by visualizing the words on my notebook page. A kinesthetic learner needs to move to process information. The movement may not be remotely related to the material, but he still needs that motor movement to process (pacing, stepping up steps with each math fact, riding an exercise bike, etc.). A tactile learner must be touching things, squeezing a ball, building with Legos, coloring, etc. This is the learner who needs sandpaper letters, lots of manipulatives, etc. Kinesthetic and tactile learners are great candidates for lots of hands-on activities (look at Konos for starters, or be sure to incorporate lots of activities into your other curriculum). http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=9437 How does he understand? Although some learning assessments include this as a separate part of learning styles, it seems to often run parallel to concrete vs. abstract (or left brained vs. right brained). The analytical learner is detail oriented, left brained, and tends to prefer to work alone. He is very logical and self motivated. He often finds the facts but misses the main idea. Do you remember having to analyze literature in high school? I never "got it" till someone pointed out the hidden meaning. In an inductive Bible study, I had trouble with the initial overview and was usually the only one who didn't recognize the big picture without lots of help! For a long time, I just thought I was dense; now I know that I see the details. In other words, an analytical learner "can't see the forest for the trees." An analytical person gets frustrated by not being able to complete something before going on to the next task, by having to deal with generalities, and by not feeling prepared for the task at hand. Global learners are relational, "big picture," right brained, and tend to be people persons. They see the relationships between things and can "read between the lines." They often see many options for solutions or processes. They need to be able to relate what they are doing to "real life." Our children are unique The goal in evaluating their learning styles is not to "label" our children or put them in the proverbial education box, but to understand what makes sense to them, what frustrates them (or us!), and how we can best help them to process, understand, and use their knowledge. Concretely and sequentially yours, Vicki B. Vicki Bentley HSLDA Early Years coordinator "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works..." (Psalm 139:14 NKJV) Additional Resources "Learning Styles Resources" - Many links to helpful resources, books, articles, and assessments (HSLDA Early Years) http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=9438 "Know Your Students: Identify Their Personal Learning Styles" http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=9439 by Inge Cannon http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=9440 AppLe St. (Applied Learning Styles) - Cynthia Tobias' website http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=9441 Home Ed Expert is a tool developed by home schooling specialists to help you find the curricula and resources that best fit your goals and teaching style, as well as your students' unique needs and learning styles. http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=9442 "Five Models of Learning Styles" by Mary E. Askew; The Teaching Home e-newsletter No. 256 http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=9443 "Five Children: Five Personalities" by Joy Marie Dunlap; The Teaching Home e-newsletter No. 256 http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=9444 Do you seem to have a "struggling learner" who seems frustrated despite all your efforts to work within his learning style? Visit HSLDA's Homeschooling a Struggling Learner section http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=9445, and to help you overcome a learning glitch, HSLDA coordinator Dianne offers helpful resources and information at www.diannecraft.org. Parts of this newsletter were excerpted or adapted from Home Education 101 by Vicki Bentley or adapted from points in Cynthia Tobias' They Way They Learn. For more detailed information, see Cynthia's materials at www.applest.com/. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> How long are you in for? Some families are facing what seems like a lifelong commitment to homeschooling, with children at both ends of the spectrum -- some graduating and some just reaching school age. If you're going to be "in" for a while, consider a lifetime membership with HSLDA. It's a good deal for families with more than 10 years of homeschooling ahead. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1936 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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