If you are like the many thousands of parents who have been recently converted unwillingly to homeschooling, it may have come as quite a shock to you that there are different learning styles, and even more so when you see your child’s schoolwork aligned to those different styles.
While many parents are aware of how their own children learn, coming to terms with the different styles of learning can be quite a shock and even open up some of their own wounds when it comes to remembering back to their schooling days.
Understanding learning styles is a good thing to do for learners of all ages, especially if you are considering taking on higher learning opportunities or continued professional development at work.
A Quick Note On IQ
IQ is not generally a determiner of learning styles, although some learning styles may be more suited to a formal academic environment, making it seem like they have a higher IQ than their peers.
In truth, there are different learning styles in every IQ bracket; it might be with you as a parent finding out what your IQ is, your learning style is, and how your IQ percentile matches up to others in your learning style bracket by using an online IQ percentile calculator.
The Seven Learning Styles
There are around seven noted learning styles, and each style reacts differently to different stimuli inside and outside of the classroom. If you can, adjust your parent lead learning to suit your child’s learning style, and they will thrive during this homeschooling break.
Spatial Learners
Spatial learners are visual learners. They do best with watching and repeating and work well when the materials are brightly colored and presented visually; they are especially well suited to watching tutorial videos on all kinds of lessons and following along with the tutorial.
Spatial learners also do well when they can interact with learning materials more physically, but not as well as physical learners themselves do.
Auditory Learners
Auditory learners are aural learners, preferring to learn by listening and taking things in.
These learners do well when there is an opportunity to listen to the materials and thrive when materials are resenting in audiobook format, lectures, or videos to learn the information.
Linguistic Learners
Linguistical learners are all about the words, and they thrive when there is the chance for them to get involved in words, including writing, and speaking.
If you want to help these learners thrive, make sure there is the opportunity to read and recite words and write their thoughts down.
Linguistic learners can often be twinned with solitary learning (intrapersonal) for quiet reflection time, but they may also like to be dramatic too.
Kinesthetic Learners
Kinesthetic learners are physical learners and enjoy movement as they are learning and interacting with their learning environment.
These learners thrive best when they can physically interact with the materials, and they love hands-on opportunities like art classes, drama, sports, and anything else that involves being physical.
Many kinesthetic learners will love playing musical instruments.
Mathematical and Logical Learners
Logical learners are often solitary learners, but this is not always the case. They love numbers and logic and are great at planning and figuring things out.
While many learning styles can be adapted for most careers, logical learners are usually found in carers such as computer science and engineering because of the focus and attention to detail required to get the job done.
Interpersonal Learners
The social butterflies of the learning community, interpersonal learners love being around other people when they learn and thrive best in team environments, especially in leadership positions.
Interpersonal learners may also present as similar to the more outgoing learning styles such as the visual learners and especially kinesthetic learners, but the most important thing is that social learners are given that group learning opportunity.
If you are new to homeschooling and your child is a social learner, they are more likely than any other learning style to struggle with the reduced social interactions that will come from homeschool, so particular attention must be played towards giving their social side a stretch, even if it is via video conferencing.
Intrapersonal Learners
On the other end of the spectrum, interpersonal learners are more solitary and tend to be quieter learners.
They will thrive in an independent learning environment, and you may not be surprised to see your intrapersonal learning style child thoroughly enjoying homeschooling away from the distractions of the rest of their class.