As a homeschooling mom, I hear and read a lot about tailoring learning more toward the styles of our children. Lots of research has been done to show the different learning styles of people, children in particular. The theory stands that these learning styles allow each child to learn in a way that speaks to them the best. Expensive curriculum and special schools have been established in order to capitalize on this research. Personally, I have spent precious time and reserved energy on this topic, and I am just as guilty as the next mom in making sure that our homeschooling environment is tailored towards my children’s personal learning style.
I originally thought that there were only 3 kinds of learning styles; however, recently I have learned that there are actually 7. These learning styles include kinesthetic, visual, social (both interpersonal and intrapersonal) auditory, verbal and logical. Over the years, I have witnessed homeschooling moms (guilty as charged) purchase and re-purchase multiple curricula for their children, only to have to go thru each one separately with each child, just because they learn differently from one another. This can be EXHAUSTING AND EXPENSIVE!
My personal preferred learning style is visual. My husband will tell you, more than anyone, that this is absolutely true. As long as I have a visual understanding, I am capable of taking over the world. My children learn differently, and I believe that our learning styles can change over the years. As a baby, it seems that we learn by exploring with our sense of touch (or sense of taste… eww!) As a toddler, we can move on to visual and verbal, and as we continue to grow and change, so do our learning styles.
I am admitting that as of recent, I am starting to question the effectiveness of learning styles to a degree. I am starting to think that tailoring to only one learning style can become a real danger for our children’s future. If we continue to cater to these different learning styles for them, then they may begin to believe there is only one way to learn or that learning is always fun or always created in an environment specifically for them. I am concerned that we may create children who never want to put forth the effort of learning anything if it isn’t catered to their particular learning style – that they may become lazy or even overwhelmed by not knowing how to perform in an environment that doesn’t speak to their particular senses. Once they get into college or a career, they are going to need to know that learning isn’t always fun, but is absolutely necessary. Only allowing them to learn one way (their way) can be very detrimental to their future. They need to know that even if it’s not “fun” they still need to push forward and learn… even when it’s “boring.” Children need to adapt to learning and not have learning adapt to them.
