{"id":24386,"date":"2024-09-19T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/?p=24386"},"modified":"2024-10-06T08:04:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-06T13:04:44","slug":"teaching-styles-and-learning-styles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/teaching-styles-and-learning-styles\/","title":{"rendered":"What To Do When Teaching Styles and Learning Styles Don’t Match"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In homeschool circles, there is a lot of talk about teaching styles and learning styles – but what if your teaching style and your kids’ learning styles<\/a> don’t mesh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a long time, I would have called us a kinesthetic family. I love teaching with hands-on learning and the kids enjoyed learning that way.<\/strong> Even learning style quizzes – including the survey in the Victus Study Skills<\/a> program we used last year – would peg them as hands-on learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in a moment of frustration last January, I suggested we try workbooks. My teens both jumped on the idea. They immediately saw the benefits of working independently of each other and at their own pace<\/strong>, rather than me working with them at the dining room table.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"teaching<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Even though the homeschool section of our local used bookstore makes me break out in hives, filled to the brim as it is with used workbooks, I’ll admit that I recognized the same benefits the kids were seeing, along with a decrease in teaching time for me. So, we gave workbooks a try<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching styles and learning styles aside, we found workbooks to be a surprisingly good fit for my teens. I’ve since talked to a handful of homeschooled teens and grads who admitted that they preferred workbooks, as well. Both my kids like working at their own pace – my boy likes to sit down and get it done while the girl is not opposed to frequent breaks and rabbit trails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also like the fact that the schedule of one of them doesn’t affect the other now that they’re working on their own. My son can do his work while I take my daughter to gymnastics, for example. She can do some of her work late at night when the house is quiet and her friends aren’t online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And me? I miss learning alongside them<\/strong>, but I’m not going to lie – having the day open for whatever I need to be doing around the house or with my work is kind of nice. I still get called in to help throughout the day, but I’m not needed constantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what do you do when your family’s teaching styles and learning styles don’t match?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s pretty simple: Make adjustments and figure out what works for this season of homeschooling.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Tips on Teaching Styles and Learning Styles<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Generally speaking, I’d say to try to work within your kids’ learning styles <\/a>as much as possible<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re in a situation like I am where you have older children who are independent learners working on their own, it’s easy (mostly) to just move on and consider yourself retired from that season of teaching – unless a great opportunity arises for a science project or something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it’s not wise to cater to your children to the point of making yourself burned out and miserable<\/strong>. That saying “if mama ain’t happy, nobody is happy” is true. If you’ve got younger kids who need you to be actively involved in their day-to-day education, and your teaching styles and learning styles of your kids don’t match–don’t worry too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kids need to learn how to learn and process information in a variety of ways<\/strong> because that’s just the way life works. Not everything is going to be taught with hands-on projects – or boring workbooks. {grin}<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a friend with a large family and a wide range of ages. She was not a fan of unit studies, so multi-level teaching was pretty much out, and she couldn’t physically work with each child individually all day long. They have been a workbook family for as long as I can remember. Still, she made it a point to do group projects with them throughout the year<\/strong>. For example, they often participated in things like our Around the World Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of her kids have graduated and they’re doing just fine – no lasting trauma from years of workbooks and lack of hands-on learning. (Yes, that last bit was said with humor.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same principle would work if your kids were the workbook fans while you’re the hands-on one<\/strong> – let them use workbooks the majority of the time, but plan a related, hands-on project once a month or so.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"kids<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If you have auditory learners, but the thought of reading aloud throughout the day makes your head pound, try audiobooks<\/strong>. If you feel a strong need to teach lecture style<\/strong>, do it for a subject or two. It’s good for kids to practice note-taking skills<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, remember that homeschooling goes through seasons<\/strong>. In the 12+ years that we’ve homeschooled we’ve used unit studies, hands-on learning, games, an extremely eclectic mix of curriculum, an all-inclusive curriculum, and now workbooks. Each was the best fit for that particular time in our homeschool. It’s important to be willing to recognize when it’s time to make adjustments.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all honesty, changing to workbooks was probably one of the best things we’ve done for our homeschool in recent years, because it fits well with our current season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t get too wrapped up in teaching styles and learning styles.<\/strong> It’s good to recognize them and make them work for you as much as possible, but it’s fine to experiment until you find the right blend for your family and adjust as needed. As long as everyone is learning without being completely frazzled, it’s all good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In what ways has your homeschool changed over the years and how have you adjusted when your kids’ preferred learning methods didn’t mesh with your preferred teaching style?<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What steps have you taken to get teaching styles and learning styles <\/a>to mesh a little more?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You Might Also Appreciate<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you’re interested in more on teaching styles and learning styles, check out:<\/p>\n\n\n

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How to Determine Your Child’s Learning Style<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When homeschooling, it can be tricky when teaching styles and learning styles don’t match. Here are some thoughts that might help you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":85138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[125,204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homeschooling-how-tos","category-encouragement"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":125,"label":"Homeschooling How-to's"},{"value":204,"label":"Encouragement"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/globe-on-desk-4713698-500x750.jpg",500,750,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Kris Bales","author_link":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/author\/kris_wuhsmom\/"},"comment_info":12,"category_info":[{"term_id":125,"name":"Homeschooling How-to's","slug":"homeschooling-how-tos","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":143,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":140,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":125,"category_count":140,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Homeschooling How-to's","category_nicename":"homeschooling-how-tos","category_parent":0},{"term_id":204,"name":"Encouragement","slug":"encouragement","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":222,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":118,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":204,"category_count":118,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Encouragement","category_nicename":"encouragement","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/globe-on-desk-4713698-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24386"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85144,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24386\/revisions\/85144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}