Understanding Your Child’s Learning Style

August 25, 2021
Written by:
Guest Author
Elementary Homeschool, Featured, Homeschool Science, STEAM/STEM

This post is sponsored by GIGIL STEM Kits.

Back-to-school season is officially here! That means new classrooms and new projects. As a homeschooling parent, it’s so important to understand that there are different types of learning styles, how to spot them, and how you can ensure your child is getting the most from their lessons.

The Different Learning Styles Explained

There are many different types of learning styles but the main categories are Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic. These styles fall under the VARK learning categories.

Visual learners typically enjoy things like:

  • using charts or graphics
  • infographics
  • information laid out in a hierarchy
  • arrows and shapes

Auditory learners prefer:

  • hearing lessons out loud
  • being read to
  • discussions or speaking about the lesson
  • music, songs, and sounds to go along with the lesson

Reading/Writing learners need to:

  • read on their own
  • take notes
  • read from presentations

Kinesthetic learners often:

  • thrive using hands-on lessons
  • are physically active and may require non-traditional classroom seating arrangements
  • need to engage all senses

How to Identify Your Child’s Learning Style

Determining which method works best for your child can be difficult, especially if they are unable to express their needs. Luckily, these preferences tend to show up in other areas of their lives. For example, kinesthetic learners tend to be more athletic, fidget when processing information, and tend to choose more hands-on play activities. Visual learners often have a wild imagination, have attention to detail, and are drawn to craft activities. Auditory learners are typically more musically inclined, enjoy conversations and social environments.

When homeschooling, test out different learning styles to see which types of activities benefit your child the most. Then, incorporate that style into your lessons. For visual learners, try incorporating more graphs, charts, or mapping out your lesson on a whiteboard. Auditory learners process the most information if you read to them, engage by asking questions, or have conversations around your topic. Reader/Writers will perform best if you are patient while they take notes, let them read the lessons themselves, or have printouts for them to follow along. A Kinesthetic learner will process their lessons most efficiently by encouraging role-play, practicing ‘learn by teaching’ models, and using hands-on activities.

At GIGIL STEM Kits, we’ve done our best to incorporate each of these different learning styles into our STEM activities to ensure every child gets the most of our STEM lessons. We provide 5 activities in our boxes. Each of them encourages hands-on learning allowing your child to use their creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. We also include worksheets and step-by-step instructions to help the Reader/Writer learners follow along. Every month we provide a video lesson taught by a credentialed teacher that teaches the overall theme of the kit. For visual learners, they’ll benefit from watching as the teacher also demonstrates an activity out of the box. GIGIL STEM Kits are created with parents in mind and include all the materials you will need to complete each activity – just open and go! Oh, and the best part is we’re charter school approved!

Additional Homeschool Resources

Why is STEM Important in Your Homeschool?

Let’s Explore STEM Careers

3 STEM Experiments to Kickstart Your Homeschool Year

 

#EASY STEM EXPERIMENTS, #LEARNING STYLES, #SPONSORED CONTENT, #STEM EXPERIMENTS