10 Days of Homeschooling with Diabetes - part 3 Learning styles

Pin It

Part 1 - routines

Part 2 - teacher guilt
Ahh...diabetes. The daily struggle is real.  I thank God for my wonderful, caring, helpful husband. Without his understanding love we could not do what we do!

We have a seven year old son, a five year old son. a two year old daughter, and a one year old son.  Who wouldn't be tired at the end of every day?  The oldest two are what I like to call fire balls!  My seven year old Bookworm and my five year old Hotwheels can create a whirlwind of chaos in a heartbeat! And whatever they do the Princess must copy.

Spideys vs. the princess

Even though my Bookworm loves books he pretty much hates workbooks. And Mr. Hotwheels who spends his life revving up will sit down with a workbook and delare, "I'm going to do this whole book today!"  What a difference!

In the last post I talked about teacher guilt. The teacher in me wanted Bookworm to do every...single...lesson in his workbook.  And thus the battle began!  He has a super memory.  He can read his entire grade level reader (100+ pages) in one sitting and then accurately answer questions about every story.  But ask him to repeat the same math problem because he made a mistake and he has a total meltdown. Enter LEARNING STYLES!

Not every child learns the same way. My Bookworm will only sit still to...well...read a book!  And boy does he soak up information like a sponge. But often when he is learning something rote in nature (spelling, math facts) he needs it to be hands on!

By combining his activeness and his learning style I was able to teach him in a way that he loved. Isn't that part of the beauty of homeschooling?

My energy is limited so I cannot waste time fighting with my child just because I like learning a different way than he does.

Practicing spelling

One simple example was spelling time. Of course he could read the words inside, outside, and upside down, but he saw no need to sit there and repeat the letters over and over.  So we took it to the carpet!  He used letter tiles and trains to spell his words and then chuffed them over to the train depot.  There were no melt downs and no complaints. It was a beautiful day!

My tip for today? Discover your child's learning style! It may be very different from your own, but if your goal is for him to reach his potential, teach him the way he learns best.

By the way...we didn't ditch the curriculum just because he complained.  I evaluated his learning style and adjusted the way I was teaching to best meet his needs.

Be blessed!

Casandra