Last night a collegue asked if my children's learning styles differ. I laughed because they are as different as night and day in the way they learn. Alexander is a visual and auditory learner while Sophia learns by touching and doing. Alexander tends to be a perfectionist while Sophia lives in the moment and likes taking risks. Sophia loves the language arts and taught herself to read. She can often be found buried in a book or writing. Reading hasn't come as easily for Alexander and he requires rules for spelling that Sophia never needed. Alexander loves history, science and problem solving. Sophia likes creating and imagining rather than always knowing the reasoning behind something. Just as they are unique human beings, their learning styles differ and what they require from me differs. I like the part I play in their learning and I like that the two of them seem to appreciate the other's unique style.
Although they each have their own unique way of learning, unschooling and family involvement often bring their love of learning together. Alexander loves history and last year we visited The Holocaust Museum in DC. Alexander and Steve went straight to the maps that gave information about the strategies used by Hitler in occupying most of Europe. Sophia and I had no interest in any of that and headed to the stories of a more personal nature - what happened to the families that were separated, how were Jews portrayed in textbooks, and more. Alexander had the interest in history and because as a family we do everything together, they both learned new information, only they learned it in a manner that fit their own unique personalities.
Last year when Sophia was in her "hippie" phase, we played songs from the 60's and early 70's, we looked at how people dressed, we learned about protests, etc. Of course this also brought up a lot of political events of this time period which Alexander loved. There have been multiple things just like this where one member of the family has an interest that soon becomes of interest of everyone only viewed in its unique way.
Right now, Alexander has decided he wants to learn math and he wants to learn it well. This is requiring that he go back and memorize his basic facts. He has always known how to get the answer, but has never memorized the facts. It is so fun. He writes out his facts and then tries to find patterns within the answers. We sat down the other day to do two digit multiplication and I showed him how I get the answer. He said, "Couldn't you just do it like this?" Then he went on to show me what he was thinking. It made so much sense. What is different from the way I learned two digit multiplication is that I learned the process to getting the answer without understanding what I was doing. Alexander understands what is going on enough that he can rationalize a way to answer the problem that makes sense to him. He is using his own unique way of learning. I love it! Also, last night Sophia who has absolutely no interest whatsoever with numbers, except when it comes to money, had the multiplication cards out and has decided that she is going to learn her facts also. How cool is that? Learning is contagious! Children do want to learn and when we honor their unique learning styles, it happens when it is time to happen.
3 days ago