Learning Styles

Physical Learning Styles

Great suggestions for kids with a physical learning style. Make sure you incorporate touch or play into a lesson.

Visual Learning Styles

Visual learners best process information when they use their sense of sight. If you have a child that loves images, prefers videos to books, or likes creating visual art, you may have a visual learner. Use pictures, color and other forms of visual media to help visual learners process information. “Seeing is believing” for visual learners, so add pictures, color coding, maps and graphic organizers to your lessons. In a homeschool setting, visual learners can benefit from watching parents, siblings, or videos to see how a task is performed before trying on their own.

Learning Activity: Highlighters are the best tool for visual learners. Kids can highlight sight words, find patterns, color code important facts, and more. Bright colors and large letters tend to help.

Auditory Learning Styles

Auditory learners learn and retain information when there is sound, music and rhythm involved in a lesson. These learners take in and process information by listening and speaking. Some tend to concentrate better when music is playing in the background or like to sing songs throughout the day. In a homeschool setting, auditory learners can read stories aloud to younger siblings, or listen to a parent read stories. Try to reiterate things outloud and read outloud.

Learning Activity: Most libraries have books on tape that families can check out for free (or even download from home). Auditory learners learn and retain concepts by following a story in a book while listening to somebody else reading.

Aural (Music) Learning Styles

Ideas for children that learn best while listening to music or incorporating song. Just playing classical music in the background can sometimes help.

Logical Learning Styles

Logical learners are also called mathematical learners. These students are better at processing information when logic and reasoning are involved. Logical learners are often found identifying patterns they see in the real world or dividing their toys into categories based on similarities. They like to find patterns, solve equations, and categorize information. Many logical learners need to know the “why” behind a lesson. Why is this concept or skill important? Logical learners often learn through the use of structured systems like creating outlines. In a homeschool setting, use real world examples to illuminate concepts and provide your student with tools to stay organized.

Learning Activity: Logical learners thrive in organized environments. Use graphic organizers to help kids understand what they are reading, put events in order, or chart out data. Most logical thinkers enjoy math and logic games.

Social Learning Styles

Social learners are also known as interpersonal learners. They learn best when working or relating with others. Social learners are often kiddos who thrive on playdates, hate to be alone or play alone, are always talking about others or finding ways to help or interact with others. Role-play or collaboration helps social learners to process information efficiently. When problem solving, social learners share ideas and like to “talk out” potential solutions. Ask social learners to explain their answer, and walk you through their journey to getting to it. In a homeschool setting, social learners can collaborate with their siblings or with other children in their co-op, church group, neighborhood friends, or family members.

Learning Activity: Ask your social learner to perform an interview. They can ask questions to learn more about an historical event, gather data for a math problem, or learn about a new career. They can interview you, a neighbor or friend, or even a local librarian! Learn socially by partnering up with another student. Another tip would be to have a child teach another child a concept.

Solitary Learning Styles

Solitary students are also known as intrapersonal learners. These individuals prefer to learn alone using self-study methods like a reading list, study guides, and reports. The solitary learner is often shy, preferring to play alone or in very small groups. They thrive when lessons relate to their own lives. Solitary students are goal-oriented. They feel successful when setting personal goals and accomplishing them. In a homeschool setting, give your student the opportunity to guide lessons based off their interests so they stay self-motivated. Set goals and track the progress of those goals. If your solitary student has siblings, it’s important to schedule alone time for that child. They tend to learn while in a room by themselves or sometimes they build forts as their own study space.

Learning Activity: Teaching perimeter and area? Ask your solitary learner to choose a new way to organize their room by creating a new floorplan!

Tactile/Kinesthetic Learning Styles

Kinesthetic learners thrive on physical movement, their sense of touch and the use of physical objects to help them learn. They are also known as the “hands-on” learner. Many kinesthetic learners can be found acting out what they are learning through physical activity and hands-on building or creating. Doing, building, acting-out and moving all help the kinesthetic learner take in, process and categorize information in their brain. Kinesthetic learners like to figure out how things work by doing or creating it. If you have a kinesthetic learner, try incorporating movement into learning time. Homeschooling is a wonderful option for kinesthetic learners because kids can get up and move throughout the day as they need to.

Learning Activity: Touch and texture is very important to tactile learning. Use Wikisticks to trace out letters.