What is Your Learning Style?

What is your learning style? Knowing this simple question is a key element in your growth and development.

When my children were between the ages of four and five, I actually home-schooled them. It's not an action that I wanted to pursue long-term, but it actually had a long-term effect. I could differentiate their learning styles.

My oldest child is a "textbook" type of learner. He enjoys reading and works well with a systematic type of instruction. For him, it means that he can be too hard on himself if answers are not readily available. It also means that he can become bored easily. Therefore, challenging assignments where he constantly feels engaged are best.

Now, my youngest child is an "experiential" type of learner. Rather than read, he prefers the hands-on approach. For instance, we visited Mud Island and the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. At Mud Island, he had a blast walking in the assimilated version of the Mississippi River from Minnesota to New Orleans. At the museum, he obtained more information about the life and death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights movement. I wanted to share these examples because this particular son does not want his learning environment to be too serious or too structured. He would find that to be claustrophobic. In essence, my youngest son blossoms when he receives the type of instruction that he was meant to have which is experiential.

Fortunately, I get an opportunity to select the type of instruction that suits my children within the public school system. While growing up and being taught in public schools, selecting instruction was rare. Everyone was basically placed in the same mode of learning. Schools placed remedial learners in a class, average learners in a class, advanced learners in a class, and special needs in a class.

Today, it is like a breath of fresh air to see and experience the needs of more children being met. For instance, children with learning disabilities like autism, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder are having their needs met with special guidance and are being transitioned into a "mainstream" class setting. In addition, there are private schools that are formulated with these specific types of learning styles in mind.

Overall, it is wise for us to know our personal learning style (and our children's), but more importantly, it is a privilege for us to embrace it.