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The Old Schoolhouse
Magazine
Home Where They
Belong
|
August 8, 2007
|
 Do you know how your child learns best? Some people
would call that knowing their learning style and some might
call it "just knowing your child."
Personally I like
taking online quizzes and my children do too and I think it
does help us to understand each other better sometimes.
Because let's face it, we're all different. Just because I
might learn best from reading and jotting notes, doesn't
particularly mean my boys are going to enjoy learning that
way. Boy have I learned that over the years!
When I was
little I actually enjoyed "playing school". A teacher once
gave me some leftover schoolbooks before summer vacation and I
was in hog heaven. But my boys just don't seem to get excited
about a good textbook or workbook like I did.
So what
have I done? I've watched to see how they learn things the
best on their own. My oldest one? Wowzers, give that kid a car
or gun magazine and he can learn things down to the smallest
detail. The middle one? We have to talk things out together.
And the youngest? So far, he's always surprising me with what
he can do on the computer.
It's all pretty interesting
to me and I'm just so thankful that I can tailor things for
each of them. . . and I'm still getting to "play school".
Enjoy every minute!
THM Editor
PS - The Tribute to My Dad contest is ending on August 15th. What a great way for
your child to start off the year with a great writing
exercise, have a chance to win a $10 gift
certificate to The Schoolhouse Store, and possibly even have
their essay
published!
| |
 Mercy in the Morning
Deborah Wuehler, TOS Senior Editor
Psalm 139 proclaims,
"O LORD, thou hast searched me, and
known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou
understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and
my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there
is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it
altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid
thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it
is high, I cannot attain unto
it."
It goes on to say that
we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." What does that have
to do with discovering learning styles? Just this, that God
knows intimately how He created each one of your children,
therefore, we seek Him for that knowledge.
After praying, we can
get practical. In order to teach the way your children learn,
my suggestion would be to use as many avenues in teaching as
you can, then you will cover all learning styles. In other
words, use pictures and words (visual), read it out aloud or
listen to tapes (auditory), do things like make models of what
you are learning, trace words in finger paint, make the
alphabet with pretzels, let them get their hands on the real
thing (kinesthetic).
If you incorporate all
ways of teaching, you will cover all your children's styles of
learning. This doesn't mean every day with every subject, but
over all and over time, be more creative in your teaching and
your children will love to learn. Most importantly, teach them
to love to learn of the One who knows them
best.
~Deborah
SeniorEditor@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Old
Schoolhouse Magazine Needs
You!
We're looking for a homeschool
family with a parent who serves the community as a police
officer or firefighter to contribute a Show and Tell article
for our print magazine! Does this describe your family, or do
you know a homeschool family like this? Please contact us at
Editor@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com and let us
know!
We're also
looking for homeschool grads that are currently attending a
Christian college or have graduated from one and are
interested in commenting on their college experience. Contact
us at Editor@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
if you'd like to
participate.
|
Schoolhouse Spotlight
Dena Wood, Schoolhouse Store Manager
I've found one of the
best sources for ideas and tips on teaching and meeting the
needs of children of varying ages, temperaments and learning
styles is other parents themselves. Those who have "been
there, done that". That's why The Old SchoolhouseŽ Magazine
has compiled several supportive resources written by both
parents and experts. Secrets of Successful Homeschooling aids you
in determining what approaches and methods will work best for
your family. Well known homeschooling moms like Christine
Field, Terri Camp and Lorrie Flem join regular old moms like
me to offer practical advice and ideas. (Yup, I have a couple
of chapters in there!)
Homeschool Dialogues is a
compilation of interviews with some of the great names in
homeschooling; Dr. Raymond Moore, Josh McDowell, Lisa Welchel,
Teri Maxwell, and many more. You won't want to miss what these
experienced speakers and writers and the wisdom they
have to share. Available in E-Book and Audio CD.
Our E-Books are currently
half off, meaning you can purchase our E-Book: Homeschool Combo Pack which includes
both E-Books mentioned above as well as our Homeschooling the
High Schooler E-Book for ONLY
$12.48!!
That's $12.48 for THREE inspiring
and encouraging E-Books. You'll definitely want to take
advantage of this special as you prep for the upcoming school
year. ~Dena
|
It's Just Common
Sense
Ruth Beechick, Curriculum
Specialist
They say they want all opinions in this
e-letter, so this week I'll be the dissenter. I see the
current craze over learning styles as a fad that will pass, as
many other fads have come and gone during my long career in
education.
Researchers sent out questionnaires to
gather preferences from college students and adult
employees-never children-and each researcher came up with his
proposed set of categories. Then he promoted it on the basis
of his theory and not on the basis of research on how it
works.
In the short space here I will comment on just
one popular set of
categories-visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic. The idea that learning
occurs in those ways
comes from the behaviorists, people who do not believe in mind
or the image of God or anything non-material within us. They
say we must input some stimuli via the senses, then we should
reward or punish the behavior output until we achieve the
behavior we want. That is learning, according to the
behaviorists. There is nothing within the "black box" of the
head to act on the input, except physical things like the body
chemicals, nerve impulses, and such.
Children differ in
many ways, of course, but a set of three categories is a crude
system for labeling or using the differences. Say a child
likes to read. Does that mean he's a visual learner? If he is
visual, then why not let him see the story on a video? If he'd
rather do that, does it mean he's an auditory learner? Doing
science projects is not learning with the hands. Children have
to manipulate the materials of course, but the mind must make
sense of the problem and results for any learning to
happen.
More information on the styles fad is in A Biblical Home
Education.
Find it by checking for "styles" in the
index.
-Ruth
|
The Familyman
Todd Wilson, Familyman Ministries
Hey
Mom,
Just pulled in the
driveway late last night from a long, hot week traveling in
the RV. Our house is a mess, and my computer just started
making a weird noise. So what do I have to say about
discovering your children's learning styles?
First, you need to
take them to a learning center (found in most major cities)
where they'll undergo several days of intensive studies to
discover their learning style. Then, have a learning
specialist come to your house and spend several weeks
observing your homeschool.
Finally, after several
months and a couple of thousand dollars, you will be told that
your child is a 'calisthenic' learner. Once you learn what
that means and how to adjust your curriculum to meet his
style, you'll be on your way to producing a well-adjusted
child.
Sounds easy -
NOT.
Yeah,
I'm just kidding. Maybe it's the RV hangover or the time bomb
buzzing sound coming from my computer that's made me a little
cynical about this topic. Or, maybe it's because I see so many
stressed out moms running to and fro from the next curriculum
available wondering if it will do a better job educating their
child.
The truth is . . .
you're a homeschooling mom. You're around your children all
day long. You probably already know how your child best learns
. . . whether he learns audibly, visually, or "touchily."
In other words, when you catch him learning, is he
standing on his head, listening to something, feeling an
object, or watching how something is done? You don't need
an expert to tell you what you can easily observe. In fact,
DON'T listen to the experts; just DO what you know to be
best.
I gotta stop and turn
off this computer.
Be
Real,
Todd |
 Homeschool Freebies
Julie Nott, TOS Marketing Manager
The Dunn and Dunn Model
of learning styles says
this:
"Learning Style
is the way in which each learner begins to concentrate on,
process, and retain new and difficult information."
(Dunn)"...a
biologically and developmentally imposed set of personal
characteristics that make the same teaching method effective
for some students and ineffective for others,..." (Dunn,
Beaudry, and Klavas, 1989)
There is also the Index of Learning
Styles developed by Richard Felder and Linda Silverman in
the late 1980s...and then there's the Rogers Indicator of
Multiple Intelligences...and then...well you get the
picture, huh? I could go on and on with all the
theories. Here's some online resources, tests and more
learning opportunities about this controversial
subject: Online Index of Learning
Styles QuestionnaireOnline Rogers Indicator of
Multiple Intelligences EvaluationAbiator's Online Learning
Styles Inventory
Free learning styles
inventory, including graphical resultsWebsite for Institute for
Learning Styles Researchor better yet... Proverbs 22:6 in The
Amplified Bible says this:
"Train up a child in the way he should go [and
in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is
old he will not depart from it." Enjoy getting to
know YOUR child! I'm
enjoying getting to know mine...every
day! -Julie |
Meet Some of Our Friends
CONTEST!!!
Need help saving money? Start cutting your family's hair!
Learn the how-to's of haircuts from Nancy
Baetz.
She has created an easy to use e-book with practical tips and
lots of pictures! One free e-book
to be given away! Enter with your name and
email address at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/ByHisGraceinColorado.
Nancy Baetz feels
like she has learned more than ever since she started
homeschooling her children. She loves to write and
take photos and has had her work published in The Old
Schoolhouse Magazine, The Girlhood Home Companion, and
TEACH. Her latest project is her first E-Book,
Haircuts For Little
Men.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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August 24-26, 2007
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