Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Learning differences

Jamin, at Just Call Me Jamin, posted recently some notes on learning styles. I have read about learning styles before, but I think I really need to go more in depth with a study on them. My older two have been schooling okay so far, but Abby is a bit more of a challenge. I haven't worked daily with her like I should, but what I have been doing with her seems to take awhile to sink in. She is definitely able to remember things. She has memorized Psalm 139:1-10 with her sisters and has learned (on her own) a prayer from one of her books. She recites her prayer every night. At the same time she is having a slow go of it when it comes to learning her letters and reading. I am thinking that the paper/workbook type of stuff isn't her thing and maybe it would help if she traced her letters in sand/salt or made them out of play dough, etc.
I was thinking that incorporating lapbooks or notebook into our schooling this fall would be a good way of bringing more into the girls' learning and help them retain the information. I also want to do some more hands on stuff- like eating meals from the countries we study or making forts out of pretzels. I guess I am definitely going to have to plan the year a little better (which goes back to my previous post on how you plan your school year).

3 comments:

Hilda Rebecca said...

Hi Kate,
Have you ever tried "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons"? It worked for me with my "slow" reader and my "fast" reader and now for my "average" reader :) A good book I picked up at our State Homeschool Confernce is "In Their Own Way" by Thomas Armstrong. The book covers 'discovering and encouraging your child's personal learning style'. For a quick overview of learning styles look at "The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling" by Deborah Bell. Also try reading on personality differences. "Why you act the way you do" by Tim LaHaye is a good one, his wife Barbara LaHaye wrote a good one "How to develop Your child's temperament"... I do not own that book yet but I have read it I hope this helps and I know this is an older post so you may have already found helpful resources!
Blessings!~~Hilda

Family W said...

Hi Kate,
I second Hilda's recommendation of "100 Easy Lessons" and also anything by Cynthia Tobias. She's a good one to read behind regarding learning styles. Also, I own the two books by Tim Lahaye that Hilda mentioned and they are very good indeed. Have a great weekend! Blessings ---Lynn

Kate said...

I have looked at that 100 Easy Lessons but never got into it much. Its funny that In Their Own Way is mentioned by you both as I just got that from the library. It must be good and God is nudging me to read it! I will also have to look up the LaHaye books and see if the library has them. Thanks!