What is my teaching style?

Know your passions and evaluate your abilities. Depending on your skill set and time constraints, you can determine what teaching materials to use with your child. For instance, do you like the thought of creating your own ways to explore, or would you prefer taking another person’s ideas and customizing them to work with your child? Are you an orderly person who needs structure, or would you enjoy impromptu teaching, using whatever the day brings? Would you like getting your hands dirty when teaching projects, or are you the type of person who wants a more organized schedule with time for preparing materials? Do you want to be actively involved in teaching each lesson, or do you want your child to be more self-directed when homeschooling?

What is my child’s learning style?

As a parent, you have a preferred way of teaching, but your child also has a preferred way of learning. Not only does this learning style determine how he best processes information, but it also helps him with retention and the ability to perform better on academic tests. After observing your child, which of these learning styles best describes the way your child likes to learn?

Kinesthetic – Does your child have a need to touch everything? If you have a tactile learner, he won’t be content to learn with worksheets or listen to lectures. Rather, this child needs to manipulate his environment in order to learn by feeling textures, weight, and shapes. To help this child better absorb what is being taught, homeschool parents need to take lessons off the page and bring them to life!