I must tell you that every time I've written something for this blog recently, I inadvertently hit the wrong key and everything I've written up to that point has been erased! This is why I've been a bit absent lately. I've grown frustrated with technology. Yet, I have to keep remembering that technology at times is a very good friend of mine and it is at this moment how I'm communicating with you. So....I'll just have to type my thoughts out again.
Today I was blessed to be given the opportunity to present a workshop to the teachers at the orphanage. They were interested in learning more about the topic of 'Learning Styles' and asked me if I wouldn't mind teaching them what I know. Well, since teaching is what I love, I jumped at the chance and knew I needed to hit the books because it had been years since I last thought about such things. I visited our school library and was greatly pleased to find two books on the topic and then I spent many an afternoon or evening surfing the Web to find more information and resources. It slowly came back to me but was far more interesting this time because I have children in my own home who epitomize the very things I was discovering.
For example, in my search of 'Learning Styles' (and there are many ways to label them) I zeroed in on the titles of Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic. In taking copious notes about 'Visual Learners' I soon discovered that our oldest child, Darius, is a very visual kid. He is easily distracted and drawn to television, videos, computer screens, pictures, or whatever else comes his way visually. He reads a ton because it feeds his need for mental pictures, has beautiful handwriting because he notices the exact differences between the letters and their correct formation, and he takes some of the most detailed notes in his classroom at school. I also remember that at the age of two Darius could put together a US Map puzzle--we even got it on video because it was so amazing. He simply thinks in pictures.
Our second son, Jacobey is the typical 'Auditory Learner'. He's the kid who loves to chat, engages in class discussion willingly, loves hearing stories much more than reading them, remembers exactly what has been said to him, and honestly has a hard time not making noise. He is constantly singing, changing, whistling, or repeating the same phrase over and over again. I've had to say to him on several occasions, "Once you've said that eight times, you probably don't need to repeat it again." He loves sounds and words and learning the Spanish language. Upon our return to the US, he'll be the kid who knows Spanish the best because he's tried it out on anyone who would listen and respond to him. In fact, when he was eighteen months old, he was speaking in complete sentences. At eight years old I sent him to the new neighbor's house and he talked her ear off. Chatter box boy.
Our third guy, Seth, is such a 'Kinesthetic Learner' that it's almost funny. He's the kid who leaves the house with his shirt on backwards every day. I do mean every. He has the messiest room, at school the messiest desk, and on the playground is the most likely to come in with the messiest pants. He wiggles constantly, builds LEGO continually, sits on my lap and/or wrestles someone incessantly, and never has his shoes tied. He also needs lots of breaks when doing any mental (not physical) activity. Yet, he's so gifted in physical abilities--when he was two years old, we found that he could swing a bat with amazing accuracy when having a ball pitched to him. He's the guy that at three-years-old played T-Ball (pee-wee baseball) and scored a home run every time he came up bat. He was serious about his sports even then.
Knowing all of this and then teaching it all to the teachers (in SPANISH no less!!), has caused me to therefore know a bit more about my kiddos and how they're wired and gifted by God. I think it's given me a better insight in not only how they think, but also on how I need to nurture them. I've realized that patience is in order when I see the destruction left behind by my kinesthetic child, when I hear a phrase on the ninth occasion-consecutively-, and when my visual boy has a really hard time disconnecting himself from the screen that has him in a vice grip, or so to speak. It's been a learning opportunity for me and I've probably come away with way more than I expected. Praise God.
Still not sure what Selah is. She's a little of all three: into appearances, very chatty, and extremely messy. Maybe she's just the baby princess sorting things out. Time will tell.
If interested in looking at the topic yourself, google VARK or VAR Questionnaire on Learning Styles and you can find and take the same survey I gave the teachers today. It might be a silly Saturday afternoon activity or it may lead to something more. Who knows?
Blessings,
kim
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