Learning Styles

On a previous post, Jau asked some questions about my girls' learning styles and talked about how one of her children might have been better off homeschooled and one flourished in school with other children. So I'd like to go into a little more detail about my kids and learning.

My eldest daughter is competitive, it's true. She has fairly nice cursive handwriting partially because she was in competition with another girl in her class, from when she was in a parochial school. However, she was not entirely a perfect fit for "regular school." She's fairly bright, and we found that in her private, parochial school, classes were mostly being taught at the lowest level. She didn't get a lot of encouragement or help in working at her level, even though we discussed this with her teachers. She and I do argue some when I am trying to teach her; she can be willful, as Jau said her daughter was. She thinks more like her father, and wants to know the "why" behind everything. In science and history, this may be good; in long division it can be trickier! Mathematics to me are hard and concrete, a simple follow-the-formula, but she still wants to put a reason to every little detail. She is fairly good at working independently when the subject interests her. I have to hold her back on her book reading, only because she would never get anything else done!

My younger daughter, Wildchild, still lives up to her name! If she went to a regular school, she'd probably have to be on medication, which is a definite consideration for *not* putting her in a regular school. She's not really interested in learning much at all besides dance. She already takes ballet once a week and would like to take jazz and Irish step. I've never liked to see parents who stick their kids in activity after activity just so the kids have something to do, but Wildchild seems to have some talent for dance which I would like to cultivate while she's still young. She's somewhat of a puzzle to me in her lackluster attitude towards learning; the rest of her family are voracious readers, but she's unenthusiastic even about reading. I may have to find more stories to read to her to try to teach her things. She loved the book about princesses that I found for her, and there was quite a lot of history slipped in there. I think things like mathematics will still keep being an upward climb, though.

As for getting together with other parents with the kids, yep, I couldn't survive if the girls and I didn't get together with other moms and kids. Our field trip yesterday included three other moms and a grandma, and loads of kids. Plus another mom and her two sons stopped by for the potluck lunch afterwards. Our trip to Jacob's Field to learn about weather and watch the Tribe play will also be taken with the homeschooling grandma and three of her grandchildren. The Scientist also takes Latin class once a week, led by our pastor, and the pastor's granddaughter, and another homeschooled girl and her father, also take the class.

It's interesting, and a generalization based only on my experience, but my girls often get on better with other homeschooled kids than kids who attend outside schooling. I noticed even before we started homeschooling our kids that there was aleady so much cliqueness even among little girls. Yes, my youngest was already out of the "cool" clique in Pre-K. But again, this is just based on my experience!!

I guess I'd have to say my girls both do best homeschooled. I have had my frustrations lately, but I really do think it's the way they'll get the best education.