Have you ever purchased a curriculum that looked wonderful on paper, only to discover that your child couldn’t stand using it? This doesn’t necessarily mean that the curriculum is bad, just that it isn’t right for your child. This can be frustrating, but it gives us an opportunity to discover the best way for material to be presented to our children. Your child’s learning style will be an important consideration when choosing curriculum.

Parents can learn a lot by observing:

• What naturally captures their child’s attention
• How they approach new problems
• What activities they choose independently
• Whether they prefer talking, reading, building, moving, drawing, or experimenting
• What causes them to lose interest

These questions provide a better framework for understanding your child than the typical learning style model. The popular “visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles” framework is not strongly supported as a way to improve academic outcomes when instruction is matched to a supposed learning-style label. Instead, it is better to consider how a child prefers to engage with learning, their strengths, interests, temperament, and what teaching approaches help them stay engaged.

What Are Learning Styles?

Typically, when we think about learning styles, we think about whether children learn best by seeing material, hearing it, interacting in a hands-on activity, or reading material. I will go into each of these learning styles in detail and give some examples of how you can apply each one to different subjects.

Children are not limited to one learning style. A child who loves hands-on activities can still learn from a book. A child who loves listening to stories can still benefit from diagrams and experiments. Rather than labeling your child, use learning-style information as a tool for understanding preferences and increasing engagement.

The Visual Learner

Children who are primarily visual learners are interested in pictures, maps, diagrams, art, color coding, and watching someone demonstrate a skill. In practice, a child who is a visual learner might draw pictures to remember information, look through an atlas, or watch an experiment before trying it. If you think your child’s learning style is visual, you might want to include art, picture books, demonstrations, illustrated timelines, and maps into your homeschool content.

Visual learners benefit from a Waldorf or traditional educational philosophy. Learn more about the different educational philosophies in this article.

The Auditory Learner

An auditory learner interacts best with material by hearing it. This might mean listening to stories, making up songs, reading poetry, or making rhymes. If your child’s learning style is auditory, they might remember songs easily or talk about a math problem as they solve it. An auditory learner will probably be happy to tell you everything they have learned! If you have an auditory learner, some things you will want to incorporate are read alouds, songs, poetry, and narration. Children who learn in this way will also love learning through audiobooks and conversation.

A child who is an auditory learner would pair wonderfully with a parent who adopts a Charlotte Mason philosophy. Auditory learners also work well with a classical education.

The Hands-On or Kinesthetic Learner

Kinesthetic learners learn best with hands-on activities or moving their bodies. These children often enjoy building, experiments, crafts, cooking, and movement.

Your child might be a kinesthetic learner if you notice these things. They may:

• Touch everything while you’re teaching.
• Have difficulty sitting through long explanations.
• Understand something immediately once they can try it.
• Turn a cardboard box into a science experiment.

This is often the learning style of young boys which is why I developed this play-based curriculum. I knew my boys would not benefit from sitting through long lessons, so I turned learning into a game. Some other ideas to incorporate for kinesthetic learners are outdoor learning, projects, crafts, math manipulatives, and science experiments.

The Reading/Writing Learner

Some children naturally gravitate towards reading, writing, making lists, researching, and journaling. These children learn best by reading or writing. These children might enjoy independent reading, taking notes, and writing stories. For these children, I suggest including copywork, research projects, and reading good books to learn from.

What About Children Who Don’t Fit One Category?

Just like parents have a combination of educational philosophies, children might have more than one learning style.

For example:

The child who loves books and experiments might thrive with a literature-rich science curriculum. Another child who loves movement and storytelling might benefit from acting out history. The child who loves art and nature might enjoy nature journaling.

The goal isn’t to find one label; the goal is to discover what makes your child curious and engaged.

Pay Attention to How Your Child Approaches Learning

Instead of asking:

“Is my child a visual learner?”

Ask:

Does my child…

• Prefer to figure things out independently?
• Need frequent movement breaks?
• Enjoy repetition?
• Want to know why?
• Ask lots of questions?
• Enjoy competition?
• Prefer predictable routines?
• Love variety?
• Need lots of practice?
• Learn through conversation?
• Enjoy creating things?
• Become deeply interested in specific topics?

Temperament, attention, interests, developmental stage, and prior knowledge can all affect how a child learns. Instead of putting your child into one learning style box, think about how they approach different subjects and under which conditions they thrive.

How to Discover Your Child’s Learning Preferences

Try these experiments:

Read something aloud
See how engaged your child is.

Give them a hands-on activity
Does their understanding deepen once they can physically interact with the concept?

Use pictures or diagrams
Does visual information help?

Let them explain it back to you
Do they process information through conversation?

Let them explore independently
What does your child choose to do?

Instead of giving your child a test to see how well they perform, observe how they interact with different learning styles.

Once you have an understanding of your child’s learning style, you can use this knowledge to evaluate curriculum.

If your child loves hands-on learning:

Look for:

• Experiments
• Projects
• Manipulatives
• Crafts
• Outdoor activities

If your child loves books:

Look for:

• Literature-rich curriculum
• Read-alouds
• Living books
• Independent reading

If your child loves discussion:

Look for:

• Narration
• Conversation
• Open-ended questions
• Socratic discussion

If your child needs variety:

Look for:

• Short lessons
• Multiple activities
• Flexible scheduling
• Multi-sensory instruction

Don’t Choose Curriculum Based on Learning Style Alone

While learning style is an important piece of the puzzle, there are other factors to consider when choosing a curriculum. In addition, you will want to consider educational philosophy, budget, skill level, and your family’s goals.

If this feels overwhelming, no need to worry. I can help! Book a homeschool consultation so I can walk you through the entire process and give you a roadmap that works for your family.

Your child doesn’t need to fit into a learning-style box. Instead, become students of your children. Pay attention to what makes them curious. Notice what makes them light up. Experiment with different ways of presenting information. The more you understand your child as a learner, the easier it becomes to create a homeschool environment where they can thrive.