Determining the Learning Style of My Child

As a mother to a five year old son who would enter kindergarten school by next year, I was curious how my son would learn in a formal school setting after I educated him in his preschool age through the homeschooling method. In all the time that I used the homeschooling method for him, I would observe if he displayed any particular learning style and I wondered if he would use the learning styles he displayed in his preschool age and use any of them when he enters the kindergarten level.

It was a good thing I had a good memory, took notes and made video recordings during the time I was homeschooling my son. I researched the Internet about different learning styles of children and compared those styles to any particular learning style that my son showed during his homeschooling years. From the Internet, I learned that there are three basic types of learning styles displayed by children, which are the auditory, kinesthetic, and visual styles.

The auditory style is displayed by a child who prefers to listen to his lessons rather than reading them. The child with a kinesthetic style learns by doing and touching, and acting out the lessons he learned. The visual style is preferred by a child who learns by reading, looking at visual aids, and observes demonstrations.

In studying the three basic learning types of children, I found out that my son has the auditory learning style because during the time I was homeschooling him, he preferred in carefully listening to the lessons I gave him and I noticed that he would usually sit down and only occasionally moved in his chair.

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How I Prepared My Child for Kindergarten Class

The kindergarten is the educational level when the formal schooling of a child starts and for my six year old son, it was also a time of anxieties and worries for him. As a mother to a six year child, I could understand his worries because I used the home education approach in educating him during his preschool years. Now that it is only a few months before he starts in kindergarten, I decided to do some research in preparing him for his kindergarten education and on how I could make him ready.

So I am sharing about the tips or guides I learned from my research and I hope other parents with children entering kindergarten would also use the same guides or tips that I learned. The guides are:

• Instructions for using the bathroom – Many kindergarten classrooms are set up with their own bathrooms so you could just tell your child that he could politely ask his teacher on where the bathroom is located. You should also reassure him that his teacher would explain to the class on when and how to use the bathroom. If the classroom does not have its own bathroom, tell him that the teacher would explain to the class on where the nearest bathroom is located.

• Social skills – Since I home educated my child during his preschool years and his contact with other children was mostly with the neighborhood children, I was initially worried if he had the right social skills for interacting with children from different backgrounds. However, I told him that kindergarten is an enjoyable place and it would give him a chance to meet, learn and play with new friends.

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The Best Toys of Educational Learnings

When my son turned one year old a few months ago, he was already walking on his own and he was more active than before because he was able to walk and move around much better. Since anything he could observe, touch and feel could contribute in the start of his learning process, I decided that it was time for him to have educational and learning toys or toys of educational learnings that are appropriate for his age.

So I researched the Internet about the educational or learning toys that are appropriate for the age range of my 11 month old son. I found out that there were several types of toys that are applicable for his age and those toys were readily available in all the major toy stores or in the toy sections of many department stores. After comparing several of the toys I found in the Internet, I compared all of them and took notes for the types of toys that I should first buy for my son.

Based on the notes that I took, I decided to first focus on buying three types of educational learning toys that were appropriate for my 11 month old son. The three types of toys that I bought are wooden blocks, sorting toys, and bouncing balls. I learned that ten to 11 month old babies could  already stack from four to five wooden blocks, which could help in developing their skills for hand coordination and manipulation. The sorting toys come in various shapes and sizes and develop the skills for comparing and decision making.

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My Learning Tips in Studying For High School Final Exams

The most unforgettable part of my senior year in high school is studying for final exams. I was lucky that several weeks before the final exams, my mother gave me some learning tips on studying for high school final exams and she told me to get more tips from the Internet.

So I researched the Internet about learning tips on studying for high school final exams and I found many websites that offered many tips on how to learn and study for high school final exams. Now that I am about to enter my freshman year in college, I decided to share the tips that I learned from the Internet and from my mother so that senior high school students who are preparing for their final exams would know how to overcome their difficulties in studying for finals.

The learning tips on studying for high school final exams include:

Time management – Having an effective study schedule is important because you would have to set certain times of each week that is solely devoted to studying. Make a plan or mark in a calendar the specific time and duration of your studies. Before you begin your studies, you should already have all the handouts, books, notes and other study materials you need.

Join a study group – Joining a study group consisting of your close classmates or just one study partner would help you in sharing ideas, notes and materials for studying. The study group should have a specific time of once or twice a week, and you and other members of the study group should remain focused on studying and not be distracted.

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How I Developed a Creative Curriculum For My Kindergarten Class

I have only been a public kindergarten school teacher for two years when I noticed that my class in my second year of teaching did not have the same enthusiasm and motivation to learn as my previous class. I also became disturbed that after the first year of my teaching experience as a kindergarten class teacher, I was beginning to lose some of the enthusiasm and motivation that I had when I was a new teacher.

I did some thinking and carefully reviewed my teaching methodologies, the curriculum, lesson plans and worksheets I was using for my class, and the other teaching and educational materials I was using. Then, I remembered that I was a creative and innovative university student when I was taking up my education degree and that I came up with different teaching or learning methods in my projects and assignments when I was in college. So I decided that I should use the traits of creativity and innovative that I had during college and use them in my kindergarten class.

I talked to the school administrator and got her permission to create a new and creative curriculum for the classes I handled. So I research materials from various educational resources and I started planning and developing my creative curriculum.

I learned that using a theme is one approach for developing a creative curriculum. For example, using nature and the outdoors as themes for a curriculum would be create enthusiasm and interest for students about their natural surroundings and the outdoors. I could incorporate the subjects of arts, music, reading and writing, science, and physical education and how they would be related to the many things they observe, feel and touch in nature and the outdoors.

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