Home Schooling?
Don't Stop at the Learning Theories

When home schooling or schooling outside the home, considering a child's individual strengths can help you choose a curriculum and plan daily educational lessons that reach the child.

Perhaps you have discovered in the home schooling learning styles theories your child is an auditory-learner.

As you know, there is much more to a child than an opinion based on a hypothetical theory. He is much, much more than an "auditory-learner".

Still, we can use learning theory information as yet another tool to adapt the learning environment. For example for the auditory learner, we might provide a tape recorder, so the child can record her voice.

Knowledge helps us determine the best way to approach teaching.

If you wish, apply what you have gained from the learning theories to home schooling or schooling, but don't stop there.

Move beyond the way your child learns, beyond looking at the areas she may be weak in, such as a difficulty interpreting a map or the challenge of sitting still, and focus on the child's strengths.

Then, use the knowledge about your child's strengths to help you adapt your curriculum and lessons.

To help you get started, I've listed a few areas your child might have individual strengths.

This is just a list I came up with while considering my three sons' strengths. But you can use the ideas to get you started.

I suggest: (a) going down the list and checking off the areas your child excels in. (b) Add some more to the list that you know. (c) Then, write down your child's strengths and (d) share the list with the whole family.

Have your child make a poster out of his strengths.

Celebrate your child's strengths.

Courage: Able to face fears, volunteers in front of a crowd, deals with a challenge on an ongoing basis, speaks his mind, faces his faults.

Humor: Has a great wit, makes others laugh, comes up with new ideas in an entertaining way, has a smile on her face, able to look at the alternative situation or the bright side.

Flexibility: Able to bend with the program, adjusts to change readily, loves to do things at the spur of the moment, will try things a different way.

Adventurous: Encourages others to participate in new endeavors, looks forward to waking up in the morning, filled with enthusiasm for life, loves the outdoors and discovering new facts in books.

Capacity to Learn: Grasps new information easily, a good team member, listens and seeks others out, able to concentrate for a long period of time, shares his knowledge with others.

Leadership: Inspires others, organizes information, comes up with ideas and shares with others, assists people, challenges authority, questions the boundaries.

Creativity: Sees things in a new way, able to reorganize thoughts, ideas, and facts and present them to others, comes up with things you hadn't thought of, loves to draw, dance, or produce creative works, not afraid of trying different approaches, bores easily from the same routine.

Intuition: Understands others actions and feelings, able to identify her own inner feelings, makes decisions after reflection and thought, notices when others need help or are int trouble, avoids certain situation or people.

Analytical: Able to decipher information, evaluates, observes and makes hypothesis, forms his own opinions, experiments. Likes numbers or recalculating data, explores all sides of a topic or situation, debates, questions others' ideas and theories, second-guesses authority, speaks his mind.

Organizational: Keeps things tidy and in place, organizes thoughts on paper, able to construct paragraph essays, remembers where things are, keeps lists, tidies bedroom, likes to help clean.

Drive: Motivates self, follows through with ideas and plans, sets goals, produces work, goes beyond what is expected. Surprises you, full of energy and hope. Optimistic.

Focus: Concentrate for long periods of time. Produces large quantities of work in little time, works on the same project without stopping. Highly interested in certain topic or idea. Enjoys researching and learning new facts.

Faith: Strong belief in God. An openness and willingness to conquer the day. An ability to inspire hope and courage in others. Sees the good and opportunity others might overlook.

Athletic: Coordinated and accomplished in sports. Has endurance. Excels in areas involving physical activity. Has energy and enjoys the outdoors.

Energetic: Full of energy. Gets other people moving and going. Inspires others with zest for life. Capable of continuing an activity when others are ready to stop.

Helpful: Is the first to come to someones assistance. Keeps a look out for others. Caters to others' needs. Has a compassion for people. Shares and uplifts. Suggests ideas.

This is a suggested list of ideas to help you in your home schooling or schooling. Add and subtract from the list to adapt to your child's unique personality. And have fun sharing the strengths.