Getting Started with Homeschooling
Practical Considerations for Parents of School-Aged Children
© Beverley Paine
Index
Homeschool
Australia
Learning Styles
(continued)
Sometimes people will refer to someone as being 'left or right brain hemisphere thinkers'. Usually they link the left hemisphere of the brain with analytical thinkers and the right side with global thinkers. They conclude that artists and poets think with the right side predominantly and mathematicians and scientists the left. Things are not that simple and such an approach can seriously ignore the potential to develop all of your children's skills, talents and abilities.
Everyone uses all of the brain to think all the time. You may switch from one way of thinking to another, using separate sections for separate tasks. And if you habitually engage in similar tasks everyday that part of the brain will tend to become dominant. This doesn't make you incapable of thinking or doing things differently to how you habitually do them, but like any habit changing the pattern of behaviour will take some retraining. There are many benefits that can be gained from retraining the brain, including the opportunity to explore different ways of being, and discovering or developing different talents.
Understanding the way you tend to think most of the time can help to choose how to approach any situation. This gives the learner tremendous power to choose the most efficient way to learn or react. Just because you prefer, or tend, to learn one way doesn't mean you can't learn in a different way. Awareness of different ways of thinking may help you devise effective and productive learning situations for your child.
There are many books on the topic of learning styles, multiple intelligences and accelerated learning techniques. Research on the subject continues in earnest, although most is aimed less at understanding how the brain works, or how learning happens, but how to harness it to obtain better results when learning in classroom situations, or schools. The traditional thrust of much research has been aimed at improving exam results and is of minimal direct use in the home learning environment. However, as children grow and move into institutionalised learning centres such as TAFE colleges and universities the techniques and activities become very valuable.
Of more significance is the underlying message throughout this type of research that the brain is a holistic organ, and building skills and knowledge across all areas is essential to optimal functioning. The material covered in the research also includes reference to emotional intelligence and learning, and the very real and important role of the rest of the body and five senses play in learning and development.
Considering your child in this light, and optimising all opportunities for growth, both physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually, will offer the greatest scope for balance and success in whatever field he or she chooses to excel at.
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Excerpt from Getting Started with Homeschooling, Practical Considerations
© Beverley Paine, 1997
