In his encyclical letter Centesimus Annus ( on the 100th anniversary of Rerum Novarum - May 1,1991) Pope John Paul II writes:
“Man receives from God his essential dignity and with it the capacity to transcend every social order so as to move towards truth and goodness. But he is also conditioned by the social structure in which he lives, by the education he has received and by his environment. These elements can either help or hinder his living in accordance with the truth. .. The first and fundamental structure for ‘human ecology’ is the family, in which man receives his first formative ideas about truth and goodness, and learns what it means to love and to be loved, and thus what it actually means to be a person.
Here we mean the family founded on marriage, in which the mutual gift of self by husband and wife creates an environment in which children can be born and develop their potentialities, become aware of their dignity and prepare to face their unique and individual destiny.”
Homeschooling parents can sometimes feel conflicted between recognizing the freedom homeschooling allows in tailoring their child’s education to suit their individual needs, and feeling that “school” (even at home) needs to be accomplished in a particular way. But recognizing that God has entrusted to their care, this particular child with this particular learning style can go a long way towards easing the feeling of conflict and helping the child reach their full learning potential.
I have spent some time studying and developing my understanding of learning styles. There’s so much in Catholic thought that supports the idea of parenting our children with a constant mind to their individual learning style. It’s a matter of respecting them, loving them, helping them in the best possible way we can - and always, always with prayer and discernment.
Taking the time to sit down with each of my children and map out their “style” with them, while time consuming, has greatly blessed our family.
You know your children - you know them well. You know what works and what doesn’t. I do too, but making a point to understand each child individually, to look at the many aspects of who they are, in a way that is personal to each of them, is even better. You help yourself understand them yes, but you help them understand them!
Understanding your child’s learning style is not a matter of finding out things you didn’t already know about your child but rather it’s coming to a greater understanding who they are, how they learn and helping them “develop their potentialities, become aware of their dignity and prepare to face their unique and individual destiny.”
Of the many books I have read on learning styles the book I have found to be the most helpful is Discover Your Child’s Learning Style by Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Kindle Hodson.
As a secular book it doesn’t address the “Catholic” aspect of learning styles but I have found it to be a clear and helpful guide and it is obvious that the authors really do care about children.
To be able to discover your child’s learning style it’s important to really understand what is meant by the term Learning Style. Often parents assume that learning style refers to whether a child is visual, auditory or kinesthetic - but those things are only a part of a child’s learning style. To gain a full understanding of your child’s learning style you must consider other things as well. Things like their personality, natural talents, interests and even things such as how their environment (the temperature, lighting etc.) affects them.
In their book the authors describe the 5 Aspects of Learning Styles as: Disposition, Modality, Environment, Interest and Talents. These 5 aspects form the basis for developing a working understanding of each child’s individual learning style.
One of the things I like best about this book is that the author’s Learning Style Model of Education is a positive approach that is based on working with each person’s natural gifts and dispositions, rather than applying dysfunctional labels such as A.D.D., Dyslexic, Hyperactive, or Learning Disabled.
Through their website the authors of Discover Your Child’s Learning Style have allowed me to set up a link to their online learning style profile and offer a $5 discount to anyone who takes the profile by clicking through this link.
