Beginner Child (Birth – 2 years old Are growing rapidly. Tire easily. Cannot sit still for long - only one or two minutes. Learn best one step at a time. Fear separation from parents. Express their needs by crying. Senses attitudes of respect, joy, and anticipation in connection with church, the Bible, and Jesus.

Kindergarten Child (ages 3-5) Enjoy repetition. Extremely active. Tire easily, cry easily. Lack fine muscle coordination. Capable of limited listening. Have short attention span 3-6 minutes.

Primary Child (ages 6-9) Behave in boisterous and energetic manner. Eye-hand coordination for fine-muscle skills. Learn best from hands-on experience with concrete object. Longer periods of interest and concentration. Motivated by recognition. Appreciate variety within a fairly stable routine. Enjoys group games, projects, quizzes and activities. Develop a sense of accomplishment.

Learning Styles What is your learning style What is your spouses/partner learning style What are your children’s learning style Why do you need to know is anyway!

The Way They Learn If you are a parent of more than one child, you’ve already discovered that even children growing up in very similar circumstances and environments can have very dissimilar approaches to life. This can bring a very puzzling and overwhelming challenge to parents and teachers. Often, with the very best of intentions, we set out to chart the course and plan the events of our children’s lives according to what makes sense to us-the way we did it…after all, we are living proof of what works! But what seldom occurs to us that other people, even those in our family, may view the world in an entirely different way than we do. BUT THERE IS HELP... Following are some general guidelines that we can follow that will make this puzzle fit together, nicely...

Observe General Guidelines: Observe patterns of behavior. When you or your child experiences success. what are the circumstances that brought about that success? Keep an open mind to doing something different from the way you would do it. Take note of what your children enjoy or do not enjoy doing…for example: coloring legos listening to story tapes always on the lookout

Experiment Experiment with what works and what doesn’t. Keep an open mind and remember that even if an approach to learning does not make sense to you, it may work for your children. We do not all learn in the same way. Knowing that we do not always learn the same ways can be like being set free…a burden lifted… especially if you have a child that is difficult to teach…this child may not be deliberately difficult… nor may he have a disability… he simply is applying his own unique perspective to the learning task. When my son was younger he was having a difficult time with school…we made the decision to teach him and our daughter at home. When my daughter would do a lesson she was very concerned that all the lines we filled in and that every question was answered correctly…she was a workbook aholic…now Jeremi on the other hand acted like we were pulling his toe nails out… Finally it dawned on me that he did not learn the same way as Ami or I…he needed to be imaginative and creative and active...

Focus Focus on natural strengths, not weaknesses. Unfortunately, it’s so much easier to pinpoint areas of weakness that need improvement than to bolster sources of strength… Resist the temptation to put labels on children. Don’t box them into any one learning style Once you discover your children’s natural strengths you will probably we relieved to learn that much of their struggle and behavior has more to do with inherent style than with something you failed to do as a parent. But you can’t build much on weaknesses - strengths provide a much better foundation!

Learn Learn more about learning styles in general. Pay close attention to your children’s and your own learning styles in particular. Learning how to recognize and appreciate learning styles can help you identify the natural strengths and tendencies each individual child possesses. What a challenge each of us has…an adventure that can only lead to joyous success. Now the fun begins….Debee and I would like to do an activity with you…do you have a pencil?

Listen Listen to the way a person communicates. If you only talk to others the way you want them to talk to you… The saying “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” does not always fit when it comes to communication. If we only talk to people in the way we prefer they talk back to us, and thy are busy doing the same thing, chances are real good that no one is truly listening How often have you heard yourself say to your children: “How may times do I have to tell you this?” or “What did I just say?” or “Didn’t you hear what I just said?” The fact is, they probably did hear the words you said but didn’t understand what you meant. Each of us takes in information in a different way. you may discover you’re speaking a language that is foreign to them! Listening carefully can teach you how you need to talk to them.

May the Lord Bless You! May the Lord bless you and guide you as you lead His precious children to the foot of the cross.