What if the way your child learns best isn?t the way you teach best?

How do you resolve this conflict?

Perhaps your child loves all kinds of hands-on kinesthetic learning. But you prefer reading from books and sharing worksheets.

Or maybe you?re all about getting your hands into a project but your child would rather submerge into a book and not come up for air until dinnertime.

What can you do?

Fortunately, how a child gains information doesn?t matter as long as they?re learning.

And you should never feel guilty for ?not doing enough.? Any activity you add brings a new level of understanding to whatever you?re teaching.

I have a few ideas for how you can bring the teaching/learning styles closer into sync.

Kinesthetic Learner, Traditional Teacher

If the thought of pulling out ingredients or materials makes you shiver, don?t panic.

You can make the connection by using your traditional methods but allowing your child to invent hands-on ways to demonstrate they?ve grasped the concepts.

For instance, if you?ve presented an awesome history story, make a list of activities related to that lesson you?re comfortable doing.

Cut the ideas into individual strips and put them in a bowl.

Let your child pull out an idea, then offer materials for them to use.

Their imagination will do the rest.

You could include ideas such as

• Recreate the story with dolls, real or paper, dressed in period clothing.

• Write a play and act it out for the family with such props as you have around the house.

• Draw the story on a whiteboard while explaining the details.

What about science? You may not relish the thought of your kitchen being turned into a laboratory.

But you can still offer hands-on learning for science lessons you?ve taught from a book.

Become an observer while your child explores the ideas you?ve presented. You could even take notes to help you further understand their learning style.

• Use dollar-store dish pans and cookie sheets to contain experiments.

• Put down a sheet in one area of the house for science-y investigation such as studying rocks or leaves.

• Take it outside. All four seasons offer wonderful hands-on learning opportunities.

Quiet Learner, Hands-On Teacher

If the dynamic is flipped, how can you get your bookworm to try hands-on activities?

One idea is to rely on your child?s curiosity to get them involved in any activities you have in mind.

Let them read that story or chapter, then offer up materials or ingredients to see what happens.

Begin the activity yourself and see if they wander over to check it out.

If they?re absolutely uninterested, you can still make hands-on learning a reality.

• Show your child how to make a lapbook. The act of cutting, coloring, and folding mini books can help solidify the lesson.

• Take school outside. Even if your child sits and observes, they?re learning more than they would from the pages of a book alone.

• Ask them to help you with the grocery list or meal prep. All kinds of math and life skills await from these activities.

• Introduce them to a friend or pair them with a sibling who enjoys hands-on learning. The two of them may have fun working on a project together. (Or not. Experiment.)

• Keep projects minimalistic so your quiet learner doesn?t get overwhelmed.

We're Not Into Hands-On Learning

Sometimes, you and your child agree that hands-on is not your cup of tea.

But in the back of your mind, you believe you should be supplementing your book lessons with some real-life learning.

Begin with some quiet additions to your lessons using movies or virtual museum tours.

If something catches your attention, both of you could be motivated enough to try it.

• Maybe there is a dish in the movie you decide to cook together.

• Perhaps a location is nearby and lends itself nicely to a field trip.

• Should a character in the movie or museum video be doing something interesting, the thrill of immersion could be enough to encourage you both to try.

We Love Hands-On Learning!

What if you all enjoy hands-on learning, but you have different ideas as to what it looks like?

Nothing like having two head-strong people leading the hands-on event!

This is a time for compromise.

• Bring out the bowl and brainstorm together on possible activities for all of your school subjects.

• Print them on strips of paper, then take turns drawing one out.

• Whoever doesn?t get to draw gets to lead. Swap next time. This can help cultivate patience, too.

• Use this method for siblings, too. No matter the learning style, everyone enjoys a chance to direct the show.

You?ll find many workarounds for different teaching/learning style combinations.

All it takes is a bit of imagination and creativity to turn your homeschool into a hands-on university.