K is for Kinesthetic Learning

I’m still blogging through the alphabet with A Net in Time and Hopkins Homeschool. This week we are on the letter K…

Growing up, when my family of origin would pile onto the oversized sectional to enjoy a movie I’d almost always opt to sit solo on the hardwood floor where I’d spread out my belongings. Whilst passively watching whatever was on the tube I’d simultaneously read a book, practice braiding hair on my Barbies, color, or craft. (In later years I’d paint nails, stretch, sing, flip through a magazine, and apply a mud mask.) My parents were good sports as I was always, ALWAYS busy.

just taking notes on her science lesson

As God would have it, my children are quite similar: Firstborn’s a proficient and independent multi-tasker, Center Sister dances through every hour of her day, and Little Man NEVER seems to stop moving.

Still, today, I focus on a podcast best when my hands are busy– folding laundry, washing dishes, or driving– if I sit sedately and attempt to listen my mind is prone to wander and often I’ll attempt to read something simultaneously. Similarly, my kiddos engage far better to oral lessons & read-alouds when quietly coloring, building Legos, or knitting.

I can’t really explain it, except to speculate that we are kinesthetic learners. Physical. Tactile. Hands-on. Movers and shakers. Instead of fighting our nature we embrace it, balancing science lecture with plenty of experiments, history lessons with correlating art projects, and read-alouds with dress-up & make believe to aid in comprehension and help retain our studies. I sandwich math between “brain breaks“, generally in the form of time on the trampoline, chores, or a walk to the mailbox.

When our youngest was learning to spell his name he’d confuse the order of the five letters until it dawned on me to touch each finger of his hand as I stated each one. He mimicked me and amazingly it cemented into his noggin.

It seems that by incorporating movement of our bodies, our minds more actively engage. I’m grateful for the freedom to customize my kids’ education around their innate learning styles and personalities versus conforming to a solitary prescription. In our homeschool, K is for kinesthetic learning.

A Net In Time Schooling


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Two Tiny Hands

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