Helen Law (sharing thoughts)

The best way to learn depends on your children themselves. Because not everyone learns the same way.  Some children learn best when presented with information visually. Others comprehend more effectively when instructed orally. Parents who know how to turn playing into a learning exercise, can strengthen your children's learning process.

Play to learn activities are the important features of our program. The physical, socio-emotional and intellectual development of children is dependent upon these activities.  For play is considered a natural springboard for learning, for creativity and social development. 

The learning process requires paying attention. Before  your children can learn,  they must first develop certain essential abilities called 'readiness skills'.  Such experiences can include practice in vocabulary development, listening skills and concentration. Visual and auditory discrimination, story sequence and left to right eye movement- all necessary skills for reading.

Learning is greatly affected by interest levels. When your children are interested in the subject matter, learning takes place naturally.  Besides interest,  motivation is probably the dominant force which governs the children's progress and ability to learn. Another important element is enjoyment.

Identifying your Children's preferred Learning Style

Learning style is a concept that can play an important role in improving the children's success. Children have different learning styles. Some children are fast learners and others have difficulties. Skills that come easily to one child may be difficult for another. Experts have identified three basic learning styles:

Auditory learners learn best by listening and  like to have things explained orally. Auditory learners may talk to themselves when learning something new.

Visual learners easily remember visual details and prefer to see what they are learning. They like images and written information.

Kinesthetic or tactile learners prefer activities that allow them to do what they are learning about. Learn best with hands-on activities.

Sociological learners  benefit greatly from group activities. Cooperative learning is an important learning tool 

Environment Conducive to Learning

Environment can have a big effect on the amount of learning that occurs. Understanding what effects the learning process is important.

Formal vs. Informal  

A formal setting would be the tables and chairs. An informal setting would be the floor or on the carpet etc. Children's brains will not function the same in the same postural position. So when you see children slouching in a chair, it may mean that they would learn better in a informal setting. 

Noise vs. Quiet

Some children find sound distracting and some find it calming. It may be beneficial to have study areas established. One where the noise level is kept to a minimum and one where some background music is present.

Bright vs. Dim

Everybody's eyes react differently to light. Some children may need to sit by a bright reading lamp. Others may get a headache when too much light is present. A light level that your children find comfortable should be sought.   

Kinesthetic

Some children need to have continuous movement as they are studying, such as tapping there fingers or chewing gum. This is absolutely natural, make sure they do not distract others.   

Mobility

The human body is built to move. It does not  like to sit still for long periods of time. Research has shown that it only takes 30 seconds to rest and recharge the brain.

Temperature

Room temperature also plays a key role in learning. If children is too cold or too hot, they will have more of a hard time concentrating.  The study room temperature should be cool. This way children who feel cold can simply wear another layer of clothing and be comfortable.

The Process Of Learning

Montessori approach to learning helps young children to ‘learn by doing’. All the materials are self-taught so they can see and correct their own mistakes as they manipulate objects and perfect their  skills.

Multiple Intelligences (MI) approach exposes children to a variety of ways of learning.  Prof. Howard Gardner  identifies eight intelligences and styles of learning.  “Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Musical, Logical, Naturalist, Intrapersonal  and Interpersonal”. 

Language Arts in which children learn how to read, write and communicate orally.It concerns the essential communication skills that are common to our daily experience. The learning area that parents can most easily reinforce to help your children succeed in school.

Handwriting is not easy for many children. It takes considerable practice to develop the necessary muscle control, eye-hand coordination and memory skills for proper writing.  Although certain children have a natural ability for good writing, others  do not.

Math use hands-on materials to help children understand the concepts. Use familiar objects to set up and solve math problems. Items such as small objects can be used to demonstrate concepts such as adding, subtracting, greater than, less than, and equal to.

The learning process should  stem from the children's natural curiosity, not from force. You can motivate your children to learn by showing how pleased you are that they are interested in learning. The important thing is to help your children do their  best while not pushing them too much.  

To your parenting success