Not being a teacher doesn’t mean you can’t teach

You can be a great teacher to your child, without teaching experience. Did you know that every child in the United Kingdom has to be educated? If you’re homeschooling your child you’re in good company, there were around 60,544 registered homeschooled children in England in 2019. Homeschooling can be an excellent way to give your child a diverse education based on a curriculum chosen by you. Perfect for tailoring their education to their strengths while empowering them to develop areas of weakness. One thing to think about with homeschooling is how our own biases and learning styles can affect how we teach. It’s super important to develop learning strategies designed for our children so that they can get the most from what we’re teaching them.

Our biases have an impact

We all develop biases throughout our lives, it’s a natural part of life, but they can have a big impact on how we teach. We’ve all heard the phrase “hindsight is 20/20”, well this is especially true when it comes to our own learning experiences. Have you ever heard of Hindsight Bias? It impacts how we look back at an event, making us believe we always knew that the outcome would turn out the way it did. Research has also shown that we often underestimate the amount we have learned from a certain experience, even though the opposite is usually true. This sometimes means that we dismiss techniques that may work for our children because we think they didn’t work for us. We look back at our own school experience and cherry-pick the parts we feel we got the most from, significantly underestimating the overall impact of the range of teaching strategies we experienced. It’s important to include lots of different teaching strategies when we homeschool and hindsight bias can stop us from doing this. 

Confirmation bias is another thing that can impact how we teach. It means we deliberately look for information confirming what we already believe, dismissing the things that don’t. This means we might miss out or skip research and techniques because we’re only searching for things that confirm our existing beliefs. The problem with this is that we don’t look for new research that may benefit our children and complement their learning styles. Memory bias is another thing that can impact how we teach our children because it means we see past events in a way that confirms our own opinions. Both result in us missing important information that has the potential to work for our children.

By being aware of our biases we can make sure that they don’t stop us from teaching our children in the best way for them. 

Our own learning style has an impact

Everyone has a natural learning style because our dominances impact the way we process information. How we process information makes a difference to how we teach information. Dominances are important because when we teach others we have a tendency to do so in a way that we would find useful. This is where we tend to find that conflict happens. Ever found yourself getting frustrated and thinking,  ‘I don’t know how else to explain this to you!’? That’s because you’re trying to teach your child in a way that you’d find useful but they don’t. Perhaps someone else has come along and explained it and suddenly your child understands. Annoying, hey? Chances are this has happened because the other person has a similar learning profile to your child and so can teach in a way that they understand. 

It’s very frustrating when something like this happens, but by getting to know your child’s learning profile you can make it easier. After all, one of the best things about homeschooling is that you get to choose what to cover and how to teach. When you understand how your child learns best you’re able to use teaching strategies that make teaching a breeze. You can even help them develop areas of weakness, making them more well-rounded learner. It’s important to be aware of what works best for our children.

Unlock their potential

Wired for Learning can help you unlock your child’s full potential by helping you identify their unique learning style. Once you understand their dominances you begin to see how they process information. By using learning styles that play to their strengths and develop areas of weakness, you help them to become a well-rounded learner. Our detailed reports include information about your child’s dominances and learning styles, as well as exercises to help them refocus. It’s the perfect way to make homeschooling even more enjoyable for everyone. 

Unlock your child’s potential today with a Wired for Learning report. Help your child go even further in just 10 minutes at www.wiredforlearning.co.uk