At times being my daughter’s homeschool teacher in addition to being mom creates a few challenges. I want more than anything to be her cheerleader, but as her teacher I still need to be constructive in her learning. Most of the time I juggle it alright, but other times it gets a little messy.

One of the greatest things I learned when we started homeschooling was how each of us processes information differently. I wished I discovered the information sooner! There is a gem of a book that I have listed in my Resource section called “The Way They Learn,” by Cynthia Tobias. Whether you homeschool or not, this book will help you discover your learning styles and I assure you it will help in your communication as a family.

My daughter and I’s minds work differently. I’m very concrete and sequential–there is step 1, 2, and 3 and they go in that order (most of the time). My daughter is also concrete but very random–even though fully aware of the steps, the order they fall is not so important because her way might work better and faster. I loved Algebra in school, she hates it. I can understand why … random and Algebra don’t mix.

But sometimes regardless of information, communication just fails! Right now in one class, we are working through library skills such as computer catalogs and indexes. One of the assignments provided a catalog entry and then asked a variety of questions about the supplied information. When I read one of my daughter’s answers, I knew she wasn’t being sarcastic; she just answered the question with her literal mind.

Question: How would you type the author’s name in the computer?

Her answer: With your hands

Isn’t communication like that sometimes? A complete miss. All I could do was laugh!