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Visual Spatial Learner
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Hello all. We use the CM method and it works very well for our family. My youngest is soon to be five and has a very different learning style though which I guess is what is referred to as a “visual spatial learner” (ie put puzzles together at a rapid rate at an extremely young age, draws things out in the air with his finger before beginning something).
1) I am looking for ideas for his “school box” while I school his older brother. He has Legos and K’nex but I would like to add to his repertoire. The usual things don’t seem to ‘work.’ Do I need something more like sandpaper letters for this particular child?
2) Am interested in the experience of those with older children like this using the CM method as well.
Thanks so much!
Richele
okay, I know you said older children, but I have a son that sounds a lot like yours (the puzzle thing especially). Here are some of the things he really likes to do for “school”: legos, lincoln logs, puzzles, dot-to-dots, tangrams, geoboard, attribute/pattern blocks, (any of the math manipulatives – I found some activity books for them that he likes), play dough, pasting, mazes, and just drawing/coloring/painting. We have some homemade wood letter pieces for the Handwriting without tears program that he plays with, and occasionally makes letters with 🙂 These are most of the inside things he does, when it is not blazing hot outside he spends a lot of time out there. I am sure those with more experience will have more ideas, but that just sounded familiar….
Thanks mjemom, those are exactly the kinds of things I was wondering about! If you think of anything else, please let me know. I appreciate your response.
Richele
Let me see if I can contribute anything. I actually have a 7 1/2 yr old daughter that is like this. When teaching her to write, we started with cursive. I used a program called Cursive First. It was very helpful and is not an expensive curriculum. There is some research that shows that learning cursive before manuscript is actually better for the child and easier for their motor skills. So, with that being said; we started out with a lot of LARGE motor movements. Boys, especially do well with this. So, your writing in air would be one example.
Some others would be writing in shaving cream, writing in a salt or sandbox. I would reserve some salt just for this activity. We’d put enough in the bottom of a lid or shoe box to cover the bottom adequately and then she would practice her letters in it. Then the salt would go in a ziploc bag for another day. Some other things we did was practice letters in paint with fingers, use large crayons or markers on newsprint, spell with magnetic letters, write on each others backs, and using homemade felt letters and numbers.
I don’t know if you even wanted that information; but I thought it might help down the line.
As for a school box; Dominoes; Wooden geometric blocks; multi-link cubes or unifex cubes; stickers; magnet with washers, paperclips, etc…;popcicle sticks and glue; viewmaster and educational reels; file folder games; box of art postcards; foam mosaics from rainbow resource; magnetic words and a cookie sheet.
I don’t know if any of this was helpful or not; but thought I’d give you my .02.
In Christ, Bridget
okay I looked through his school box/crate/shelf and here are a couple of others I saw: Match-It puzzles (the “puzzles” are 2-3 pieces but there are 15-20 sets in a box, some are matching a digital clock to a handed one, one is patterns, one is opposites, and I think one is numbers); Kumon or Kumon like workbooks (they have some good knock-offs at WalMart and Target) for cutting, folding, pasting, tracing, thinking skills; LOTS of dot-to-dots (he’s really into those); sticker books and more sticker books; magnetic board with letters (the flat ones printed on a square, not the fridge ones); stencils; wipe off boards (some blank, some for tracing numbers and letters); activity books for tangrams, geoboards, pattern blocks. He was a puzzle whiz at a very early age, like you say about your son. We didn’t realize how much of one he was until we kept giving him puzzles with more and more pieces and he did them like it was no trouble at all. Now we have two 2 year olds and they can’t do near the puzzles he could at that age (we think they are normal, he was more of the exception). So while he loves puzzles and any type of building block (legos, lincoln logs, bristle blocks, etc.) he also seems to really take to the dot-to-dots and mazes that challenge those same type of thinking skills on paper (while working on the fine motor too!). If you want any specifics on the names of any of the activity books, etc. just let me know!
Lesley
Oh, thank you Lesley and Bridget, these are all fantastic suggestions and pretty budget-friendly as well.
I know God made everyone uniquely different on purpose but boy, I was having a bit of a time until I realized this child sees things in such a completely different way. I printed out all his chore cards in pictures but it seemed we had to go even a step further and help him visualize the “end result” of having chores accomplished for him to get it. We really are saved through child-bearing, huh?
Thanks again.
Richele
I completely agree! Our oldest (like your son) is way ahead on so many things in his mind, but maturity and fine motor are more normal – it has been challenging trying to find things to challenge him and that he enjoys but at the same time keeping it at his maturity level and physical skills. Then our two year olds are so different from him (and each other) – his speech was way ahead but theirs is behind so what we were doing with him at 2 we can’t with them. I was really hoping for using autopilot the second/third time around but I am quickly realizing that isn’t an option
. While it can be frustrating trying to find what works for each child there is such a sense of elation when you stumble upon it! I guess that is also what keeps us humble, resting in the Lord, and life interesting. And I am so thankful I have the option of keeping them at home and not having to put them in a box or work around one. Have a great weekend.Lesley
I consider my daughter to be a VS learner. She’s 10 now.
I use lots of notebooking, sketching, and graphic organizers. These are ways to take the information learned and put it down in picture/graphical/visual format.
She likes to act out narrations with physical objects. Paperdolls would be great, but she usually grabs some pens, a pair of scissors, a glue stick and creates a litte stage on the table top.
She’s better at math concepts than math facts. So she uses lots of manipulatives and still refers to a multiplication chart. Math should be taught in concrete terms, and this doesn’t end at a certain age. It should always be done this way for the VS learner.
. While it can be frustrating trying to find what works for each child there is such a sense of elation when you stumble upon it! I guess that is also what keeps us humble, resting in the Lord, and life interesting. And I am so thankful I have the option of keeping them at home and not having to put them in a box or work around one. Have a great weekend.
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