If you are a parent, you’d know how proud and happy you become when you see your kids succeed in school. Conversely, you also know how hard it is to see them struggle to grasp their lessons and get their homework done correctly.

This is especially true now that online learning has become part of our new normal. Since parents are expected to be actively involved in their children’s learning, you get to see for yourself exactly how hard it can be for them at times.

But don’t worry! There is some good news. There is a way to help your children not only understand their lessons now but also make getting through school and learning a lot easier for them in the future.

The best way to do this is to determine your children’s preferred learning style.

Learning styles describe the best way that your children’s brains process information, or simply put, the best way for your children to learn. To understand the differences among them, imagine that you are being asked to go to a place you have never been before. How would you like the directions to be given to you?

According to the dominant learning style theory, the VARK model, there are four different types of learning styles:

Visual

As the name suggests, visual learners learn best by seeing. Going back to the question earlier, a visual learner would prefer having a map to find the place. Visual learners are those able to make sense of tables, charts, and graphs. Flowcharts and diagrams are visual learners’ best friends and can greatly help them in processing complicated information.

If your child is a visual learner, try having them turn each lesson into a flowchart or a mind map. Using the old-school way of pen and paper always works, but thanks to online learning, there are even more possibilities! Use Zoom’s Whiteboard and Annotation tools, or simply take this as an opportunity to hone your child’s skills in Microsoft Office’s SmartArt.

Auditory

If visual learners learn by using their eyes, auditory learners learn by using their ears. Auditory learners prefer to have information given to them vocally. Going back to the example of finding a new place, an auditory learner would prefer to have someone tell them the directions to take to get to the place.

If your child is an auditory learner, you might want to start making an investment in audiobooks. During their online classes, you also want to make sure that he or she is in a room with good sounds and acoustics to be able to clearly hear the discussion, and also to not be distracted by any outside noise. Recording class lectures to listen back to is also very helpful.

Reading/Writing

If you’ve noticed your child being an obsessive note-taker or really turning their books into rainbows with different colors of highlighters, this is probably their learning style. Reading and writing learners learn and absorb new information best when they get to write this information down. Thus, if they were being given directions to a place, they would want to write the directions down themselves in order to fully process what those directions mean.

If your child is a reading and writing learner, there is one very clear path to learning success: take a lot of notes. Have a large set of pens – in different colors! – at home. Better yet, take advantage of technology and invest in a stylus pen to go with your tablet, or even in a writing tablet that you can connect to a computer.

Kinesthetic

It might be a mouthful, but kinesthetic learning primarily has to do with physical movements. Kinesthetic learners are very hands-on and thrive when engaging their physical and sensory abilities when learning. For example, kinesthetic learners would remember directions by using their arms to refer to left, right, front, and back.

If your child is a kinesthetic learner, chances are they enjoy doing laboratory work, experiments, or activities like building blocks or cooking. Kinesthetic learners always like to move or do something with their bodies. If this is the case for your child, you could come up with certain actions for keywords to help them remember the topic better. You could also create some experiments to show how the topic is relevant to everyday life, especially for science subjects.

Knowing your child’s learning style and adjusting their study sessions accordingly can make a world of a difference in their performance in school. Not only will they be able to focus and process information better, but they will also be encouraged and more motivated to keep learning.

No matter what your kids’ learning style is, helping them succeed in their learning journey shouldn’t always be a tough job. And refueling them along the way with their favorite snacks surely wouldn’t hurt! With Nissin Wafers, Nissin Eggnog, and Nissin Bread Stix, give your children the energy they need to conquer those long study hours and fuel their experience with a Happy Snackin’ time!