Thinking in Pictures,visual learner,picture smart!
When I first started going to my church, Sonlight Christian Center in the Orange Circle, 3 years after leaving the church I grew up in, little did I know that, Sonlight would become my home church. For reasons other than liking the people there, Sonlight was different than any other church I visited. Sonlight used the Iworship videos! Before I started going to Sonlight I didn't know what my learning style was. Sonlight introduced me to the Iworship videos! They are worship videos with moving backgrounds and words. Excellent for visual learners!
The first Sunday that I went to sonlight, mind you, I knew none of the worship songs and had no clue what Iworship was, I walked out of there with every single song memorized, thanks to the iworship videos! For me to walk out of that church with every single song memorized on my first visit is unbelievable!
That day I learned what my learning style was. I was a very visual learner!
Last year while on vacation in TX mom took me to the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame amd I was validated in this.
when I got to the hall of fame part of the museum I saw that Temple Grandin was in the hall of fame.
I had heard vaguely of Temple Grandin from my neurodevelopmentalist, but I didn't know who she was or what she was. So seeing her display in the Hall of Fame was really interesting for me. I learned a little bit more about who Temple Grandin is. Immediately after leaving the museum i grabbed my phone and started researching Temple Grandin and found out that there was a movie about her. I found it on Amazon Instant Watch for Prime members. Thankfully we are prime members. As soon as I got to somewhere with internet I watched the Temple Grandin Movie.
After watching her movie, I found out that she thinks in pictures. Her movie was very eye opening for me. It showed me just how much of a visual learner I really am. Like Temple Grandin, I think in pictures. I can picture just about everything in my head. Memories playback in my head like a VHS tape. The Temple Grandin movie really helped me to harness this talent and use it not only for education but for other things as well. Little did I know that this movie would have such a huge impact on my life! I have now read her book "Thinking In Pictures" I highly recommend it!
The question became, now that I know just how visual I am, how can I harness this and take advantage of it?
well, the first way I have started using my visual learner is by learning how to draw. I used to be afraid to draw by an old bad memory that kept playing through my head for 9 years. How was I gonna stop this bad memory from ruining my life? By replacing it with something good and something useful that I would use for the rest of my life. It's called Sketchnotes!
About a year ago I saw my youth group leaders wife doing sketchnotes! I knew that would help me with things that were harder to visualize. I needed to draw to be able to do sketchnotes. It made me want to draw again for the first time in 9 years! I have been drawing for almost a year now and doing sketchnotes and it has been extremely helpful for Bible study and for sermon notes. I have to say, a huge thank you to my youth group leaders wife for helping me get past a bad memory and for showing me sketchnotes! It has changed my life!
The 2nd way I have taken advantage of my visual learner:
I love history thanks to American Girl for giving us dolls to get our hands on and see.
Mom found this history site called Learn Our History. It has very visual videos and a whole lesson plan to go with each video!
I also love the Liberty Kids videos for learning about 1700's! Also great for visual learners!
also the drive through history videos are good. They also have full lesson plans that go with each video! You can find the lesson plans online.
I have recently been introduced to David Barton at Wall Builders and his American Heritage videos. They are good but he talks really fast so you often have to pause it to catch what he is saying.
3. I have also have several sets of historical paper dolls, some from American Girl and some from other places. I have made a history notebook and I have taken pictures from the American Girl catalogues and put it in the notebook. I have also put the lesson plans from the learn our history videos in my history notebook. Anything historical that has pictures or any notes I have taken from different things go in my history notebook.
Just last month mom and I went to the Great Homeschool Convention! In the exhibit hall I saw many more resources for visual learners! I can't wait to use the new things that I got at the homeschool convention!
they have card games for learning American history, midevil history, ancient history, and Bible history
They also have an ipad app.
they have all kinds of paper dolls that move.
3. like me, Temple Grandin struggles with math because it's gibberish to us visual learners. You can't really picture things with math. But at the homeschool convention last month, during one of the seminars, the speaker mentioned a visual math program. I was so happy I couldn't believe it! It's called Times Tables The Fun Way! It's for the ipad, iphone and ipod touch.
The speaker was Kathy Kock from Celebrate Kids. I wonder if Temple Grandin knows about this!
Well, that's all the resources I know of for now. Enjoy. You can go always go on the apple app store or on the google play store for andriod and look for educational apps. Hope these resources are helpful for you. Until next time!
Originally written in July of 2015