Perusing Fast Times at Home School High, I saw Denise’s post on Learning Styles (I’m a visual learner by the way). It’s important for parents to discover and work with the way their youngsters learn.

One way to do this is by becoming familiar with Howard Gardner‘s Multiple Intelligences Theory, used by educators, curriculum development companies, and children’s book writers. A good source of information on this is at Casacanada.com, which gives in depth information on MI Theory in language parents can understand. I especially like how the site helps you assess your children’s learning style(s).

So once you learn your child’s learning style, how can you encourage him or her through books and activities?

Since she’s only three, Lucie’s learning style is a bit hard to figure out, unless there’s a Copying Everything Your Brother Does intelligence. Nathan’s much easier to figure out. He has Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence, is terrific at sports like baseball, basketball and golf, and enjoys riding his bicycle. Nathan’s always touching something that is new to him, as well. I hate it when he presses all the buttons on the vending machines at the grocery store, but I guess that’s the way he learns. (Yeah, learns to drive me crazy.)

He also he has strong Logical-Mathematical Intelligence and loves math class and playing board games. Nathan’s participating in t-ball, golf lessons ,and golf league this summer. He’s also attending Art Camp, which should somewhat satisfy his need to touch stuff. However, I’ve had a hard time getting him to do math worksheets this summer. They’re different from what he was used to at school, and he quickly lost interest.

But there’s board games, especially chess, which he adores. As a reward for good behavior, I bought him Usborne’s Starting Chess (with internet links). The book is a good introduction to chess for younger children ages five years and up. It covers everything a young player needs to know, from how to set out the pieces to special moves and tactics. The illustrations bring the game to life, and simple diagrams make examples easy to follow. The book also contains information on chess web sites to visit.

I also got him Learn to Play Chess with Fritz and Chesster to play on the computer when it gets too hot to play outside. It wasn’t as big a hit as I thought it would be since he doesn’t like being by himself too much. He’d rather play the real game with a friend or his dad.

While chess is a rather serious game, why not have a bit of fun with it? One way is to make a checkerboard cake. This would be a wonderful birthday cake for your young chess enthusiast.

First, you’ll need to get a Chicago Metallic Gourmetware Non-Stick Checkerboard Cake Pan Set. At $9.95, Amazon has one of the cheaper online sets (much cheaper than Betty Crocker’s version).

Beware of the Betty Crocker recipe for checkerboard cake on their website. My friend Michelle – who inspired this post – had all kinds of trouble with it. Instead, try this checkerboard cake recipe (butter cake with ganache) from Joy of Baking. There are some great tips and step by step pictures as well.

Wilton has a easy to do checkboard cake recipe too, with a link to their chocolate buttercream recipe. I like to make the regular buttercream Wilton recipe that I learned in my cake decorating class. I get a lot of complements on it and it’s fairly easy to make once you have the Wilton extracts on hand. But I won’t tell if you use cake mix and store bought icing. I love Duncan Hines cake mix as it’s always reliable, even here at a mile high plus. And their icings are yummy, too.

Great chess sites for kids:

• ChessKIDS Academy
• Chess is Fun!
• US Scholastic Chess – Kids Corner
• Learn for Good’s Play Free Chess Online for Kids (even though I know next to nothing about chess, I had fun playing on this site)

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