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One of the goals of home schooling our children is to educate the whole child, not just the intellectual mind. We can all relate to anecdotal stories of children who are very bright, ahead in their studies, but who lack common sense, emotional equanimity, or the ability to adjust smoothly to life experiences. Recent studies about "E.Q.", or emotional intelligence, suggest that E.Q. ability may influence happiness and achievement in life more than the more traditional I.Q.

More than just E.Q. and I.Q., my experiences with life and with children confirm that there are many different kinds of intelligence. There is logical intelligence, typified in the scientific process and mathematical analysis. There is artistic and perceptual intelligence, or being able to see and reproduce shapes and colors. There is an instinctive body intelligence, which signals us when our bodies need more care or nutrition. There is emotional intelligence, being able to understand feelings, both of ourselves and of others, and to treat other people in compassionate and harmonious ways. There is musical intelligence, being able to create and express oneself through sound. And there is hand/eye intelligence, the ability to create with your hands an image you have in your mind. It can be exemplified by the learning of skills ranging from riding a bicycle to delicate surgery, painting a picture or fine carpentry. Each kind may be called a center of learning or intelligence.

A child who may have trouble spelling may be a gifted handworker. The child who writes beyond their years may not focus as well on math. The child who draws and has artistic promise may not be graceful in movement. Traditional school models have often focused on the intellectual center alone to the detriment of other centers of learning. Thus children who may be extremely gifted, but in an unaddressed center of intelligence, may feel they are underachievers and have low self esteem. It is important to find the strengths of our children and allow them to blossom fully. To do this we must expose them to and help them explore as many different centers of learning and ability as possible.

We also must address the learning weaknesses of our children. One of the most effective ways to do this is to combine a strong center with a weaker center in a single activity. When we can combine two or more different centers this way, the stronger or more developed center can induce the weaker one into new understanding. F.E., a person who could not reason out a fraction problem on paper was able to solve it simply by measuring out the fractions using flour and a measuring cup. Thus a practical, hands on experience overcame a difficulty in abstract reasoning. When we combine a new subject with something a child already knows and enjoys, we enhance learning. Another example is of a child who was artistically able but had trouble with creative writing. By drawing a picture first, making the image of a story in her mind, she was then able to find the words to express it on paper. Understanding and using the different centers of intelligence helps to connect different kinds of knowing to solve problems and remove roadblocks to education.

When we use learning techniques that combine different kinds of knowing, the learning experience also goes deeper, being patterned in more than one area of the brain.
In teaching our children, then, first, we have to address as many different kinds of intelligent development as possible to find their areas of strength and passion. We also can put different centers together to so that the stronger abilities can help develop the weaker areas. We want to find more than one level to engage our children in when learning so they learn more deeply, and in doing so, develop more fully as human beings.