This morning I read an excellent article in the latest issue of Parents Canada Magazine that got me thinking. It was about how knowing the different learning styles of each member of your family can make it easier to find an organization system that actually keeps your home organized.In my never ending quest to find a way to keep my house more organized (or even a little bit organized) they immediately had my undivided attention. You can read the article on the Parents Canada website.

As you probably already know there are many different learning styles. Harvard professor Howard Gardner identified eight distinct learning styles in his theory of “Multiple Intelligences”.  But in this article they identify the three most important ones when it comes to organizing:

• Visual (learn by seeing)
• Auditory (learn by hearing)
• Kinesthetic (learn by doing)

The idea is that once you know everyone’s personal learning style you can put in place organization solutions that work for them.  If the solution fits their learning style, they will be more likely to stick with it.  And by recognizing that your style may not be the only one in the house, you can better understand why past attempts have failed!

Not sure what your learning style is?  Take the quiz to find out. 

My result is that I am a Visual Learner. Which I already knew so no surprises there. I am going to figure out what learning styles best describe my husband and children as well and then work on ways to organize everyone’s toys/clothes/books/miscellaneous stuff in a way that makes sense for them.

Should be an interesting experiment!  If nothing else I am uncharacteristically excited about organizing my house so that can only lead to good things!