How to know if dc are whole to parts or parts to whole?

[Amy M]

I've been researching classical writing curricula lately, and noticed this or that curriculum being described as whole to parts or parts to whole. I don't completely understand what that means and how it bears on my decision. Further, how do I know which one I am, and which one my children are? Does that become clearer as they get older?

[EmilyGF]

My son would go nuts if I went whole to parts. I described the Suzuki method to him and he started crying and begged me never to have him do anything like that. He loves sentence diagramming and memorizing things. He wants to understand the pieces first and then put them together. He loves rules and can apply them well. 

 

My daughter hated hated hated AAS. She hates WWE. She loves big picture ideas and then figures them out in her head. She is very intuitive with people (and super good at manipulating - sigh). She is intuitive in how she learns, too.

 

[My3girls]

I am very parts to whole. I like getting all the details together then applying them, and this is the way I'm teaching my girls. My oldest and youngest are more whole to parts, and they are free to write until their hearts are content on their own time. On my time, they are learning all the rules and taking it slow. Unbeknownst to them, the boring, schooly rules that mom makes them learn and practice is trickling into their personal writing. Middle daughter is parts to whole like me so no problem with her.

[sbgrace]

I'll take a stab at this from my experience.

 

I think sequential (step by step) sorts of people are parts to whole. I'm like that. I like a list to follow. I think in terms of what's next, and naturally organize things mentally. I see details, then take in the whole. I think this is personality driven honestly.

 

My whole to parts child (and husband) are more big picture thinkers. They "aha" a math answer, without awareness of what steps they followed perhaps. In my experience, precision and details aren't initial focuses for them, though they can certainly get detailed in areas of interest/when it's needed after they have an overview or idea they'd like to carry out.

 

Example in cooking. I like a recipe, and I'll follow it. I may change it, but I'll still have a plan. My husband will improvise, fail to measure precisely, and generally wing it happily. I look at instructions for assembling something and follow them step by step. My husband's style is envision the finished product and start building, consulting instructions if needed.

 

Both my husband and whole to parts son seem satisfied with an over-view understanding of things.

 

This is purely speculation based on my experiences, but I tend to think parts to whole people are perhaps better suited toward expository writing, while whole to parts people might be more talented at narratives. Maybe, though, that's just personality here!

 

As far as writing instruction, I think parts to whole focuses on one part or aspect of the writing process at a time. Whole to parts would be more organic, perhaps free writing or model based.

 

I'll give a specific example. My parts to whole child is learning a lot more with detailed instruction on various aspects. We did a lesson that provided and explored six stylistic choices for engaging openings to narrative stories.  This child then notices openings in his favorite author, and incorporates this into his own writing. I saw huge improvement with this specific instruction, and he enjoyed it. The same instruction with the other child was mostly disregarded. For one thing, he had already naturally noticed engaging openings in his own reading, and incorporated that inspiration into his own writing. Even during the initial lesson he immediately noted that there were lots of great openings that didn't follow those set ideas.

 

I don't think my whole to parts learner would have any kind of tolerance for a detailed type of writing curriculum. He's got low tolerance for detail, and would see breaking things down as terribly tedious.

[Arcadia]

Whole to parts is kind of like your kid see this lego box, ignore the instruction manual and start building that structure by looking at the model printed on the box cover.

The kind that learns grammar from reading books before they have done formal grammar.

Cooking is a big science experiment to my kids and me. The recipe is just there for entertainment.

 

One thing I find with my older especially is he gets language by immersion in books, videos, conversation and not by formal instruction. So that helps when I am looking at resources for languages.

For writing, just allowing him to write free flow without stress works wonders.

 

ETA:

BBC link on left brain right brain

http://www.bbc.co.uk/keyskills/extra/module1/print2.shtml

[dauphin]

And that's why I think CM'ers (especially the parents/teachers) are predominantly whole to parts people (and why it always felt uncomfortable, like a wrong-sized coat, to me, since I am heavily parts-to-whole). I took an informal survey on a FB CM group and every.one self identified as whole to parts (well, everyone familiar with the concept).

[rimk3]

I've been researching classical writing curricula lately, and noticed this or that curriculum being described as whole to parts or parts to whole. I don't completely understand what that means and how it bears on my decision. Further, how do I know which one I am, and which one my children are? Does that become clearer as they get older?

I agree with pp that whole-to-parts vs parts-to-whole is linked to personality type and/or brain dominance.  You could take a right-brained/left-braind test, a personality test, or perhaps read about multiple intelligences.  There are tests for children as well, but I do believe that it does becomes clearer as they grow.  I have some insight into my 6 year olds' learning styles, personalities, etc., but I do believe that as they grow I will gain a deeper understanding.  I have identical twins that are very similar in many ways, but each year I notice more differences.  Some of that is because they are growing into who they are and some of that is me getting to know them better.

 

I will add that although a child may lean towards whole-to-parts or parts-to-whole because of personality or what side of the brain is more dominate, all children can benefit from materials or methods that promote both functions.  I believe it is important to find areas of strength and learning styles, then use that information to empower the child and not limit them to one way to learn.  I try to present things in the mode that they will naturally accept and hit it again from another direction.  My right-brained, creative son loves free-writing, creative writing, and writing poems.  He picks up language and how it works intuitively.  We are still doing formal grammar (gently) and working on mechanics through copywork, etc.  Now, if my son asks to do a free write on day that there is copywork (from ELTL), I will let him do the freewrite, but I may ask him to add a possessive noun somewhere in his free write since that is the grammar topic we covered that day.  

 

Whole to parts is kind of like your kid see this lego box, ignore the instruction manual and start building that structure by looking at the model printed on the box cover.

The kind that learns grammar from reading books before they have done formal grammar.

Cooking is a big science experiment to my kids and me. The recipe is just there for entertainment.

 

One thing I find with my older especially is he gets language by immersion in books, videos, conversation and not by formal instruction. So that helps when I am looking at resources for languages.

For writing, just allowing him to write free flow without stress works wonders.

 

ETA:

BBC link on left brain right brain

http://www.bbc.co.uk/keyskills/extra/module1/print2.shtml

 

Thanks for the link.  I personally have never identified strongly as right or left brained, so I guess I am "equally balanced."  People in my life may find suspect with the "balance" part, though.  :laugh:

 

[Ellie]

I don't know what that means, either, but I managed to homeschool, anyway. :-)

[wapiti]

http://visualspatial.org/vslasl.php

[Farrar]

This is one lens for looking at curricula and learning styles.  Don't get too caught up in it.  There are lots of different divisions (mastery vs. spiral, for example or visual spatial vs. auditory).  It can be useful to think about, but most kids don't fall strongly into one side or another.  Most studies involving things like learning styles don't show that they exist.  Kids who need things to be very incremental parts to whole for one subject may need more big picture whole to parts for another.  Sometimes you just have to try something and see how it's working to learn how your child learns.

[rimk3]

This is one lens for looking at curricula and learning styles.  Don't get too caught up in it.  There are lots of different divisions (mastery vs. spiral, for example or visual spatial vs. auditory).  It can be useful to think about, but most kids don't fall strongly into one side or another.  Most studies involving things like learning styles don't show that they exist.  Kids who need things to be very incremental parts to whole for one subject may need more big picture whole to parts for another.  Sometimes you just have to try something and see how it's working to learn how your child learns.

 

I agree, there is a spectrum and most people do not fall at the far ends of that spectrum.  My son responds more to whole-to-parts with language and more parts-to-whole with Math.  I also believe that the pendulum can swing on that as well.  One year a child may have a subject "click" with a certain approach, but the opposite approach works better the next year.  It's good to be flexible and readjust when needed.  

[FO4UR]

Whole to parts = Needs to see how the details will fit into the Big Picture before the details will stick.

 

 

Parts to whole = Needs to master each detail before they can master the Big Picture.

 

 

 

You don't want only one way or the other. You want balance. You might need to tweak things here and there to either break down into detail or show the big picture.  Don't worry about it too much.  Your momma-instinct will kick in and let you know when and where to do that.