Bridging the “GAPS”

As of late, many conversations I have been involved with, online or offline, have surfaced around gaps. This in turn set my mind racing thinking about these gaps. What gaps exactly are we talking about? The educational gap, that homeschoolers must be providing their children with but truthfully, are we?

There are so many gaps in every education module that pinpointing one specific curriculum or way to educate would be absurd. However, I feel that as a homeschooling parent the worry about the dreaded “GAPS” consumes us and plays a part in how we chose curriculum or materials in which we educate our children with. Honestly, stop and think this through in regards to your own worries or fears and then all the comparisons to this curriculum or the way public schools do it. The worry about the gaps seems like such a burden.

The burden can be lifted and swept away with a little hard work in changing the thought process when it comes to thinking about the gaps.

Let’s think back to ancient times so that we can understand how things started as far as education is concerned. In those days the educational process consisted of thinking and not just any type of thinking but a deep thoughtful process was taught. Then they moved on to the physical work of their education, the experimentation, the process of putting things down on paper or papyrus if you will. However, this education didn’t begin right away, this education took place around the age of twelve, so the child was afforded a childhood.

As life progressed through the ages, so did education.  One thing, however, always remained, the dreaded “GAPS.”

The one way that parent or grandparent educators can bridge those “GAPS” is to teach children some basic skills that the child can carry with them for the rest of their life. The skills have been around since ancient times and have carried on through the ages. What are these basic skills? They are no ancient secret that has been hidden away since the beginning of time but merely nuggets of wisdom to be carried on from one generation to the next.

Children should be taught the basic skill of finding information. This bridges the dreaded “GAPS” and gives the child a lead on life that will take them any where they want to go. I will admit that our information sources have drastically changed from one time period to the next but teaching children every available source for information is the greatest gift we as educators could ever give.

As far as “GAPS” are concerned, they will always be present and that is true for almost every person on this earth. That is why we have certain fields of expertise. God gave each and every individual certain gifts that are as unique to each of us as our fingerprints. God also gave us ways to find information and the ability to pass that on to the next generation.

Amanda can be found over at All American Family living out her version of the American dream alongside her family.

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