Education Gaps

I was recently reading the bi-monthly magazine published by the Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers, VaHomeschoolers' Voice. If you don't get this magazine, and you're interested in education, you're missing out!

(at the end of two weeks of art camp that she chose to go to)

In it, there was an article about education gaps that has really hung with me since I first read it a few weeks ago. Basically, the author (Stephanie Elms) talks about gaps in students' education upon graduation:

"I find it interesting that there are some areas (such as music, art, theater, sports, or even the "softer" subjects like history) where gaps don't seem to bother people as much as they do in areas such as math or science."

According to traditional education models, all students are expected to learn the same body of knowledge and, therefore, should leave school without any gaps.

Looking back at my own education through high school, I would have to say I had some gaps. Particularly in art, theatre, literature, and sports. By the time I left college, I still had gaps in those areas, but I also started choosing to have gaps in science.

Stephanie's article reminded me that we all will have gaps in what we know because we are not a computer. We cannot know it all. Period. Therefore, as adults, we figure out what we like and what interests us to decide where to have gaps.

So, my job as a homeschoooling mom is to make sure my daughter knows what she needs to know to function easily in society (ex: you need basic math to run a household) and know what she wants to know so that her life can really be her own.