Worried About Learning Gaps?

Gaps are an opportunity

The homeschool Facebook groups are all abuzz with temporary homeschool moms who want to know what curriculum to buy in order to reintegrate seamlessly with the public school system when it finally opens again.

They are homeschooling with good reason; the schools are failing to provide a good education. They know that because they have seen what their kids have learned through the shut-down so far.

And they aren't happy. The education seems subpar. They don't want their kids falling behind. So they are pulling them out and homeschooling them for the year.

Yet they can't shut-off the fear that they will mess it up, do it wrong, or forget some crucial subject.

Did you catch the contradiction of this worry?

They pull their kids out of public school because the educational quality being provided is so low, while simultaneously worrying about whether this choice will make their kids fall 'behind' within this low quality system.

Their kids might miss something. What if they are behind next year? What if they struggle with going back?

Can you see the disconnect here?

Look I get it. We all worry about our kids education. As parents, whether or not we homeschool, we are still ultimately responsible for ensuring that our children receive a good education.

It's normal to worry. But this worry about learning gaps is misdirected. Because learning gaps are just about the most useless thing we could be worrying about. Not having learning gaps will not turn our children into mini superheroes. Not having gaps won't teach them how to learn. Not having gaps will not make them better or more successful people.

There are more important things we should direct our worry towards.

Let's change the criteria of education

What is a learning gap? A piece of information you don't know. Anyone know how to fix that? Will it really be so hard to fill in a few gaps?

Well, that all depends. It depends entirely on how good our kids are at learning. It depends on thinking, creativity, research skills (i.e. reading, writing, and knowing enough about numbers that no one can fool you with their stats) and curiosity. Those are things you need to possess in spades to be a great learner.

Information is not the most important part of education

The whole idea of learning gaps comes from a place of deeply misunderstanding what the heart of education is all about.

The heart of education is about developing a whole human child. It is an endeavour to nourish the child, body, mind, and heart, by providing an environment where a child has all the things they need to grow into their best selves.

Education is about learning to learn

When we take a step back and think about education within this bigger picture, we can see that missing bits of information will not be the end of the world.

A whole, healthy, happy, and confident child, equipped with the skills of learning, will simply fill in those gaps whenever they come across them. And they will continue to do that as adults.

Learning gaps are part of modern life

We live in the age of information. And what that means is that information, in its raw form, no longer gives one man a huge advantage over another. Of course, information can be powerful, but only when action and creativity are applied to it.

Every one has learning gaps, you, me, our spouses, our friends, our parents, teachers, and our kids. We are all in this learning gap thing together. Ok?

So it is time to stop worrying about learning gaps and start focusing on giving our kids what they need to be active, creative learners who aren't fazed when they meet someone who knows something that they have not learned about yet.

Just keep learning. Just keep learning. Just keep learning, learning, learning. (Can you hear Dory yet?)

Remember, learning gaps are an opportunity for your kids to practice the skill of learning.