Your child will never know everything.
Now you know.
Worse still, if your students are anything like me, they will likely forget much of what they learn. As the years tick by, more and more of their formal education will seep out of their minds.
But don't be alarmed. This shouldn't cause you any concern whatsoever. Our brains retain the bits we use and tend to dump the rest. "Use it or lose it," as the psychologists say. Gaps and information loss are common, natural, and probably even healthy. In fact, gaps offer a huge benefit: You get to (re)learn something!
I've recently started reading Enchantress from the Stars to my wife. I remember, years ago, finishing the book and thinking, 'Wow.' But now that I've started reading it again, I realize I have forgotten everything: The plot, the characters, the central conflict. I'm now mourning my memory loss, but I'm also secretly excited to experience the book again ...almost for the first time.
The purpose of education, then, isn't to cram information into one's head. Rather, a good education is one that teaches us how to learn and inspires us to learn more. Put another way: Don't Mind the Gaps.
Don't Mind the Gaps
Last week, Lori said it even better in her post Home Schooling or Home Education?
May you enjoy learning (and relearning) things with your children as you finish up school, enjoy the summer, and look forward to another great year of homeschooling next year!
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester
[…] These two argue from time to time; they are both cut of the confidence cloth, proving their worth by what they know, have experienced, or can persuade someone to do. He recently "won" an argument about nutrition when they were debating the healthiest diets. She "won" when he was stumped by Algebra. Hence the comment about gaps. […]
[…] and college where we simply skimmed or skipped the last few chapters of our textbooks. Remember: Your kids will never know everything. And that's […]
[...] deep raging waters of a subject. There simply isn't time to cover everything. That's why I say, "Don't mind the gaps." Homeschooling is great because it allows us to adjust our focus as needed. Some days your [...]
[...] am constantly amazed at how many gaps there are in my knowledge. And it's not because I wasn't exposed to this content earlier in life. It's just that such [...]
[...] already shared about not knowing what a mandible is. I've said that you don't need to mind the gaps. I've even questioned the purpose of tests. So I wondered this morning: What difference does it [...]
Thanks, everyone! <smile>
And, yes, Anna: You can do this!
~Luke
Great reminder to look at the big picture, Luke.
Luke, I completely enjoy all the entries that you write. This is just one of the many reasons why when I got my Sonlight catalog, "liked" Sonlight on Facebook and started to read all the postings, I instantly just fell in love with Sonlight. Great information and words of advice for those of us that are new to homeschooling and didn't grow up with any sort of exposure to it. It makes me feel like I can do this! :) THANK YOU!
I attended my first ever homeschooling conference this month {the same week as my first ever Sonlight order arrived containing P3/4 and P4/5 yay!}.
Anyway, the keynote talked about this too and I found it comforting. He offered up the idea that if we cover "everything" we will know "virtually nothing about everything" and that there are far too many people out there like that already :)
I love this post. Very important advice to live by!
Well put!