Are you worried about covering all subjects and topics in your homeschool? Are you concerned your child will be behind? Are you afraid there will be gaps in their homeschool education? Here’s why you don’t have to worry about gaps anymore!
Almost from the get-go of homeschooling, we start to worry about gaps in our child’s education. We want to do all the stuffs and nearly run ourselves ragged trying out every curriculum we see. That’s why I always tell new homeschool moms to give themselves 3 years to find their groove.
Read: Homeschooling & the 3 Year Learning Curve
But even after we find a groove that works for us, we still tend to believe we are leaving irreparable gaps in our children’s lives with our inability to teach everything there is to teach. And it only gets worse as we head into the high school years.
But what if gaps in our child’s education weren’t really gaps at all? What if the lessons left undone weren’t mistakes or oversights? What if we could see the truth?
1 – No teacher is able to cover everything.
There are two different kinds of gaps we fear – those we perceive the public school fills and those we perceive other homeschool families fill.
We worry we aren’t teaching math or science or composition the way the public school does, and therefore, our child won’t pass the college entrance exams or get a good job or be able to function in the “real world.” We either remember our own public school education with rose-colored glasses or we have people in our lives forcing their own concerns on us – often in the form of well-meaning grandparents wearing their own set of rose-colored glasses.
We may also be looking on Instagram or at other moms in our local homeschool group with a shade of green in our eyes. We admire them, we are inspired by them, and we are pretty sure their homeschool is perfect. They probably take nature walks every day. They probably know Latin and Calculus, and take field trips on Fridays. They probably do all the things we don’t do…and again, we see all our gaps in all their glory.
Yet, if we would step back for a moment, we would readily acknowledge that no teacher out there is capable of teaching everything – nor is it their job to teach everything.
Just because you have your children at home teaching them yourself does not mean you became superhuman. If gaps meant you were doing a poor job of teaching and ought to be fired, every teacher on the planet would be out of a job!
2 – A love of learning, not a spoon-fed education.
Unfortunately, public school often stomps out a love of learning in children. Sometimes it is peer driven in a society that doesn’t revere intelligence, and sometimes it is driven by endless and often meaningless assignments with very little free time to combat the rigor.
When assignments are handed out, they are given with every base covered, no room left for error, no child left outside the box. Everything is spoon-fed, including how a child should react to the information they are handed.
While not every homeschool manages to instill a love of learning, I do believe it is a more likely environment for such a thing to exist.
Read: Delight Directed Homeschooling
What does this have to do with gaps? Well, if you are giving your child a love of learning there WILL be gaps. Why? Because your child will be digging deep into subjects that interest them, rather than always skimming the surface of everything they encounter.
3 – You aren’t perfect, but God is.
If homeschooling doesn’t bring you to your knees, nothing will. It is a near-daily reminder that no homeschool mom on the planet is perfect. We NEED a Savior. We NEED someone to cover our gaps, our mistakes, our messes. It is a daily walk in humility, and I’m pretty sure that’s one big reason God called me to this. Through it all, I am well aware of how inadequate I really am – and yet, not all is lost because God is there. What He calls me to, He equips me for.
4 – Gaps are actually Gates.
Let me leave you with this thought…what if gaps were really gates?
Let me tell you a story. My 3rd year in college, I transferred to a private university where I met a most-amazing English Professor – Dr. Lewis. One day she called me into her office and asked me where I had learned to write my research papers. I thought she was complimenting me. She wasn’t. She was appalled that I had managed to get through high school and 2 years of college at 3 different schools using such poor form. She gave me a crash course in writing that day, and I went on to become a much better writer because I had a gap.
I’m not advocating that you should intentionally leave gaps in your child’s education, but you WILL leave gaps. If you encourage a hunger and thirst for learning and a teachable spirit – as all Christians should have – any gaps you leave will be gateways to your child’s next educational experience.
S.T. says
This is lovely!
Amy says
Thank you!
SARAH says
So timely as my oldest child enters High School in the Fall and I am panicking about whether he is learning enough or the “right” things to prepare him for his future. Thank you for being so honest about your homeschool life.
Amy says
You are so welcome! 🙂
amanda. baker says
I have been homeschooling for 20 years and I went to private school as a child. One of the first things I noticed was what I never learned in school. Did they not teach it or did I just tune it all out. All I remember was teachers yelling at students to shut up. It makes me sad to think of all the history art and classuical music I never heard of. I never even heard of Plutarch. I know I can learn it all now but what a waste of 18 years.
Amy says
I have really enjoyed learning alongside my children, because like you, I don’t remember learning much in the way of history. This is one of my favorite things about homeschooling!
Angela says
Thank you for making me realize that gaps are perfectly common and to not look at them as “gaps” but as “gates” for their future. I had not thought of them as such.
Amy says
You are so welcome! It truly matters what we teach our children to do with the gaps. 🙂
Sarah Schoolcraft says
Thank you for your encouragement! That feeling always kind of lingers in the back of my mind. I had a pretty good education and then i think, my kids won’t learn everything i did because it’s hard to be that thorough with so many kids and babies to keep up with! But there are definitely times where I have seen God’s hand in my children learning on their own because they loved what they were studying! Praise God.
Amy says
It’s so exciting when we see our children truly enjoying their studies!
Erin says
Thats great a professor took the time to invest in you. This really helps my thinking and to not be scared of the inevitable.
Amy says
Fantastic!
Layne says
BLESS YOU! I’M SO THANKFUL FOR YOU!! Totally encouraged and what I needed to hear! I believe the Lord uses your WRITING and your heart to serve and bless many! 🙂 To God be the glory!
Thanks Amy!
Amy says
Thank you, Layne, for such encouraging words! I really do strive to blog for the Lord!
Frida says
Thank you so much Amy. Im encouraged.
Amy says
You are so welcome!
Natalie says
I’m definitely feeling this as I readjust after having another baby. What I thought would be a 1 month break turned into 3 months with new baby, a visiting relative, holidays, sick baby, kid with broken bone, and moving. I’m feeling discouraged as the same delay happened two years ago after a baby was born. I’m glad we already school year-round and kept pace through last summer. My oldest feels like she’s “behind,” but grasps concepts quickly when introduced, so I try not to hold her back with too much repetitive review. But I’m a box checker, so I have a really hard time jumping ahead.
Amy says
I think everyone feels “behind” here and there, but whenever one of my older kids says that I try to remind them about these points. It’s been good for my daughter to have public schooled friends as she’s gotten older too to help her realize they are struggling with certain things as well. There is no “perfect” anything out there!
Reggie says
Wonderful, Amy! I’ll admit to having had ‘gap panic attacks’ in my early days as a homeschooling mom. Fortunately, God brought me up for air by tapping me on the shoulder with this simple truth: Girl, what do YOU remember from 12+ years of ‘schooling’? I was salutatorian of my graduating class, but truthfully? I only remember what I went on to use. So that’s how I teach. I give them life skills and leave many a gate wide open for exploration. Thanks, Amy! This is one of the best reads I’ve had in blogland.
Amy says
Thanks, Reggie! Yes, I tell my kids all the time that I remember very little from my school days (more from college, but that’s because I was INTERESTED in those things!). I was also salutatorian. 😉
Rachel Kight says
I love this! It is so true! And a lot of “gaps” are actually skipping out on factoids that have somehow made it onto the educational “must-have” list.
On a related note, I ran across a post that criticized your blog, among others, for asserting that homeschooling takes significantly less time than public education. I’ve blogged a rebuttal that links back to the original naysayer (an anti-QF website), and I thought you might be interested.
https://trialanderrorhomeec.blogspot.com/2019/02/school-days.html
Serene in Singapore says
“You aren’t perfect, but God is.”
THANK YOU for this reminder. In the doldrums this season. And needed to be reminded to focus on God, not me!
Amy says
You are welcome!
Vanessa says
This article is such a confirmation for me. Ive already graduated two of my children and learned through the process that there was no way I could do it all and that would mean I left room for God to do the rest and He has. I tell this to moms all the time but somehow as I begin yet another year with my two youngest(what I like to call my second batch), the enemy creeps in and tries to make me feel inferior once again but I trust God and nothing the lies. I know that He has ordained my children steps and I know that he called me to do this 20 years ago and I believe that if I stand firm on His word his grace is sufficient. Thank you for sharing these thoughts you have no idea how many new homeschool moms I say this too as well.
Amy says
Keep encouraging those new homeschool moms because when we say it to them, we get a dose of the encouragement ourselves!