Traditional curriculum for teaching bonding often fosters the use of over-simplifications and over-generalizations. Therefore, there is a need for a presentation that is consistent with current scientific knowledge and that provides the student with the proper intellectual infrastructure for further studies. In this article, we present a general framework for bonding that can be presented at different levels of sophistication depending on the student's level and needs. This is achieved without sacrificing the benefits of traditional qualification of different bond types as this qualification is presented along a continuum scale of chemical bonding. The pedagogical strategy for teaching this model is a "bottom-up" one, starting with basic principles and ending with specific properties. It is our hope that its use could remove learning impediments and enhance students understanding of the nature of chemical bonds. (Contains 4 figures and 1 note.)