Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God....

At the risk of sounding cynical, I decided to write about some thoughts gelling of late. I've noticed some online discussions about  homeschooling 'styles'--some nice and some, well.... just plum not nice.  I am constantly amazed at the number of resources there are for us homeschoolers these days. There is a great sharing of ideas and is truly an incredible age we live in.  It's wonderful to glean and learn from others' experiences. But with all this abundance comes the risk of comparison and discontent.

But I have to say--keep your eyes on your own work. As soon as encouraging turns into comparing, or lively discussion morphs into something uglier --that whole 'my way is the best way, and therefore YOUR way is wrong', I have to say enough.

Waaaay back when I was growing up in school, I had a bad habit of looking at my 'neighbor's' papers. Not to copy, mind you. Just to see where I was compared to where they were on a test. To see if my drawing was like their drawing. What my handwriting looked like compared to their handwriting. If I should be worried because I wasn't working as fast as they were. I can't tell you how many times I heard a teacher say 'keep your eyes on your own work!'

I think many of us homeschool moms need that reminder.  My life is not your life. Your kids aren't my kids. I can't presume to be the voice of God for you, nor should you expect me to be and vice versa. Sometimes (always?) it's best to turn off the computer, to pray with and talk to our husbands and see what THEIR vision for our children and our homeschool is. They have an objectivity about it that we may lack. To remind ourselves that  someone who is lauded as a homeschool guru or expert may just not be what they're cracked up to be in the online world. That we don't always get the whole picture.

That, sometimes, the greatest good we can do for ourselves and our families, is not to look up one more curriculum, one more idea or unit study, or one more homeschool blog. But to simply put one foot in front of the other and face up to another day.  Many times we know the right thing to do. We would just rather procrastinate, read about it, talk about it, vs actually doing the thing.