Little Women

• Nov. 3, 2006 - Comparing ourselves to other homeschoolers

Why do we do this to ourselves?

I see homeschool mom A, who plans wonderful science experiments. Homeschool mom B invents fun math games and doesn't even need a curriculum.   Homeschool mom C's kids are fluent in 3 languages, before the age of 5.   Homeschool mom D's daughter wrote a novel (and got published) at 10yo. Homeschool mom E's kids have all kinds of arts and crafts projects, all over the house.   I'm not quite sure what homeschool mom F does, but her house is beautiful while she does it!   And all *I* can do is .....

So I look at all these wonderful homeschool moms, and somehow, I think that they ALL are doing ALL of it. I'm the only one who isn't.   After all, I can only do ONE thing, and they do all this stuff.    And in fact, my one thing isn't that great. In fact, it's so easy, anyone could do it, so it's really no big deal. Really, I don't do much of anything valuable.....

What I miss is that I am another mom's "homeschool mom A".    The one who does all the science experiments feels bad because she doesn't do the same with math. The one whose kids read early knows she's missing the boat, because they hate coloring.   Last night at homeschool support group, I'm afraid people felt bad, because we were discussing spelling, and I SKIP spelling because my kids are good at it naturally.   Yet I look at these same lovely ladies and think, "I wish I did XYZ as well as her, and ABC as well as her, and......."     (For the record, we are deficient in anything that requires holding a pencil, and rarely get to science experiments, though we read lots of books about science.)

So why do we do this to ourselves?   God gave to each of us our OWN children, because He knew WE could give them something He wants them to have, that nobody else could give them.    When I see everybody else's wonderful ideas, I need to remind myself of this. Nobody is doing all of it--we each give our kids the best we have, and God takes it and turns it to His use, for good.

(I thought I had posted this before, but I couldn't find it.)