No more second guessing your homeschooling decisions. I’m telling you now, give it up for good! It will be the best thing you could ever do for yourself and your family.
Dorothy Breininger, in researching her book, Time Efficiency Makeover, found that people spend anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours a day rehashing their choices.
Her example is “do I really want to go to the party on Saturday?” Imagine, 15 minutes to 2 hours a day, every day, of rehashing and second guessing.
How much time do you spend second guessing yourself?
As homeschooling parents, here are some of the ways we second-guess ourselves:
Is there a better curriculum for history that I don’t know about yet?
Is this homeschooling thing really working? or Would my children be better off in school?
Should I start main lesson with songs and verses even though my children don’t enjoy them?
Would my child be better off in grade one than grade two?
I could go on and on!
I’m sure you have questions of your own that you could add as well.
Questions themselves are good things, but dwelling on them or even worse, coming back and questioning ourselves and our decisions after we’ve made them can be detrimental.
My personal advice based on over 20+ years of parenting and homeschooling?
- Ask the questions.
- Discuss with whomever you think would be helpful.
- Let them rest until you feel clear on the answer.
- Take action.
- Give things time.
- Revisit the question if necessary, but don’t give up too soon.
And vow to GIVE UP CONSTANTLY SECOND GUESSING YOURSELF AND YOUR DECISIONS.
The trick that I’ve found that helps the most is to explore with a sense of curiosity rather than judgement.
All of life is about wondering, choosing something to try, and adjusting as we go. Everyone from baseball players to CEOs to teachers to farmers to doctors do this. So why can’t we?
I leave you with this quote:
“Worry is the darkroom in which negatives can develop.”
No more second guessing your homeschooling decisions!
And if you find you need some personal support to give up constantly second guessing yourself, consider scheduling a Mentor Session with me. I’d love to help.
Can I get an “Amen”??!!
I think this is the point where we can begin to move forward.
You can bet I will be thinking a lot about this today.
Love to you.
Sheila
Amen, sister! Moving forward is good, even if it’s imperfect. Staying stuck is not good. How many times do we need to learn this lesson???
Love to you, sister.
I just wanted to add that Sheila has a great post over at Simple Homeschool on “Dealing with Homeschool Doubt.” Check it out here:
http://simplehomeschool.net/doubt/
This is the time of year when all of those questions and concerns come rushing in. When your planning for the next school year you can get buried down by all the questions and choices. Thanks for the reminder Jean.. XOXO A
Yes, I find it hits this time of year as we are scrambling to finish this year but can’t help ourselves from thinking about next! Let’s not allow ourselves to get buried. Baby steps, I say.
Hugs!
AMEN. and I’ll throw in an halleluiah, too. thank you for the reminder.
here’s to moving forward – and growing!
Don’t “should” on yourself!
Love this reminder, Barbara. What a funny phrase! Thank you.
Yes, moving forward and growing! Let’s embrace that. Thanks, Heather.
I am slowly making my way through a backlog of email, so just got to this and clicked through. Oh my goodness, I really needed someone to say this to me today. I am a chronic “over-thinker.” The last few days I have been procrastinating doing some lesson planning for next year, just from over thinking where we are already behind, how am I going to manage it all, etc. etc. It’s turning me into a stinky mamma/teacher. Anyway, thanks for the reminder to just quiet and trust…
Oh so many of us tend to be “over thinkers.” And it can turn us into a “stinky/mama/teacher” for sure! Quiet and trust…and it’s in the doing, not the planning! So glad this was helpful to you today. Wishing you peace and joy with your kiddos.