How can you avoid the homeschool comparison trap?4 min read

Although making regular comparisons can actually be a good motivator if you have realistic expectations and are looking at it rationally, getting into the unhealthy habit of constantly comparing your homeschool to others is really not the wisest thing to do. It will steal your joy and leave you pretty overwhelmed.

Do you struggle with continually comparing your homeschool and its workings with others?

How do you avoid this homeschool comparison trap?

Here are a few ways to help you to avoid falling into the trap of homeschool comparison

• Practice gratitude and be grateful
• Reflect on how you want your homeschool to feel like
• Never forget why you’re homeschooling
• Focus on your homeschool vision
• Reflect on what has and what hasn’t worked for your homeschool in the past
• Try to focus on your strengths

Let us take a look at these points in detail.

• Be grateful

Believe it or not, it’s quite hard to get caught up in the comparison trap when you’re too busy being grateful. You could start journaling about what you’re thankful for each day in your homeschool. Learn to practice gratitude on a regular basis and teach your kids to do the same! Can you list five things that you are grateful for today?

• Reflect on how you want your homeschool to feel

Take some time out to sit and reflect on how you want your homeschool to feel. Do you want it to feel warm, edifying and constructive? Do you want it to feel easy and simple or do you want it to feel burdensome and difficult? Make an effort to center your homeschool according to how you want your homeschool experience to feel (for both your kids as well as you).

• Never forget why you’re homeschooling

Why are you homeschooling your kids? Why did you make the decision to homeschool them, to begin with? It is definitely good to look at what other homeschooling families are doing from time to time in order to gain some insight and ideas that you could apply to your own homeschool. However, always remember that each family has its own personal goals and motivations for homeschooling. Every family is different and will work differently. You will never ever find two families that are doing every single thing in the exact same manner. That’s just impossible! Thus, the key is to try to find out what works best for your homeschool and to remember your goals and ambitions for starting homeschool in the first place.

• Focus on your homeschool vision

What does your idea of homeschool look like? What do you have in mind? What do you envision it to be? What does your list of goals include and what boxes are you looking to tick off? Keeping everything in mind including your family, its needs, your lifestyle, your teaching style, your kids’ learning styles and so on, work out how you can set things into motion and implement them in your homeschool. When you’re too busy focusing on your homeschool vision, you won’t have the time or the desire to look at anyone else’s homeschool and compare!

• Reflect on what has and what hasn’t worked for your homeschool in the past

If you have been homeschooling a while, you’ve probably realized that not everything you try will necessarily work out the way you imagined. In fact, so many ideas may not work at all! Take time out to reflect on what has worked in the past and what hasn’t. This will give you a better understanding of what direction you should move in for the future.

• Try to focus on your strengths

As a homeschooling parent, it’s easy to feel like a failure or to get tempted to give up when bad days and bad weeks come your way. But remind yourself that everyone goes through them! Everyone has homeschooling days that are challenging and just undoable. But you need to look at the bigger picture; you need to try and focus on your strengths. Everyone has their own unique strengths. And believe it or not, you have strengths too! Some people are amazing organizers, some are great writers and creators, others make good leaders and so on. Focus on your strengths and shape your homeschool accordingly.

Falling into a comparison trap is never beneficial. If anything, it only makes things worse. We hope these tips will help you if you’re struggling with the habit of comparing. Have faith and believe that you’re doing the best for your kids and homeschool.