#55 Curriculum Overload

One aspect of homeschooling that many seasoned mothers will caution you about is getting carried away in purchasing curriculum for your children. It's easy to overestimate the importance of the books themselves in your children's education and spend too much money and waste too much time and energy trying to find the perfect fit. The fact is that there won't be a perfect fit.

I thought this quote from Gretchen Rubin, writing in Real Simple magazine, made a useful distinction about how we choose things...

There are two types of decision makers. Satisficers... make a decision once their criteria are met. Maximizers want to make the best possible decision. Even if they see a bicycle of a backpack that meets their requirements, they can't make a decision until they've examined every option. Satisficers tend to be happier than maximizers. Maximizers expend more time and energy reaching decisions, and they're often anxious about their choices. Sometimes good enough is good enough.