ne of the biggest struggles homeschooling moms have is trying to answer that ongoing question, “Am I doing enough?”

This is not only a difficult question, but an impossible one to answer because we would have to define what “enough” really is—and there is no way to know that either.

We all want to do right by our kids. We want to know that we prepared them well for life and whatever God has called them to do. That’s why we are so often desperate for a measuring stick to help us determine if we are actually doing “our job right.”

Unfortunately, most of us were educated in the traditional school system where the measuring stick is performance: It doesn’t necessarily matter if you remember what you learn or understand how to use it in real life as long as you can do well on a test.

But what if we exchanged the measuring stick of performance and replaced it with purpose?

As we are moving through our school subjects, it might be wise to continually ask the Lord and ourselves, “What is the purpose of what we are doing right now?” If we can determine the purpose, we can pivot our kids’ learning accordingly. This can have the added benefit of smoothing out the rough spots that are an inevitable part of the homeschool journey.

One thing I learned years ago—that honestly changed the trajectory of my parenting and homeschooling—was to remember that God is always working. My part is to “look for where He is working and join Him in what He is already doing,” as Henry Blackaby shared in Experiencing God.

Sometimes a math lesson isn’t actually about the math. It might be about learning with your child, finding out how your child learns, or that there might be another way to absorb that concept that doesn’t involve books.