Simplicitas for the overachiever

Overachiever. 
Yep, that's what she said. The word rang in my ears and I wasn't sure if it was a compliment or a criticism. I know she meant it in a positive way, but I'm not sure how I felt about it then, or even now.
So many years of my life could be summed up in that word - namely my school years. But those years were also weighted down by a plaguing sense of guilt. Could've, would've, should've, more, more, more. See, there was always a greater expectation than I could possibly meet. Rarely did that expectation come from any outside source (though I can think of a boss or two I could mention...); I have never needed anyone but me to push me.
Such high expectations, such an extremely huge distance to fall when I fail to meet them.
And what I discovered recently, as I have been trying to pry into why I lose control when I lose it (and trust me, I lose it too much!), is that this place is where the rub is. Somewhere in that space between my expectations and reality. 
How do I respond when I don't meet my expectations? Or more importantly, when you don't meet my expectations? How do I deal with disappointment?
Somewhere we have all heard (Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill, or some other famous person quoted in Internet memes), that the secret to contentment is not to have more but to want less. Contentment is key, isn't it, the key to not being disappointed? Our consumer society always pushing us to buy more, work more, want more, learn more, play more stands in direct opposition to the cry of our hearts, the cry to live simply. Simplicity is a great weapon in the fight against my overachieving expectations, against my discontented consumer spirit. It is with simplicity that I want to homeschool.
I fight the urge to buy into the gimmicks. Teach your child to read with no tears in thirty days! Have the world's smartest child using this one easy memory trick! You can do it all! I don't spend my time pouring over Pinterest boards searching for that perfect clever way to teach the "ch" sound that involves a month of constructing a full scale train in my living room. I don't need a special school room, or a teacher name, or anything really that I have to buy and don't already possess. 
Simply homeschool. 
Simply read to your children. Write letters on the whiteboard over your kitchen table. Use your homemade flashcards. Go to the library. Teach your children. Learn with your children. Find what interests them and dive in head first, even if it means plowing through two huge volumes of dinosaur stories full of predators stalking prey complete with illustrations every single time your kids get a choice at reading time (trust me, I feel your pain). Gently turn their faces toward God's truths when their interests carry them away. Stay home. Be fully present and available.
Simply homeschool.
Simply read simply the scriptures and suddenly you will discover that God is the one opening your sweet child's little heart to the truths of His word. The Jesus Storybook Bible, the rhyming bible, those piles of other cutesy gimmicky bibles might have given her a love for David and Goliath and Noah's arkfull of animals, but the word in its glorious simplicity is giving her a love for God Himself!
And that is the greatest blessing a parent can witness, to be the conduit through which God reaches down and touches the heart of your child.