Fears of Home school

When I went back through and read my post about our decision to home school the boys, I realized that I sounded very confident about home schooling. I am confident with our decision, but I still have some fears and "what if's" that keep bugging me. Maybe someone can help me out with them. Feel free to leave the number of a good therapist if you know one.

1. Will I be too hard or too easy with my kids? With no other students to compare them too, how will I know if they are working to their full potential. On the flip side, what if my expectations are too great or above their capabilities?

2. Are my kids missing out? I was a kinda sad that my kids were not going to have a "1st day of school" this year. I can remember as a kid hardly being able to go to sleep the night before school started because I was so excited. Getting a new back pack and school supplies, picking out new clothes and shoes, meeting my new teacher in freshly decorated classroom are all a big part of my childhood, am I cheating them by not letting them have the same memories?

3. There is so much I want my kids to learn, where do I begin? I think I need to stick to a curriculum for Language arts and math, but what about history and science? Should we learn a little about a several science topics or really delve deeply into just a few. Where do we begin with history? Abeka starts with American, which I like. Some curriculums believe a chronological study is better and actually start with creation, I like that too. ?????

4. Did I choose the right curriculum? I originally thought I would just stay with the Abeka home schooling curriculum. The boys have been using Abeka since kindergarten and have done extremely well with it. Once I started looking into it, I quickly found out that there is a lot of really good stuff out there. Which one is best for them? Which one is best for me?

5. Will I be able to motivate my kids? Without the friendly competition of other students will my boys try as hard at home as they normally would in a classroom setting? Do they need the affirmation of an actual teacher on order to have a feeling of accomplishment?

My biggest fear is that my home schooling adventure will ignite into a raging ball of flames, with me as the pyromaniac.