When you consider the possibility of home schooling for the first time, it’s a little like deciding that your event in track and field will be the high hurdles. The first time you look at that track, all you see are the hurdles, one after another. You don’t think about the stamina you build by training for the event. You don’t think about the satisfaction you will gain by actually learning to clear the hurdles. And you don’t anticipate the joy of winning the race. You just think about the hurdles. But God never calls us to do anything based on the merits of our own strength.

As a prospective (or veteran) home-schooling mother, you may find the perceived benefits of home education paling in comparison to the hurdles you are visualizing having to clear. And, when you’re really honest with yourself—and I’m really honest with myself—the biggest hurdles we face are those dealing with our own inadequacies:

I’m not smart enough to home school my children.

I’m not spiritual enough to home school my children.

I’m not rich enough to home school my children.

I’m not patient enough to home school my children.

I’m not domestic enough to home school my children.

I’m not smart enough to home school my children.

I’m not organized enough to home school my children.

I’m not a consistent disciplinarian.

I’m not a certified teacher.

I’m not a lawyer.

So the question really is, Do we have to be superwomen to home school? And won’t our children be the ones to suffer if we’re not?

Let me be painfully transparent here. I feel my inadequacies everyday as a wife and as a mother. In subsequent articles we will deal with the particular issues of IQ, patience, domesticity, organizational acumen, and consistency. But for now, let’s look at the underlying issue here—we’re not sure we’re adequate for the job or up to the challenge.

The truth is that God never calls us to do anything based on the merits of our own strength. I often contemplate the story of Jesus telling the disciples to feed the multitudes, and the disciples telling Jesus, ”We have only five loaves and two fish.” (Matthew 14:15-21)

How did Jesus respond to the disciples? Did He say, ”Boy, you’re right. What was I thinking?” Hardly. He knew how many people had to be fed. And He was well aware of the disciples’ meager resources. His response to the disciples was simply, “Bring them (the loaves and fishes) here to me.” What happened next was truly miraculous.

And ordering the multitudes to recline on the grass, He took the five