The school year has begun. By now, the jitters have settled and the long year stretches before you. This is when you need to remind yourself that it’s like running a marathon.
I have not only never run a marathon, I have never had the least desire to do so. I do have friends who have and, unbelievably, are now tackling 50 mile races! Most of us want to teach well and get our kids through another year successfully, but we know we’re not competing for awards. We have prepared as best we can, but the long stretch ahead of us from September’s viewpoint often seems interminable. The ADE team has offered as much preparatory advice as we know how, and will continue to bring it your way in the coming year again, but we all know it is only you who puts in the daily effort to run this year’s course. Though I have not run any serious races, I have been on the sidelines for more of my sons’ cross country races than I can count. I do know some of the agony and ecstasy they faced. So, from the sidelines, I’m cheering you on and have just a couple of coaching reminders.
My homeschooling marathon has taught me much firsthand knowledge. In the early years, well, who am I kidding?—in most of the years I lunged off the starting block with high hopes, but a few twists and turns into the term and I would find myself winded already and barely limping along. Perhaps you can relate to the enthusiasm of the new year, the new start, the new books and pencils and then the inevitable ache in the side, the panting agony toward the end of the year to try to finish all you had such high hopes of doing in the fall. If only we could take endurance capsules to keep up our energy. No matter how well prepared you are, there will be unexpected life events that will trip you up or knock you temporarily out of the race. It may be okay to lag behind, but dropping out is definitely not an option.
The biggest lesson I had to learn, and I believe every runner needs to learn, is how to pace yourself. Sprinting in a long race is for the finish, not the beginning. Always at the races there would be that rabbit running evenly along, setting the pace so the runners could get their stride and reserve their inner resources for the race ahead. You have to keep moving, breathe well, and grab some hydration at critical points if you don’t want to collapse. Stopping and starting is not going to get you to the finish line. One way or another, you must keep moving if you want to make it to the end.
Even the best runners have had bad races, been hit or tripped, taken tumbles, injured themselves. It was amazing to me when our doctor said there are more sports injuries from running than any other sport. You can’t predict mishaps and accidents. Once my son hit a slick muddy steep downhill slope and went airborne to land in a breathless heap at the bottom, but he picked himself up and started running again, just like we have to do when the bad patches come.
Who knows what the coming school year holds for you. You’re off, like it or not, and so you must pace yourself. Hold steady. That timetable to follow day by day, week after week, is the pace setter bunny for you. When you’re thrown off course, it points you back on track. You have to have the runner’s mindset, follow the course, keep going when it feels like you can’t take the next step. The finish line is out there, but in teaching your children, that is not your goal. We teachers are the kind of runners who, like Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire, feel God’s pleasure when we run. We’re not running for our own glory, but His. These children have a long road of life before them, and we are the pace setters for them, helping them to find their stride so they run on steady and strong. Though it’s out of sight in the distant future, they will cross the finish line. So will you.
Of course, moms and kids love the end of the school year. Everyone looks forward to a break, the cool down, the satisfaction of accomplishment. Though there won’t be trophies, T-shirts, or cheering crowds when you get there, in the coming year I hope you’ll know I’m a great sidelines fan of each of you. I’ve run that race many times, over 30 times. Remember that you have a great coach in your heavenly Father. The constant refrain of most coaches I’ve known is, “Keep looking up!” That’s where our help comes from every step of the way.