L.E.A.R.N.

The book Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully is perfect for all educators, parents, (especially home educating ones) and children to read at the beginning of the new school year. This book illustrates what Bellini, the high wire master, instructs Mirette to do and we can all live, learn, and love this lesson:

• "Never let your eyes stray.
  
• Think only of the wire, and of crossing to the end."

As home educating parents, it helps us to "never let our eyes stray" from our goal in order for us to keep "crossing to the end." We should use these last summer months to think about, pray about, and read about what we want our focus to be.

Write that focus down, develop a plan, and don't let your eyes stray to the plans, blogs, excitment, or even the focus of other educators.

Think only of your wire, your focus, and of crossing to the end.

Sounds easy in practice but it's a different situation in production, isn't it? How do I do that? you ask.

My friend Kimberly Kane shared this tip in a talk one year. If you follow these 5 rules (keep in mind the word LEARN) and memorize the Scripture quotes supplied, you will be better equipped to persevere in your schooling so that the ending will resemble Mirette's: "As for the master and his pupil, they were thinking only of the wire, and of crossing to the end."

LEARN

L---leave your defeated attitude behind you. Paul urges the Philippians to strain towards what's ahead. Straining means it won't be easy but we are to continue striving towards what is ahead.
"Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3: 13-14).

E---educate yourself. We are instructed not to run aimlessly but to run to the prize, the crown. Decide on the path to follow. Look ahead at the prize (the goal) you seek. Run towards it.
"Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. Thus I do not run aimlessly..." (Cor.9:24-26)

A---actively pursue help through a community. Remember the "body is a unit" and the church resembles the body of Christ. We are here to serve one another. Just as a little toe is important in helping us keep our balance, we are all important and needed no matter how small a part we represent. If you're a little toe in the homeschool community, then be the best little toe you can be! That little toe is extremely important for balancing the whole body.

"As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

R---realize you'll never do it all. We're made to be a community. God did not intend for us to do it alone.

N---never give up.

"It is God himself, in his mercy, who has given us this wonderful work [of telling his Good News to others], and so we never give up." (Philippians 4: 1-9)