The good ship called Pine Point School shoved off from the dock yesterday morning on yet another nine-month journey across the Education Ocean. The weather was spectacular for the departure, and many parents and friends cheerily waved as the school began another year’s expedition. I recall seeing bright blue skies out my window all day long as my students and I cruised through our lessons. It was an auspicious start to what should be an astonishing adventure. Of course, as in any long journey such as this, there will be ups and downs. There will surely be days when the seas of learning are stormy – when confusion seems to have control of my classroom and the students and I are tossed hither and yon as we try to work through a lesson. But there will surely also be days of serenity and accomplishment, when all around us the sunshine of good books and superior writing brightly shines. What I must remember now, as the second day of our journey begins, is that, since the voyage will be a very long one, the benefits will only slowly accumulate over the course of weeks and months. I mustn’t be overly discouraged or elated by the events of a single day or a single class. This trip will last for 175 days, and in the end, when I look back on it, it will surely seem to have been an adventure beyond imagining. As I look forward this morning to a second fine day on the high seas of learning, I feel fortunate to be a passenger on this sturdy vessel called Pine Point School.