A little history lesson….

Pretty amazing, don’t you think? A whole town, with a population close to 12,000, was born and died in the space of only 20 years. There was a discovery! It was exciting! As more and more people flocked into the town, they had to set up some sort of government, so there wouldn’t be anarchy. Then came the “boom years” where prosperity, and possibly, easier living became more wide-spread. They all thought it would last forever. The bottom dropped out and suddenly where they were living was not cost-effective. No jobs equated to no money equated to no food, and it was time to leave for the vast majority. Then it was over. Gone. Time and weather set in and did their job.

Here is the three-floor bank building today. Also the H.D. & L.D. Porter building. It was the second store the Porter Brothers built, which sold mining supplies, food and bedding.

Cook Bank building (1908)

H.D and L.D. Porter Bldg. (1906)

If you consider that the first 5 years of every child’s life is learning and mom is most likely doing the educating (which happens with every child no matter if there are siblings or not), then the homeschool parent will be teaching for a possible amount of 18 years. Some children graduate early and some might need another year—each child is different!

Can you see the similarities between a ghost town and homeschooling?

Whether you start homeschooling from the very beginning or if you discover it later in your child’s educational experience, do you remember the feeling of discovery? You had never heard of homeschooling before. Or you had heard of it, but it was definitely NOT for you! Suddenly, it’s a possibility due to whatever and however many factors. It’s scary and exciting all at once. But you start doing your homework, much like the miners had to—what method would best get the gold out of the ground? They were also willing to change gears when a better method came along. That’s what homeschooling parents do, too! For some who start with “school at home” or possibly another method of homeschooling, they are soon burned-out, sometimes including the child, also. They have to be willing to change gears no matter the cost of the curricula they were using. They have to learn what is best for their individual child, whether it is “school at home” or unschooling, or a mixture of the two, or something completely different.

After a few years of looking for the “perfect math program” or getting one’s “sea legs,” parents learn the ropes of homeschooling. The teaching parent gets the hang of it. Sometimes it can be in the 2nd or 3rd year, but for myself it was closer to the 4th year.

No matter your curricula choices, there is a certain rhythm to your days. Even in an unschooling household, there is a certain feeling that both children and parents know what each day will hold. The materials and the activities may vary, but there is that rhythm to the day. It’s very much like a town becoming established. Finding out they need the law and can't rely on barroom brawls and shootings to keep things in order. More women come in and they want families, necessitating churches and a one-room schoolhouse to be built. It’s time for a bit more governing to obtain some order over the chaos of the mining camps.

By the time, a homeschool family finds their rhythm, it is definitely the “Boom Years,” for the most part. Life is good. They have that rhythm to their days. They keep their eyes open for opportunities to widen their children’s horizons, much like the store owner keeping abreast of fashions for the ladies, and the mining owner who is looking for safer mining techniques. Life is good. It’s pleasant…...and it feels like it will last forever.

Suddenly as the Panic of 1907, without warning the parent suddenly sees that the high school years are fast approaching. They only have four more years to make sure they’ve covered all the bases! (Or that’s how one feels, the reality is no one can cover ALL the bases.) Insecurity enters the picture. What will they do? Starting in the East, as businesses went bankrupt, stock market prices plummeted and depositors made a massive run on the nation’s banks. Gold rush towns became ghost towns in fairly quick order. The high school years pass for the homeschooled student and parent, for four years are not very long, and the student may spread his wings to go elsewhere—to college or university, or to start a business.

Now, it’s truly over.

What does a homeschooling parent, usually the mom, do then?

It’s time to look forward, to look around. Homeschooling is a growing educational choice. There will always be new homeschoolers entering those early days of discovery. I believe that this is what the mom who has graduated her child (or children) needs to see. She can be (or at least has a wonderful opportunity, if she so chooses) that Titus 2 woman!

Titus 2:3-5 states, in the Amplified version: Bid the older women similarly to be reverent and devout in their deportment as becomes those engaged in sacred service, not slanderers or slaves to drink. They are to give good counsel and be teachers of what is right and noble, so that they will wisely train the young women to be sane and sober of mind (temperate, disciplined) and to love their husbands and their children, to be self-controlled, chaste, homemakers, good-natured (kindhearted), adapting and subordinating themselves to their husbands, that the word of God may not be exposed to reproach (blasphemed or discredited).

Those who have gone before are needed to help encourage and advise those new to the homeschooling journey with good counsel.

Do we choose to allow time and weather to leave our homeschooling “town” in disrepair and crumbling disarray? Let us continue the journey as we reach a helping hand to those coming behind us.

No, I’m not suggesting that moms, who have "won the race" with their own children, to continue giving classes (although they might, if interested), or that they attend every homeschool support group meeting from the point of graduating their last child to the point where they are on death’s doorstep. After graduation can be a wonderful time to find the time to look into their own interests, start a new business, learn a new skill, or just play with their grandchildren.

All I’m suggesting is to keep a finger in the pot:  be aware of the homeschooling movement and if the opportunity arises where a “newbie” is finding uncharted waters, be there to help. You don’t have to do it for them, in fact, it’s probably better that you don’t! BUT you can water the seeds of new growth and direct them in paths that are fruitful as they go on their own homeschooling journey.

Give yourself some time to think about the end of your homeschooling journey now, before you arrive at the end of the story. Really, it's only the beginning!

Again, very special thanks to Paul Catanzariti for his permission to use the photos of Rhyolite, Nevada from his Off the Beaten Path webpage:  http://www.members.cox.net/pjcat/index.html

One other site was useful to me, primarily just for the enjoyment of reading about Rhyolite:   http://hometown.aol.com/Gibson0817/rhyolite.htm

Donna Conner lives with her husband, Glenn, their son, Mike, and their beloved dog, Lucia, and calls Fort Worth, Texas home. Donna and Glenn have been homeschooling their son since the beginning of his education. Mike completes his homeschooling within the next two years. Donna is an artist and has always enjoyed writing. She wrote Homeschooling Only One after discovering that there were many other families homeschooling only one child. Her website is devoted to those with only one student in their homeschool, with listings of online resources.  You can visit her website at http://donnac.com and read her blog at http://homeschoolblogger.com/DonnaC

copyright © 2006 Donna Conner
All rights reserved. Content may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of author, except in the case of brief passages embodied in critical reviews and articles where the title and author are listed.

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