Southern Maine and Homeschooling

We decided to have our “official” first day of homeschooling on the day we drove from Cape Cod to Wells in southern Maine. Archer was excited to get going so she had already started working on her homeschooling materials a week earlier. Smith, on the other hand, held on as long as he could to a statement we had made about a month earlier – “We will probably start homeschooling in August.” It became a point of contention as we tried to convince him to start earlier to ease into it, so come August 1, we started the school year full-steam ahead.

Our first day of homeschooling was a little challenging for all of us. This was probably not helped by the fact that we decided to start an entirely new way of schooling for our children in the car. And we did it by handing them their books and saying, “Ok, now go.” Smith reminded us, “At school, all we do on the first day is get organized and get used to being back in school. With homeschooling, you just jump right in all the way.” We decided, after some heated discussion, to wait until we got to the campground so that we could sit down and go over things sitting together. If anyone was wondering, that is a much better way to tackle your first day of homeschooling.

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The second day of homeschooling went much more smoothly. I feel like we have already started to hit our stride with it and I now think that we will all survive. There are still some other quirky things that I will worry about (go figure) like the fact that Smith’s math workload is easily five times as much as Archer’s yet Archer’s English seems more difficult than Smith’s. But, I am trying to learn to get over sweating the small stuff like that this year. The small stuff works itself out, For example, Archer may just do two years worth of math this year so she can nerd out with me and Smith. Now that we are one week in and practically experts, we think that we can handle school in less than four hours a day, four days a week. 

It’s not been all work and school in Maine though. On our first day, we visited the town of Freeport, drawn to the Patagonia Outlet like moths to a flame. Luckily, we recognized the fact that we have almost zero closet space left in the Silver Baguette and, to steal a phrase from Patagonia, we are trying to “Live Simply”. We played (and won) Bingo at Allagash Brewery where we were able to buy lobster rolls out of a converted Airstream. Yesterday, we walked around Portland where we took in the sea breeze and the sounds of seagulls around the quaint shops, restaurants, and piers. After that, we climbed on rocks alongside the ocean at Port Head Lighthouse. Today, after coming up empty-handed Bush-watching at Kennebunkport, we stopped by the Maine Diner for their famed seafood chowder.

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We also hit some of the beautiful beaches of Southern Maine. The beaches here are wide and flat (at least at low tide) and have soft sand and gentle waves. They are beautiful; but, unfortunately, the secret is out. These beaches are a little crowded for us. On our second day here, we attempted to go to Ogunquit Beach. It looked insanely crowded and there was no parking to speak of. That was for the best because it made us look further and find Wells Beach and, later in the week, Drake’s Island Beach. Even though the beaches are crowded, there is plenty of room at low tide as the beaches quadruple in size. Thanks for all the recommendations, Erin!

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We are loving every day of this new lifestyle. We are enjoying the sites and experiences and growing closer to one another like you only can with extended confined-space living. Being away can be difficult when you want to be there for someone though. Our cousin, Rowan, is having a very difficult time with her battle with Leukemia now and we want nothing more than to be able to reach out and give her and her family a big hug. FacetTime just isn’t the same. Everyone keep them in your thoughts and prayers. #rowfightwin