With excitement and anxiety we set off for the OHEN meeting in Newport.  I was eager to find a contact for Homeschoolers in Lincoln County.  Preferably north of Lincoln City.  Sigh. It wasn’t meant to be.  What we did find is:

Depot Bay  has a whale watching station and they write down how many whales are spotted. News and patterns are that the best time to view migratory paths are in December and January. VERY cool. The center closed at 4pm and we arrived shortly after that, but we gleaned a ton of information from the signs in the windows.

We spent a bit of time in Newport. The old town area that I grew up loving, spent a great deal of time in during our early marriage years, was no more. Demolition to the streets, no stores, only factories and fishing tours and seals. The stench. Ey yi yi. We did find out that all the great little shops have moved over to Nye Beach, looks quite cozy, but by then we were walked out.

Found the Newport Library.  Found out they are connected to a system that included Tillamook, Lincoln City, & Siletz.  We got our homeschool ID, I mean Library Cards and ran downstairs to discover the cutest little kids section ever! Small but adequate. We can check out/drop off books at any location.  Arms loaded, we checkout the books and headed to the OHEN meeting.

There were three panelists, and 16 attendees.  15 of which, were there to ask the  “How do you do it”, “Is there a store to buy curriculum?”, two asked the “can we do it without the internet?”.  There was a half hour discussion of every bad experience they had ever had with public school.  Well, they were working on getting them all said, and finally the leader was able to redirect. 🙂 She tried. All of the families either lived in Newport or south of Newport.  So no home school leads for me for Lincoln City Otis.  I bailed on the meeting early, passing notes of Timberdoodle’s online address to one family and a note praising Ambleside Online to another who was afraid it was time to find curriculum because all they have done is read to their children so far, and knew nothing of homeschooling, their kids like classic books, but not curriculum books.  A few from out of state that wanted to know what/how to declare to Oregon or their old states.  Sigh. But no connections for Petra School.