Field Notes was built at our kitchen table.
We are an educator and therapist team raising four children in rural Maine. When we documented our oldest child's kindergarten year — the maple sap collection, the foraging walks, the drum circles, the poem co-written with a local author about mud season — we weren't struggling to understand the process. We knew the law, we knew child development, and we cared deeply about honoring what that year actually looked like.
Most families don't have the combination of education and therapeutic expertise we bring to this work. And they shouldn't have to. We kept meeting families doing rich, meaningful, real things with their children who felt lost when it came to documentation — not because the learning wasn't there, but because no tool existed to translate it.
Field Notes is our answer to that. Describe what happened. We'll find the standard it meets.
Welcome to our growing community.
Field Notes is free — and it exists because we believe every family deserves this kind of support. If it found you at the right moment, consider helping it reach the next family.
Support this work → Processed securely through PayPal. Any amount is welcome.About the Maine requirement
Field Notes was built with Maine homeschooling families in mind. Maine's home instruction law requires families to document real learning — and to do it well.
Maine Home Instruction Law — M.R.S. 20-A §5001-A
Maine requires homeschooling families to provide a minimum of 175 days of annual instruction covering required subject areas: English and Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education, Health Education, Library Skills, and Fine Arts. Maine Studies and Computer Proficiency are added in later grades. Families must complete an annual assessment — most choose portfolio review by a certified Maine teacher.
If you're outside Maine — every US state and country has its own home instruction requirements. Field Notes maps your child's real-life learning to multiple globally recognized frameworks so the tool works wherever you are and however you learn.
About Learning Circles
Learning Circles is a Mid-Coast Maine education and therapeutic project. The name comes from our belief that learning is cyclical, relational, and belongs to everyone in the circle — children and adults alike. Every point equally vital. Every contribution valued.
Our mission is to empower diverse families with personalized learning tools, resources, and attention to wellbeing and relationship skills — fostering confident self-learners who thrive in a changing world.
We are building at the intersection of conscious family life, nature-based learning, emotional intelligence, and the practical needs of families navigating education outside conventional systems. Field Notes is one piece of that. More is coming.
What's coming from Learning Circles
The Feelings Wheel
A handcrafted emotional literacy tool for children and families — laser-cut wood or recycled cardboard, eight emotion clusters, designed for home, therapy, and classroom use.
Heartwood
Our outdoor social-emotional learning program for children ages 4–10. Nature-based, relationship-centered, rooted in Maine, USA.
A growing community
For families who learn differently — homeschoolers, unschoolers, worldschoolers, and everyone in between. Tools, resources, and real connection.
AI has a footprint.
This one gives back. Ten percent of contributions go to water conservation — the Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition in Waldo County, and The Nature Conservancy's freshwater programs.
Field Notes is free. If it helped your family, consider supporting the work — every contribution goes toward building more tools and programs for families like yours.
Stay in the circle — be the first to hear about new tools, Heartwood sessions, and what's growing at Learning Circles.