yarmouth (Portland, Falmouth, Cape Elizabeth: school district, living in, restaurants)

[overleaf]

Hi,
My husband and I are seriously planning on moving to Yarmouth, ME in a couple of years. We are going up for a visit in March. Is there a place that we should go to give us a true feel of those that live there and an accurate feel of the town i.e. a certain area, store etc. Also what is a "typical" resident like that lives there? Thanks a bunch.

[maja]

Originally Posted by overleaf

Hi,
My husband and I are seriously planning on moving to Yarmouth, ME in a couple of years. We are going up for a visit in March. Is there a place that we should go to give us a true feel of those that live there and an accurate feel of the town i.e. a certain area, store etc. Also what is a "typical" resident like that lives there? Thanks a bunch.

Hi Overleaf,

We do not live in Yarmouth yet but are planning a move next summer. We have visited twice already - once in the fall and once in the winter and will be going back this spring. I recommend you do the same to get an idea of the weather in the various seasons. What we did was visit the area schools, some parks and the Maine Mall as well as the Children's Museum in nearby Portland to get a feel for the people and day-to-day life in the area. We also ate at various restaurants and even went to the local grocery store and the Walmart's in nearby Falmouth. While we did some fun, touristy things, we also tried to do a lot of things that would encompass daily living there. We fell in love with Yarmouth. The whole area is really very nice but we liked the Yarmouth schools the best and the proximity to Portland, itself is very doable.

Good Luck. BTW, where are you moving from? We are doing a move from Southern California!

[overleaf]

Too funny, I grew up in Southern, CA then moved to WA state when I was a teen because my Dad lost his job in the early nineties quake. Anyways, right now my family is living in Boston and cant wait to get out. We go up to Maine practically every time my husband gets vacation whether winter, spring or summer. We just love the lifestyle in Maine, it really fits our personalities. I have lived in all 4 four regions of the country and I like Maine the best. It is very hard to get the special mix of qualities that Maine has anywhere else in the country. We have a 3 month old and think it will be a great place to raise our family. What in particular did you like about the Yarmouth schools besides the fact that they are highly regarded nationally?

thanks for the tips... on where to visit.

[maja]

Originally Posted by overleaf

Too funny, I grew up in Southern, CA then moved to WA state when I was a teen because my Dad lost his job in the early nineties quake. Anyways, right now my family is living in Boston and cant wait to get out. We go up to Maine practically every time my husband gets vacation whether winter, spring or summer. We just love the lifestyle in Maine, it really fits our personalities. I have lived in all 4 four regions of the country and I like Maine the best. It is very hard to get the special mix of qualities that Maine has anywhere else in the country. We have a 3 month old and think it will be a great place to raise our family. What in particular did you like about the Yarmouth schools besides the fact that they are highly regarded nationally?

thanks for the tips... on where to visit.

Small world, eh? We loved the Yarmouth schools not just for their academic record but also for several other reasons. For one thing, they are small in size and I think that is a good thing. Class size is around 20 - 25 kids per class. The whole school (at all levels) are at least half the size of ours here. I think the middle school has under 500 and the high school has less than 1,000. Elementary schools are also small. I don't recall right off the numbers but they are divided into K - first/ 2nd - 4th so they too are small. Allows for more personalized attention. The kids at the schools looked so much more appropriately dressed than here. Kids looked like kids - not little teen/rockstars! The schools themselves were very clean and had a "cared about" look to them. The staff looked quite professional and were very nice. Finally, the basic curriculum included art, music, and phys. educ. (we are in a very good school district here. But art is left up to volunteer moms. There is no phys. ed. teacher either. Last year when I questioned my kindergartner's "satisfactory" grade in Phys. Educ., stating that I wasn't aware that we had Phys. Ed. at the school, the teacher, with a sheepish look, said the grade was based on "recess!" They also had things like afterschool book clubs, debate clubs, etc. One of the teachers is a published children's book author. Anyhow, we just really liked the feel of the schools. I think any of the schools in the small towns surrounding Portland would be good (Falmouth, Cumberland, Cape Elizabeth.) Yarmouth just happens to feel like the best fit for our family. Once again, good luck to you. BTW, you may not get many responses as the Portland board isn't very busy. There are a few people on the Maine board, itself, that have some knowledge of the Portland area and may respond. Feel free to DM me with other questions as they come up. Once again, good luck.