On August 27, 1906, workers at the Marston Worsted Woolen Mill in Skowhegan, Maine formed Pioneer Local 379 of the radical Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The IWW was an anti-capitalist union formed in 1905 in Chicago by socialists, anarchists and industrial unionists. It sought to unite all workers into “One Big Union” and abolish capitalism, organizing by industry rather than specific trades.

The local likely formed out of a branch of the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance, a revolutionary socialist labor union closely linked to the  Socialist Labor Party (SLP), which had a presence in Maine since 1895. SLP leaders eventually merged the SLP with the IWW at its founding convention in Chicago in 1905. During its existence, the STLA essentially operated as the revolutionary, “dual union” wing of the SLP. At the time, the conservative American Federation of Labor had no interest in organizing women and people of color, which is why they either organized with more radical unions like the STLA and the IWW or were simply independent of any established union. It’s estimated that more than 11,000 women went on strike in Maine alone between 1881 and 1900.

As historian Carol Toner writes, women textile workers in Maine dealt with deplorable working conditions including substandard boarding houses and a lack of clean drinking water, sanitary bathroom facilities, and fire escapes. They also were paid less than men for the same work.

Conditions for women textile workers were horrible and they, like their male counterparts, sought “more and better boarding houses, cleaner drinking water, more and safer fire escapes, private and sanitary bathroom facilities, higher wages, equal pay for equal work, and unions to represent women’s interests.”

In the spring of 1903, trade unions at the Marston Worsted Woolen mill organized under the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance to demand the company cease using the “two-loom system,” an industrial textile manufacturing arrangement where a single weaver operates two separate cloth-producing looms at the same time. The system forced weavers to work harder for the same amount of money. The two-loom system was of the main grievances of the IWW’s 1913 Paterson Silk Strike and the 1912 Lawrence “Bread & Roses” Strike.

At a secret meeting of the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance on the evening of April 11, 1903 Marston Worsted workers got into a physical fight during a spirited discussion over whether to strike. Weaver Arthur MacVeigh was one of the leading the strike proponents, while loom fixer Patrick J. Morris led the anti-strike faction. Loom fixers were some of the most skilled jobs in the mill.

While Morris did not attend the meeting, he heard reports that MacVeigh had made “slanderous threats” against him. Morris proceeded to wait outside H.P. Merwin’s cigar store where the union meeting was held at the corner of Water and Russell Streets and asked MacVeigh to come outside. At a court hearing days later, McVeigh testified that Morris didn’t say a word to him, but knocked him down as soon as he stepped out of the door. He exhibited a black eye to the court and claimed Morris kept pounding and kicking him while he was down.

Morris claimed that he civilly called McVeigh outside to ask him why he had been bad mouthing him. He claimed MacVeigh attempted to throw the first punch, so he acted in self-defense. He said he punched MacVeigh in the eye and he immediately went down because he had been drinking heavily. The judge found Morris guilty of assault and battery and sentenced him to 60 days in jail.

While it doesn’t appear that the STLA ever ended up going on strike, the reformed IWW local was much more militant.On January 21, 1907, the 225 workers with Local 379, most of whom were women, walked out of the mill and went on strike to protest the company’s rescinding of a promised wage increase and the firing of Mamie Bilodeau, a 17 year old worker who complained of sexual harassment by an overseer named Charles North.

According to I.W.W. organizer Samuel J. French, a founding I.W.W. member and Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance leader, the Marston Worsted workers formed I.W.W. Pioneer Local 379 because wages weren’t catching up to the increasing cost of living. The workers believed that unionizing on an industrial scale, rather than by craft, was the most effective way to fight for better wages and working conditions. The workers demanded a wage increase, the firing of Charles North, the abolition of fines for imperfect work and representation on an arbitration committee.” As French wrote in the Industrial Union Bulletin on March 2, 1907:

“Is it not a fact that the Marston Mill is notorious as belonging to that class of slave pens in which the conditions under which the employees labor are mean and degrading and the wages such as one can be said to but barely subsist upon rather than live?… Is it not a further fact that some of the petty bosses employed there are that type unfortunately all too common, who are products of modern industrial life, who, while they may have acquired considerable knowledge of the mechanical end of their business, have, owing to the fact that their childhood, youth and manhood days had to be given up to the perpetual grind of the factory while becoming a mechanic, had no chance to learn anything else, to develop their minds or characters or become acquainted with the little amenities of life that go to make up civilized human beings, and are thus mere degraded and brutalized attachments to the mechanism of the mill to aid in grinding profits out of the hides of wage workers?”

The American Federation of Labor despised its radical union counterpart and the United Textile Workers of America, AFL President John Golden even collaborated with the company to bring in strikebreakers, but the effort was ultimately unsuccessful. After a round of negotiations with the company, the strikers won the end the end of fines for imperfect work, the abolition of pay by piece work, recognition for a union-elected grievance committee and reinstatement of forty-two workers who had been fired for union activity. The following July, the company granted a second five-percent pay increase. At a mass meeting, the strikers voted to return to work on April 13. The Kennebec Journal reported “a general feeling of rejoicing in town 1789497008 that the strike, the longest ever known in industrial Skowhegan, is now a thing of the past.”

For families considering homeschooling a preschooler or kindergartner, their education can start at a small table in the kitchen, on a walk through the woods, while measuring flour for muffins, at the library or during an afternoon at a local park.

Maine’s own early-childhood guidance supports that broader approach. The Maine Department of Education describes its Pre-K for ME program as a “rich, play-based, intentional curriculum” designed for 4-year-olds and aligned with the state’s Early Learning and Development Standards. Those standards include social-emotional development, approaches to learning and play, early language and literacy, physical development and health, mathematical reasoning, science and social sciences.

For parents teaching at home, that leaves plenty of room for learning that looks less like a classroom lesson and more like childhood. It can begin with simple changes that allow children to do more for themselves.

A child-size table and chairs provide a place for puzzles, art and other activities. Low shelves can hold books and materials within reach. A small stool at the sink can help a child wash hands independently, while hooks placed at a child’s height can hold coats or bags.

A small broom, dustpan, watering can, cloth or child-size pitcher can turn everyday routines into opportunities to build coordination, concentration and independence. Those ideas are closely associated with Montessori education and its emphasis on the prepared environment.

Children can practice pouring water, folding washcloths, setting a table, matching socks, watering plants, sweeping crumbs or helping prepare food. Much of practical-life learning can be built around work already being done in the home.

Families do not have to choose one educational philosophy and follow it exclusively.

Montessori, an educational approach developed by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori, emphasizes independence, practical life, hands-on learning and carefully prepared materials. Families can borrow Montessori ideas for hands-on mathematics, early literacy, matching, sorting, practical tasks and independent work.

Waldorf education, developed by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, places more emphasis on imagination, storytelling, nature, seasonal rhythms, music, art, handwork and everyday household activities. Watercolor painting, beeswax crayons, modeling, baking, singing and outdoor play may all become part of the week.

An eclectic homeschool can borrow from both approaches while also incorporating workbooks, phonics, nature study or other materials that fit the child and family.

BOOKS AND REAL THINGS

Reading aloud is one of the simplest ways to build early language skills.

Parents can read picture books, nursery rhymes and stories daily, talk about illustrations, ask children what they think will happen next and let them retell familiar stories in their own words.

Early literacy can include recognizing letters and their sounds, writing a child’s name, tracing letters in sand or salt, singing rhyming songs and noticing words on signs, food packages and other objects encountered during the day.

A child who listens to a story, talks about it, draws a favorite character and acts out part of the plot is already practicing listening, vocabulary, comprehension, sequencing, imagination and fine-motor skills.

For mathematics, young children can learn through ordinary activities like counting forks while setting the table, sort buttons or blocks by size and color, make patterns, compare which stick is longer, count steps on a walk or measure ingredients while cooking.

A trip to the grocery store can involve counting apples, comparing prices or finding shapes. Baking can introduce cups, teaspoons, halves and quarters. Building with blocks introduces balance, size, shape and spatial reasoning.

Blocks, dice, dominoes, counters and number cards can introduce counting, quantity, patterns and simple operations without requiring long workbook sessions.

SCIENCE, ART OUTSIDE

Nature study is particularly well suited to young homeschoolers in Maine because it begins with observation and curiosity.

Families can walk through the woods, explore a pond or investigate the backyard. Children can collect fallen leaves, seed pods, pine cones and rocks, then sort, compare, sketch or identify them at home.

Families interested in a more structured approach can also use Anna Botsford Comstock’s Handbook of Nature Study, a longtime resource for observing and learning about plants, animals, weather and the natural world.

A nature shelf can hold changing discoveries throughout the year along with a magnifying glass, field guide or notebook. A child might notice when the first leaves turn color, watch birds at a feeder, compare animal tracks in snow or record when flowers first appear in spring.

Parents do not have to know the name of every bird, tree, flower or rock. Looking up something unfamiliar together becomes part of the lesson.

Maine’s Pre-K for ME curriculum similarly builds learning around hands-on themes, including wind and water, color, shadows and reflections, and things that grow.

Art for young children can be as simple as paper, crayons, watercolor paints, clay, child-safe scissors, glue, yarn and natural materials allow children to explore color, shape and texture.

Instead of every child making the same paper pumpkin or painted tree, open-ended art gives children room to decide what to make and how to make it.

Families interested in Waldorf-style materials can find specialty watercolors, beeswax crayons and modeling materials through Waldorf suppliers. Montessori Services and Alison’s Montessori sell Montessori materials, though many activities can be assembled inexpensively or made at home.

INTO THE COMMUNITY

Homeschooling young children does not have to happen primarily at home.

Libraries are an obvious starting point. Story times provide books, songs, crafts and opportunities to spend time with other children. Treat Memorial Library in Livermore Falls offers children’s programming, and libraries throughout the region have their own story times and seasonal events.

Parks can cover several areas of learning at once.

Jay’s new tennis courts give families another local option for physical activity, hand-eye coordination and simple racket games.

Kineowatha Park in Wilton offers a swimming beach, walking trails, basketball and tennis courts, playgrounds, playing fields and disc golf. Canoeing, kayaking, swimming, fishing and nature walks can turn a visit into a combination of physical education, outdoor recreation and nature study.

Museums provide another kind of field trip.

The Washburn-Norlands Living History Center in Livermore can introduce children to 19th-century life and Maine history. The Maine Mineral & Gem Museum in Bethel offers a natural extension for children interested in rocks and minerals.

A farm, historical society, fire station, town office, post office, nature trail or apple orchard can also become a field trip when children are encouraged to observe, listen and ask questions.

A child might come home from a farm wanting to know how apples grow, draw a firetruck after visiting a fire station or search for a rock seen in a museum. The experience itself can lead naturally to reading, drawing, pretend play and further investigation.

MAINE’S SCHOOL OPTIONS

Maine requires school attendance beginning at age 6 and continuing until age 17. Parents do not need to file a Notice of Intent to Provide Home Instruction for a 5-year-old.

Once a child reaches compulsory school age, families educating outside public school generally use one of two routes: home instruction or enrollment in a recognized equivalent instruction private school.

For home instruction, parents file a Notice of Intent, provide at least 175 instructional days and cover required subjects including English and language arts, math, science, social studies, physical education, health, library skills and fine arts. Maine does not require a set number of instructional hours per day.

With a recognized equivalent instruction private school, the child is enrolled in the school and the school handles the required enrollment filing with the local superintendent.

Some families may prefer a traditional curriculum with workbooks and scheduled lessons. Others may lean toward Montessori or Waldorf. Many will combine approaches, using structured reading and math alongside nature study, household work, art, field trips and free play.

A productive preschool or kindergarten day might include listening to picture books, counting while making lunch, helping wash dishes, painting, walking a trail and collecting leaves, playing tennis or swimming, then looking up an insect discovered along the way.

Much of it may look like the ordinary business of childhood.

For young children, that is often where the learning begins.

AUGUSTA, Maine (WABI) – Taking a trip to the University of Maine Augusta campus just got easier.

FlixBus, which also owns Greyhound, announced that they are expanding their bus services to the university September 14.

The new stop will replace the current Augusta stop on Industrial Drive.

You can purchase tickets now for the new UMA location.