@holofloh Ahh, thank you! I think I understand a little better now. I think I misunderstood exactly what an access point was supposed to do. I'll try your suggestions and let you know how it works.
Thanks again!

Just received my Atom Lite today and starting to learn programming. I copied the example WiFiAccessPoint sketch into my Aduino IDE v1.8.19, inserted my own SSID and password, and uploaded to the Atom. The results I got from the serial monitor:

rst:0x1 (POWERON_RESET),boot:0x13 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
configsip: 188777542, SPIWP:0xee
clk_drv:0x00,q_drv:0x00,d_drv:0x00,cs0_drv:0x00,hd_drv:0x00,wp_drv:0x00
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fff0030,len:1184
load:0x40078000,len:12812
load:0x40080400,len:3032
entry 0x400805e4
M5Atom initializing...OK

WIFI ACCESS POINT
Please connect:xxxxxxxx //this was my correct SSID
Then access to:192.168.4.1 //I have no idea where this IPAdd came from - I didn't enter it

And here it sits. I haven't a clue what to do next - I tried entering the SSID &/or password in the "send" box on the serial monitor, but nothing seemed to happen. My home network does NOT use the same IP format - my local devices are all 10.0.0.xxx.

I apologize if I seem clueless - I really am! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!