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Have you heard of Ickle Kids yet?

Last week, whilst in Melbourne, I had the privilege of meeting with the owner of Ickle Kids and actually touch and feel their travel games for myself. After the boys spent several days playing with Camoflage and loved it to bits, and myself and my sister sat up to midnight completing all the puzzles, we went back for more for to keep us going in the week of the road trip ahead. We now own most of the games they have on offer and they have kept young and old alike amused.

Just tonight Zoologic and Safari Hide and Seek have had my uncle and aunt occupied for hours. It was amazing how quickly they were hooked. My father and I also worked through all the puzzles on the pirate version of Hide and Seek also over the past few days. However, the boys favorite has to be Road Block.

If you are planning travel, with kids or without, I strongly encourage you to check out the toys & games at Ickle Kids web site today. There are no 'travel size' versions of games you have done to death with loads of small pieces to loose but rather games that are designed to be new and challenging as well as having child and travel appropriate pieces.

For those who have not taken the time to tour the shipwreck coast of Victoria – shame on you! It is one of the most gorgeous tours I have ever taken and it is well worth taking the time to enjoy, especially with loved ones. We spent today in Warrnambool which, even with changes over the years, has the same family-oriented feel that it did over 20 years ago.

Well, it's time for a couple of reviews now I guess.

The first one you can link to is Wirreanda Campground which is near the Naracoorte Caves. The campground was our test bed for establishing whether seven people could sleep in our Hiace. The outcome was that you could, if you were willing to face some minor discomfort. The camp ground was great.

The second is in the the Discovery Holiday Park in Doncaster East, Melbourne. Suffice to say, the internet access is broken and the accommodation is fine as long as you don't expect service with a smile.

The Melbourne Zoo is a favorite place for my children to visit when we go to Melbourne. I have decided to submit some feedback to them asking desperately for a two-day pass option (used within,say, a week) so that our young kids, who can really only last out half a day, have a chance to see everything. This visit included the required visits to the apes, butterflies and elephants. We also then added reptiles, tortoises, giraffes and the cats to the visit this time around.

I, myself, always learn something at the zoo. The thing I learnt this time around was to recycle my mobile phone to minimise the mining requirements of some less common metals so that not all of the gorilla habitat is destroyed on them. Having said that, though, I have had all of three mobile phones over ten years. One was on-sold for someone else, one was recycled after being sucked to death my Karl as a baby and the third is still in use today. I am certainly not one of those people who constantly upgrade.

Just as you can lead a horse to water but cannot make it drink there are always some things that simply cannot be imparted to children in the confines of a school environment on a practical level. From where I sit I see very few schools that have a broad enough exposure to be able to claim that they instil respect, care and compassion for others of all ages, races, creeds and colours. It is simply not possible in their mono-cultures created from age segregation, zoning that creates socio-economic boundaries which then leads to cultural boundaries of that societal standing let alone the 'norms' that are instilled by teachers and students alike.

This is where a family can play a pivitol role in exposing their children to people outside the social norms of their area of residence as well as role model in every day actions how to lovingly serve others in family, circles of friends, in community groups and in the wider society. Just two nights ago was my first glimpse that, Peter, our middle child was on the right path.

Wednesday night I was blown away when I went to check on my boys before I retired for the night. My youngest child, William, had crawled out of his low bed and fallen asleep near the bedroom door. This was somewhat expected in light that he was still unsettled from having immunisations that day. However, the one thing I realised immediately was that he was covered with a blanket. No, it was not one of his that had been dragged in the crawl but rather one of the two that his three year old brother had on his bunk bed. Upon noticing that his little brother was asleep on the floor he threw down one of his blankets, climbed out of bed and carefully covered his brother doubling over the blanket for extra warmth and being careful not to cover his head.

It was a sight that brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart. They say that charity starts in the home and my little three year old had proven it that night. He sacrificed half of his own bedtime insulation during the peak of Winter to lovingly care for his own baby brother. I hope that this is something infectious that develops contagiously in our home so that my children can reach out with a heart for others in giving small things to our community that make a difference.

As many of you are aware atom feeds from Blogger can be a big problem for some feed aggregators and ours is not different. I thought it well worth letting you know about an article from the blog of the Snavley family of Colorado, USA. They are unschoolers who gave their son the freedom to attend school in his secondary school years and he has written an interesting piece on his experience. Have a read and then let us know your thoughts!

Once a person has decided that they are going to home school their family what should they do next? The very first consideration is to put together a home schooling philosophy. This is the statement that explains why you educate your family the way that you do and will be an underpinning document that guide many of your homeschooling choices. From your facilitation style or styles, curriculum and supplementary materials through to outings and activities this philosophical statement will aid you determining the importance of various choices that will present themselves across the length of your home schooling career.

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