Hi folks

Well, we finally 'bit the bullet' and decided to put together our very own Yahoo chat group (not that it's a high volume 'chat' group) specifically designed to promote HSing events around Australia, called Australian Homeschool Events:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AusHSevents/.

The web site is aimed at people who are new to HSing and trying to find groups and activities (e.g. workshops, camps, regular outings, etc) in their state and local area, as well as to help HSers planning travel around Australia so that they can see if there are any HS activities they can tap into where they are travelling to/through.  It is also hoped that the site can be useful to people moving interstate, or even from overseas, so that they can more easily find HSers in the area to which they are moving.

There's also a section where HSers can advertise their businesses - I know I like to use friends and aquaintances wherever possible in the first instance, so figured others would too.

It's only early days for the web site, as the only way it can grow in informational content is for members to contribute what they know of groups and events that are happening.  I think one of the tricks to making the site useful/successful is to do it in such a way that people can trust that their personal confidentiality is maintained, whilst at the same time providing enough information for legitimate HSers to be able to network with others across Australia.