Anyway, thought I'd let you know that we have identified the 'glotta' (interesting and beautiful little sea creature we found a while back) - with the help of a few wonderful people we met on the oyster barge. I was chatting about our new 'discovery' to them and two separate people offered to get on the case and do some research.
I have since received two lovely emails with links to pages and books which id the little critter as a Bullina Lineata or 'red-lined bubble snail'. It is between 15 and 25 mm long and exists all over our the Asia Pacific region.
Now the really cool thing about all of this is realising how many people are willing to help you, share information, pool resources and offer suggestions when they find out you home school. Yes, I have come across a few naysayers but by far and away most people are supportive, interested and encouraging.
Yay to them! After all as the old saying goes - "it takes a village to raise a child".