International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

It is the United Nations International Day of the World's Indigenous People(s).

(I added the 's' because the Indigenous peoples of the world are not a single homogenous group, there are many many different cultures, nations and histories and they deserve to be considered as seperate unique groups.)

The theme of this celebration is Indigenous designs: celebrating stories and cultures, crafting our own future.

To contribute, I'd like to offer some resources for educational experiences relating to Australian Aboriginal Peoples (yep, there are many different cultures, nations and histories within this group too).

• 8 Aboriginal Ways of Learning - Aboriginal Pedagogies. Arguably the best way to learn and share Indigenous perspectives is to make use of, and credit, their processes, not just teach the content. Also working with local Indigenous Elders, communities and resource people is essential. This site is incredible, I can spend hours here.

 Below links are interesting, but should only augment, rather than form the main part of, experiences:

• Indigenous Australia - lots of broad general information 
• Aboriginal Art for Kids  - Great example of a culturally based art experience, preceded by Story Sharing
• Dust Echos - Video presentations of some Dreaming Stories. 
• Youtube - Many additional watchable Dreaming Stories.

I believe for anyone to consider themselves truely patriotic they must honour and value the First Peoples of their land.





I love the quote "Indigenous Success is Australian Success" from the 8 Ways Wiki site, and believe it can be applied to any nation.

Feel free to share any resources and I will add them to the post :)

Welcome! So what's this all about?

Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Jayne :)
I was born in the Northern Territory in Australia and currently live in the Gold Coast, but that is probably changing soon.

This is Lionel, Elsie and I at the Lincoln Memorial in June

This is my opinions, ideas and experiences.
I try to live in a more instinctual, natural, healthy way which involves eating the way I believe humans are designed to, being fit and strong, and being an 'attached parent' to my daughter Elsie.
What does that mean for us?
It means my family eat a paleolithic diet high in grass-fed meats, fats and vegies, with moderate amounts of fruit and nuts, and (almost) no grains or dairy.
We keep fit, strong and healthy with crossfit, incidental exercise and a fun outlook on movement and activity.
It means Elsie still recieves breastmilk from me  and will continue to until she is at least 2 years old unless she decides to wean earlier. She is 17 months old at the time I'm posting this. Human milk for a growing human child :) there is nothing healthier, and no food that could possibly be considered more 'paleo'.
We bed-share, and have done so since she was born. I went with my instincts, and I can tell you Elsie and I both were never sleep deprived, even with me starting studying full time the same week she was born. For the first year of my course, I also took her to class with me in a sling :)
I'm studying a Bachelor Degree in Early Childhood Education, and am highly passionate about children's issues. Elsie goes to a long day care service 3 days a week while I'm in classes. I don't consider this ideal, but it's the only option we have.
I'm also very interested in Australian Aboriginal perspectives, cultures and teaching pedagogies. After I graduate I hope to return to the Northern territory to teach in a remote community.

Right now, I live with my parents, and Lionel lives in the US (he is a US citizen, I won't go into specifics). I consider myself very lucky because I have the ultimate parenting resource (my mum) around all the time and so much help with Elsie; I also think it's great for her to have a multigenerational environment and multiple familial caregivers.

So that's me, and the future blog content convered, what about you? Have you heard of paleo? Do you practice attachment parenting? Do you have any experience with Indigenous education? Please tell me about yourself :)