I remember when tinkering with hardware meant designing your own processing logic, and etching and wirewrapping and soldering your own circuit boards. That would be pretty boring by modern standards, but it was actually more educational that buying a board and plugging in some cables like it's done nowadays.
The amount of tinkering that can be done in software on a Mac is almost limitless - especially if you can write software. Software is where the real tinkering is done today.
It's great that you have these resources for your family, and apparently it works out in your situation. But it's unusual and not the ideal situation for typical users and families.
Still, if you added some Macs to your network, they would work well with those Linux systems. They're highly compatible in several protocols and share a lot of the same system software.
And Mac OS X has some things that could be useful, like parental controls. Not saying you need them, but it's good that the technology is available.
When I was a kid I made a binary calculator (add, multiply, XOR, etc.) using the basic parts (transistors, switches, LEDs, etc.) from Radio Shack. I went by one a few years ago, the first time in over a decade, and I found out they don't carry that kind of stuff anymore. Sad, really.