homeschooling

Garbage In, Garbage Out

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

What is it with us and garbage problems? First there was the Italian fiasco, in which we had to evade law enforcement to get rid of our garbage. And next, we got in trouble for throwing bread to the birds, because I’m apparently the only one on the planet who somehow missed out on how taboo it is to throw bread on the ground in a Muslim country.

Now we have this problem:

This lovely little pile is located just around the corner from our house. It’s the neighborhood dumpster/garbage mountain, which happens to be sandwiched between the 4-Star Miramar Hotel and the main entrance to world famous Hammamet Beach.… Read more

Teaching Math to Children

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Sometimes I get so upset about all the problems in the world that I just want to write an endless stream of depressing rants. It’s nice to focus on the positive sometimes too, though. And homeschooling is usually positive for us. Learning happens in the least expected places, and my children are always surprising me. They seem to breathe in knowledge like air. I guess I should have expected it, but children begin as such an extension of oneself that it is a startling delight to see that they’ve developed their own unique ways of looking at the world.

I think four-year-old Dominique expressed it best a few weeks ago when he informed Tony, “I know a lot of things; and not all of them are from you.”… Read more

Mormons Online

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

My church’s website, lds.org, recently got a makeover. At first, I had a hard time finding things, but I pretty much have navigation down after a couple of months with the new site. And I must admit that it does look very nice now. Since we live in Tunisia, where there is no organized unit of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), and most of our books are still in storage, I use the website quite a lot. And it occurred to me that some of the things I do there might be useful even to people who aren’t driven to lds.org… Read more

Underground Luxury at Bulla Regia

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Less than an hour north of Dougga is Bulla Regia. Signs at the site informed us that “Regia” means royal, which we could already divine from our acquaintance with Romance languages. What we’d really like to know is what “Bulla” means. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

Although it lacks the sheer size and impressiveness of Dougga, Bulla Regia has its own attractions. For instance, on the way to the theater we caught sight of another headless emperor. It was too obvious of a photo op to not take advantage. Here is Axa posing as a Roman empress.

Bulla Regia also had its share of wildlife.… Read more

The Best Roman Ruin in Tunisia – Dougga

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

So, when we went to el-Djem for my birthday, I thought that MUST be the best. What could be better than a gigantic, nearly perfectly-preserved amphitheater smack dab in the middle of a tiny little Tunisian country town? Well, how about this:

We have been really stressed out with work lately, so we gave ourselves a little break yesterday and drove a couple of hours to visit an incredible UNESCO World Heritage Site. Just because we live in Tunisia, and we can. Dougga is billed as the best preserved Roman ruin in North Africa.

Although our landlord recommended that we take the main road up to Tunis and then back down to Dougga, we decided we’d strike off on our own straight across.… Read more

Teaching Science to Children

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Sorry I’ve been missing in action. We’ve been working hard on the business, and it finally launched! I’ll tell you all about it next week. Meanwhile, homeschool planning continues, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. I’m now tackling the harder subjects. Like science. I wouldn’t really consider myself a scientific-type person. I like to write poetry, play the piano, study languages, read Victorian novels, and study philosophy. So when my daughter asks me why countries need rulers, I can initiate a conversation that ranges from current Middle Eastern politics to Plato’s Republic to debates over monarchies and judicial governments in the Bible and Book of Mormon.… Read more

So, I’m a Really Nerdy Homeschooling Mom

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Back in the good old days when homeschoolers were viewed mostly as illiterate, unsocialized weirdos, curriculum shopping was an endeavor requiring both ingenuity and luck. Fortunately, my mother had a a sort of psychic knack for finding out about used book sales. Some of our favorites were the mammoth sales in which the California school system jettisoned old, “outdated” (read: not trendy, dumbed down, or politically correct enough) curricula.

On one occasion, we got over a dozen beautiful hardcover books of folk songs from around the world, which fueled her children’s choir for several years. On another, I became the proud owner of Livestock and Poultry Production, an unbelievably dry high school (or possibly college) text on farming, which I nevertheless devoured, producing several poster-sized adaptations of diagrams from the book on such fascinating topics as “Common Unsoundnesses of a Horse” or “Choosing Laying Hens.”… Read more

Tunisian Nature Walk

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Since we don’t have a yard at our little beach bungalow, Tony and I decided to re-institute the classic Charlotte Mason practice of nature walks. I take the children out for an hour every morning, and we look for “nature.” Somehow, we always find it. And a few days ago, I took the camera out to document.

Our first step was our favorite anthill. Yes, we have a favorite anthill. Dominique spends at least fifteen minutes watching it every time we walk down our dirt road. Tunisia is quite a haven for ants. There are the tiny black “normal” ants we are used to, along with a couple of similar species in larger sizes.… Read more

Toys for a nomadic life

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Yesterday we visited a Tunisian toy store. The little store was packed to bursting with a delightfully eclectic selection of toys, books, and stuffed animals. The owner told us that he gets a lot of hand-me-downs from the many tourists who visit Hammamet. He had games and books in Arabic, French, Italian, German and English. Our best find was an adorable little secondhand Haba game with tiny wooden wheelbarrows and farm animals.

I have what might be excessively particular tastes when it comes to toys. When we lived in the United States, I carefully sought out playthings that encouraged open-ended play, like blocks, balls, scarves, and stuffed animals.… Read more

Next Stop, Narnia

Sarah Bringhurst Familia


This is one of Dominique’s favorite shirts. He’s quite strict about when he wears it, though. He will only put it on in the morning if he knows that the day holds some form of travel. Axa shares his passion for getting from one place to another. But for her, the world is not enough. Lately she has expressed a frequent lament that Narnia is not real. She would like to travel there. In fact, the other day I found this drawing on her desk:

In case you had trouble deciphering the spelling, let me give you hint: Who could resist a direct flight to Narnia on Aslan Airlines?… Read more