Author: Sarah Bringhurst Familia

The Other Wind, An Acceptable Time, and C.S. Lewis in Space

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Time for some more book reviews. These are some new books by old favorite authors. Some winners, but more losers.

The Other Wind (Earthsea Cycle, #6)The Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read the first several books in this series (LeGuin’s Earthsea books) quite a while ago. They’re among the better fantasy that is available for young readers. The Other Wind is a lovely journey back to the world of the wizard Ged, the wise Tenar, and their daughter Tehanu (who is also a dragon). This is a mature LeGuin at her very best. I love how her characters have aged along with her.… Read more

Halloweening, Familia Style

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

When I was a kid, there was a minister who lived next door to us. He refused to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters. Instead, they got little Christian tracts on how evil and satanic the holiday was. At the time, I just thought he was weird. But I could do without Halloween now.

In fact, not seeing spider webs, creepy masks, and gravestones all over people’s yards and store windows every October was one of the things I loved about living abroad. Not to mention the fact that I didn’t have to either let my kids gorge themselves on candy for the entire first week of November or be the “mean” mom who takes it all away.… Read more

Nature Study in Bakersfield

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

One of Charlotte Mason’s nature study ideas is to “adopt” a tree and observe closely how it changes throughout the year. We’ve never lived somewhere for a whole year, so we haven’t been able to observe a long-term continuous seasonal change. But we’ve seen a lot of variety in the natural world. It comes naturally to me to visit museums and archaelogical sites, but without Charlotte Mason I wouldn’t have thought to closely observe the differences in the plants and animals around the world.

Now when I think of Ireland, I remember Axa catching dozens of frogs in the grass. Tunisia reminds me of tiny geckos, gigantic ants and camels.… Read more

Mormons and Muslims

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I blogged today over at Times & Seasons about what Mormons and Muslims have in common. Pop on over and have a read:  http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2011/10/mormons-and-muslims/

photo credit… Read more

Election Day in Tunisia

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Words really can’t express how happy I feel for Tunisia and her people today. It has been ten eventful months since Ben Ali left the country, and most of that time I spent in Tunisia, breathing the heady air of new democracy and marvelling at events that seem almost miraculous, and continue to reverberate around the world.

Today brought to first fruition the promise of the Tunisian people’s revolutionary dream. The country voted today to elect a 217-member assembly, which has as its primary purpose drafting a new constitution. The body will also choose a new interim government and set dates for parliamentary and presidential elections, setting Tunisia firmly on the path toward a stable democratic future.… Read more

City of Angels

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Thursday Grammy was kind enough to babysit the children while Tony and I drove the two hours to the Los Angeles Temple. While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has thousands of church buildings and congregations around the world, temples are still rare, relatively speaking. There are 135 temples currently operating, spread over every inhabited continent. Tony and I are kind of temple junkies. We have a page on our family website to keep track of the temples we’ve visited around the world. We were delighted to be in Italy last year when ground was broken for the new Rome Temple.… Read more

Thor, The King’s Speech, and Amazing Grace

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Well, how about some movie reviews? I don’t watch that many movies these days. I was far too spoilt when I lived in Provo and could watch artsy foreign films for free just down the street from my house. But I do suffer through trans-Atlantic flights from time to time, so I do occasionally watch movies. Even (fairly) new movies.

On the way home from Tunisia, I watched two out of three. Sorry, but if you want a review of Pirates of the Caribbean #17 (or whatever number it was), you’re out of luck.

I did, however, watch Thor. And found it seriously underwhelming.… Read more

Homeschool Performance Review

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

I realize that this first term of full-time homeschooling has prompted more than the usual number of posts about homeschooling. Fortunately, you’re all just dying to hear every infinitesimal detail about our homeschooling life. Right?

The other day I was reminiscing elsewhere about what it was like back in the good old days when homeschooling was weird and subversive, not hip and progressive. You know, the days when nobody had heard of it, and for a lot of people homeschooling=educational neglect=child abuse. I can still remember the first time I was in the park, and some random adult starting quizzing me on the multiplication tables.… Read more

The Bubble Thing

The Bubble Thing

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

When I was a homeschooled pre-teen in California, one of my favorite field trips was to the Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley’s science outreach center. They had cool exhibits like mechanical “Lost World” dinosaurs, fun-house mirrors, and a sort of creepy-crawly petting zoo. The Hall also maintained fantastically large sets of classic toys like wooden marble mazes and Kapla blocks. Outside were a life-sized whale and a huge DNA model, both of which could be climbed on.

To, me the Lawrence Hall of Science was imbued with an almost spiritual quality. I thought of it more or less as a temple of learning.… Read more

Casteluzzo Academy 2011, Term 3

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

My personal bibliophilia has not been the only thing we’ve been feeding with our weekly library trips. We are back in the swing of homeschooling, with a vengeance. We even have a very simple “school corner” set up. It contains a kid-sized table with two chairs, an adult-sized chair, and a few shelves with all our school books and paraphernalia. We are using Ambleside Online’s Year 1, Term 3 as our curriculum base for this term.

Charlotte Mason believed in a curriculum that was both wide and deep. This is the first term I have managed to fit in just about all the subject areas she recommended covering.… Read more