A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Brinkman Adventures


We've been doing a lot more arts & crafts lately, and it has been such a blessing to listen to Brinkman Adventures audio drama stories while we work.

We received a digital download of The Brinkman Adventures Season 2, Episodes 13-24 for review purposes.  Initially, I thought, "Season 2?  Won't it be weird, coming into the middle the middle of the story?"  But it wasn't like that at all.  Each episode can be listened to alone.  --Although I had a hard time getting my kids to accept just ONE episode in a day!  Good thing there were 12 episodes to keep us entertained for hours.  We managed to spread them out over 2 weeks time, but I know they would have listened to them in just a couple days if I'd let them.

Brinkman Adventures Review

We all enjoyed listening to Brinkman Adventures.  There are no suggested ages, as the stories are family friendly, but a couple episodes with "heavier" content did specify that kids under 10 should listen with their parents present.  Those dealt with international child slavery, and my kids handled them fine, but I can see how a sensitive child might have had questions or worries.

Brinkman Adventures is an audio drama that follows a homeschooling family on all sorts of missions-related adventures.  I love that they're a larger than average sized family!  It was easy to relate to the fun and the chaos that goes along with having big kids, little kids, and everything in between!

Opportunities for learning abound within these stories!  From geography (looking at where the story took place on a map), to learning about new modes of travel ("Mom, what's an air boat?"), to researching organizations that help with some of the issues faced by the characters, they're like a springboard for interest-led learning.

Brinkman Adventures Review

One of my favorite features is the Brinkman Adventures website.  They have a section called Real Stories that has additional information about each of the episodes.  Most of the dramatizations are based on real events that happened to a variety of missionaries.  Loving China as I do, my favorite episode was the second, Blue Hat and T-shirt Bible.  Knowing that these events really happened brought tears to my eyes.

When I asked Jack which episode was his favorite, his shiny eyes lit up and he said, "The one with the Navy Seal and the AK-47s!"  I looked at him like he had two heads, and he said, "You know, the guards?  And they had to get the kids away from them?"  Ohhhh!  Suddenly, it dawned on me, The Sapphire Slaves!  "Yeah!" he exclaimed.  Eli liked that one best, too.

Brianna liked The Pirates of Mayan Island, which takes place in Belize, where my in-laws served as missionaries when Paul was a child.

These were really great stories that we all enjoyed.  I'll be getting Season 1 for the boys and I to listen to while we do art projects next school year.  Each season is available as a set of CDs, for a suggested donation of $25, or an MP3 download, for a suggested donation of $17.

You can listen to a sample episode on the website, and see for yourself what great stories they are.  You'll want to follow Brinkman Adventures on Facebook, too, for a peek behind the scenes.

Click to read Crew Reviews

Crew Disclaimer

Top Mommy Blogs - Click To Vote! Thanks for clicking for us!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the review! Sounds like some really good stories! I never heard of The Brinkman Adventures before but I'll check it out, thanks!

    #ProductReviewParty

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Give the sample story a listen and see what you think! I'm planning to pick up season 1 to listen to during art projects next year. :)

      Delete