Brinkman Adventures Season 4 ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

We are *huge* fans of the Brinkman Adventures audio dramas.  We like taking them on trips in the car.  Long trips to the Grandmas' houses.  The punks pay way better attention to audio dramas in the car than they do at home.  I like them because, between the dialog, sound effects, and music score, they paint amazing pictures in my mind.  Audio dramas (and read aloud books) are better than movies because of that.  The Brinkman Adventures Season 4 CDs did not disappoint.

Season 4 consists of twelve episodes, nearly half an hour each, on four CDs.

Episode 37: A Paradise Lost
Episode 38: Remember Nhu
Episode 39: Aisha's Fear
Episode 40: Heart Song
Episode 41: The Crashed Kitchen
Episode 42: Crisis in the Congo
Episode 43: The Mysterious Palm Feller
Episode 44: War of the Raccoons
Episode 45: The Five Guys
Episode 46: Toughest Man
Episode 47: Cambodian Quest
Episode 48: What Brings Us Together




The punks were all excited to hear the new baby's name is Micah.  Since that's Daddy's name, too, it was pretty neat to hear someone else with the same name.  The Brinkmans, *and* the real-life Bultmans, have a large Christian family so it seemed almost inevitable that eventually they'd have a Micah or a Malachi...


Some of the adventure stories feature heart-stopping, nerve wracking moments.  There are kidnappings, fires, car accidents, arrests, slavery, and witch doctors.  Occasionally, a warning is given at the beginning of an episode that children under ten should listen with their parents.  We always listen together the first time around anyway, but there are several episodes in the series that involve the slavery, the selling of a baby, abusive people, and more mature situations.  I find myself pausing these same episodes frequently to explain some important plot point and to just break the tension.  The Sapphire Slaves episodes from Season 2 come to mind.  This involved an intense rescue scene as well as a few other moments that I felt the punks might need a moment to get a breath before we continued.  I have never felt that any of the topics were not appropriate for them to hear.  Some just needed a bit of explanation or a moment of reflection.

I'd like to tell you a bit about a few episodes.  In #39 - Aisha's Fear, we learn the story of Aisha and Mahad, who are Muslims and shop owners.  They are right next to a Christian hospital.  Mahad was hateful toward the Christians and abusive of Aisha.  She was a very fearful woman, worrying constantly about upsetting Mahad, but also fearing spiders, rats, and other things.  One day, Mahad collapses and he finds out he is near death from cancer.  While he awaits death, the locals will not stop at his shop any longer.  Eventually, the Christian doctors and nurses begin to shop there, providing needed income for Aisha and Mahad.  Soon Mahad agrees to see the Christian doctor and he wonders at the love shown to him by the very people he hated.  He becomes a changed man and accepts Christ before his death.  Moved by the change in her husband, Aisha also becomes a Christian.  Despite a brief imprisonment (and worse possibilities) for her new beliefs, Aisha continues to spread the gospel among her own people.  Aisha finds strength she never knew she had.

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The punks laughed their heads off about the antics of a certain robot named R-D.  "He" is a Mobile Raccoon Deterrent Device.  In episode #44, War of the Raccoons, Mr. Pennington had problems with a raccoon eating his koi fish.  Unfortunately, we could relate just a little too well with this problem.  We had raccoons eating our chickens last year.  Maybe R-D would have come in handy.  Although, maybe R-D needs a bit more training before he might be considered safe around other people!  R-D is a nifty little robot on wheels, using an arduino, server, and paintball gun.  He is a "learning robot" which means that every time his programmer, Ian, blew off his chores or didn't follow his parents' instructions, R-D learned how to behave similarly.  When he was told, "safety on," he would reply. "safety off."  Let's just say the interaction the trio of R-D, Ian, and Mr. Pennington had with a policeman and his canine officer did not go well.  Ian learned a painful, but valuable lesson about doing what he says he will.

  But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.  Matthew 5:37

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What Brings Us Together, episode #48, is a bit of a reunion episode with some of our favorite people from old episodes, Mr. Pennington, Mr. Staplerun, and Mr. Benti, joining the family to celebrate a wedding that might not even take place!  Between an anonymous letter, a jail stay, a kidney stone, a sunny day turned rainy, a catering mix-up, and a fire, we begin to wonder if Michelle and Anthony will get to tie the knot at all.  (Spoiler: they do!)

The anonymous letter from a "concerned brother" in Christ made me think of how people behave on social media, hiding their identities and treating others poorly.  It made for a good conversation about mistreating people because we are confident about the anonymity the internet affords us.  I told the punks, if you have something to say to someone and you really think it needs to be said, you must be man (or woman) enough to own your words.  It reminded me to T.H.I.N.K.

T - Is it True?

H - Is it Helpful?

I - Is it Inspiring?

N - Is it Necessary?

K - Is it Kind?

Cambodian Quest was the first episode Dad had ever heard.  I have to say, it just about drove him crazy to hear Kitri divulge somewhat secret information to a stranger in the market.  Episode #47 was chock full of rash decisions and the wild emotions of a teenage girl.  Dad was having none of it.  While I appreciated the importance of the content, this one was very hard to listen to because of the foolish choices being made.  I didn't really think that was addressed.  It was more about loving people because Jesus wants us to rather than out of obligation.  A great message, of course, but I felt that something needed to done about Kitri's bad attitude and refusal to receive counsel much sooner or at least discussed more at the end.


I love going to the website and reading the true stories on which the Brinkman Adventures are based.  In Season 4, men like Dr. Nik Ripken, author of The Insanity of God, and Carl Ralston, founder of Remember Nhu, are featured. 

We have reviewed Season 2 with the Crew and purchased Season 1, besides Season 4 now.  We absolutely love these real-life, exciting missionary adventures and we think you will, too.  Xavier, who named Brinkman Adventures his Redhanded High Five from the entire 2014 Crew year, was especially excited when this new set arrived and has asked for more Brinkman Adventures for Christmas.  Season 6 will be releasing right around that time.  I have some catching up to do!



Brinkman Adventures now offers a curriculum to accompany Season 1.  If you already own the Season 1 audios, the curriculum is discounted.  It looks really interesting and now that they've reduced the cost for just the lessons, I'm seriously considering the purchase.

I encourage you to get the Brinkman Adventures Season 4 audio dramas for your family.  (And Season 1, 2, 3, and 5!)


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