Ana Braga-Henebry has seven children with her husband, Geoffrey, an international research scientist and university professor. They live in Brookings, South Dakota, a stone's throw from Laura Ingalls country. Ana has an art degree from the St. Teresa d'Avila College, Brazil and a M.A. in Humanities/Aesthetic Studies from The University of Texas at Dallas. In her thesis Ana discussed the poetry of a Brazilian Benedictine monk, translated a hefty selection of his poetry, and elaborated on the process of translating poetry.
Ana grew up as the seventh of ten children in a noisy, happy home in which dinner table conversation revolved around physics, film & literature, theology, or linguistic curiosities, depending on the day of the week. Taught by her mother to read and write and only then attending half-day school (as all Brazilian children do), Ana likes to believe she was homeschooled herself in a time and age when the movement did not exist. Ana's parents spoke four languages at home, traveled the world, and exhibited an untiring desire for learning and teaching.
Ana and Geoff were married during graduate school and were blessed with two children before their dual graduation in 1989. The family has lived in Texas, Kansas, Brazil, New Jersey, and Nebraska as they followed Geoff's career in academia. They were blessed with more children in every state, adding to a chaotic and wonderful total of seven children. They range from 16 to 29 years old and as they grow into adulthood they enjoy activities like sending their parents postcards from all the continents of the world. Including a recent sent from the single Post Office in Antarctica!
For eight years the family experimented with acreage life, collecting fresh eggs daily and tending multiple vegetable & herb gardens in the most beautiful 18 acres north of Sioux Falls, complete with a creek running through it. They have since moved to Brookings, home of South Dakota State University, where they purchased an 1890's colonial house smack between downtown and campus. If it were not for the brutal winters, they could bike just about everywhere in town.
As a mother at home, embracing Catholic family life centered on both faith and academics, Ana has been active in myriad ways as she watched their children grow in virtue and in excellence. They have grown to be geography experts, piano and voice virtuosi, young software developers, dedicated teachers, classical language scholars and budding artists.
Ana and Geoff have been homeschooling for over twenty years with a classical approach, using a variety of curricula. Calvert School provided wonderful and supportive materials in the beginning, always completed by the Faith and Life religion catechesis series, which is the one curriculum element that has remained consistent since day one. Of course back then they could only dream of the plethora of Catholic materials available today. Catholic Heritage Curricula and Kolbe Academy are two of their favorite resources. Catholic Textbook Project and Dr. Leek's Our Roman Roots have also been mainstays.
Ana has always been very involved in local homeschool groups, for example teaching Art, Geography, History, and Latin to small groups. She has taught NFP and has written Catholic plays for children, as well as articles and features for national Catholic periodicals. Ana is the author of the Catholic Textbook Project workbooks, and wrote the chapter on Geography in the the book "Why Should I Learn This?" (edited by Maureen Wittman, 2015). She has been a book reviewer for 20+ years for various sites including Amazon.com. In just about every place she lived (and there were many of them!), Ana has led book clubs for women. An very occasional poet, she was recently awarded a national poetry prize from the Catholic Daughters of the Americas.
With the two youngest now quite self-propelled as part-time homeschoolers, Ana is greatly enjoying being involved in her parish and community, doing volunteer work of many sorts. Writing has been her passion since primary school days in South America, and she has a few writing projects in the back burner, plus a supportive husband who wants to read her stuff.
Ana is deeply thankful to God for a life filled with adventure and fulfillment, and continues asking everyday for His guidance and His blessing.
She blogs vignettes of family and acreage life with pictures, recipes, and occasional favorite books or opinions on contemporary issues at http://anabragahenebrysjournal.blogspot.com.
Ana has enjoyed reviewing for Love2Learn since March 2006.
