Nim's Island and the question of courage

Nim's Island (Full Screen Edition) -- have you seen it? Or read it?(Nim's Island)  It is a lovely story, and(homeschoolers will be especially pleased with this)  stars a very bright 'island schooled' little girl named 'Nim'.  At this precise moment, however, my interest is focused on a particular phrase: Nim, the heroine of the tale, is asking her father why her favorite fictional character, Alex Rover, is so brave.  Her father replies "Courage is not inside you. It is something you have to relearn every day, in the choices you make."  That particular phrase resonates with me. The question of courage is one with which we battle daily. My eldest, as kind and loving a soul as I have ever met, is beset by fears of nameless things. Perhaps it is his age (he has just turned ten)? I know that, at this age, children become painfully aware of  mortality, both their own and that of others. They become aware of the frailty of human knowledge and wisdom -- specifically, they begin to suspect the flawed nature of their parents' wisdom. Regardless of the whys of this development, the issue of how one gains and practices courage is of great interest in our homeschool.

Now I am a great believer in using multi-media tools for study and learning. Movies and Novels, especially, have proven useful in the past. So here, then, is a story that I wish to use in discussing the question of courage and of how one achieves it.  First I went looking for existing materials: An Educator's Guide to Nim's Island looked promising but it's focus is on teaching children about their environment and the need to protect it, a worthy topic but not quite what I had in mind. More such resources exist at Walden.com and at The Weekly Reader.

Next I discovered a wonderful Unit Study at Homeschool Share -- something I am most definitely going to pursue and another one at Squidoo. At 'Blog, She wrote" I found some lovely images of Nim's Island Salt Dough Maps. But this was still not quite what I wanted. I found a blog which recorded another family's Nim Adventures: Liberty Hill House: Nim's Island Lessons - Chapter 2. And then I found something upon which I could base my own 'Unit Study' -- Munce.com's Study Guide. The study guide is very much Christian oriented, so for those who are not so inclined, this may be a bit off putting but the questions that it asks/addresses are similar to the ones that I wish to pursue: how does one display courage and when? What is a courageous act -- does it have to be something big and splashy like saving your little sister? Or can it be something smaller and quieter -- like walking out your own front door? I think that my next stop will be the Konos and Weaver units, as both use questions of Character as subjects of unit studies. I will see what I can pull together and, when it is complete, add it to this blog. Wish me luck...