Courage

For the next two months, my family will be learning about courage, as inspired by Teaching Your Children Values by Linda and Richard Eyre. I was planning to spend just one month on each value, but I found so many wonderful stories and materials, I went ahead and planned out eight lessons.

There are many wonderful scripture examples of bravery, so we will focus on one story each week.

Please help!
There are many movies and books with examples of courage. I would love if you would leave your favorites in the comments so we can supplement with them in the coming two months!

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Songs
Just as we did last year, we will continue to choose one song each month to sing each night. This month we will be learning "Dare to Do Right." Next month we will learn "Nephi's Courage."


Week 1

• Use the lesson plan "Jesus' Courage" to show ways Jesus showed courage during his life.
• Play the game "Carrying Beans" and explain that Jesus didn't listen to others' taunts, but did what he knew was right. Explain that we can do the same.
• Award medals from the lesson "Jesus' Courage" and tell our children something brave they've done lately that makes us proud.
• Quote: “Inner courage is a necessary virtue of those who follow the Lord.... I should like to say to members of the Church, particularly to young men and women of the Church, that I hope you may come to know inner personal courage as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For this is the requirement of the Lord as we journey through our mortal probation, as we show to Him and to ourselves that we indeed ‘love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart, and with all [our] soul, and with all [our] mind’ and that we ‘love [our] neighbour as [ourselves]’” (Matt. 22:37, 39). Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Sept. 2001
• Quote: “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."   —Harper Lee, Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird
• Scripture: "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."  —Deuteronomy 31:6 

Week 2

• Tell the story of Samuel the Lamanite (Helaman 13–15). Discuss whether he was afraid. Discuss how he showed courage.
• Scripture: "And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the ^ctemptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction." —1 Nephi 15:24
• Discuss what the fiery darts of the adversary are. Just as the people of Samuel's time shot arrows at him, Satan tries to shoot us down with his temptations.
• Play the arrow game with each of the children.

Week 3

• Tell the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17).
• Tell the diving board story from p. 61 of Teaching Your Children Values (a story about a girl who was afraid to go off a diving board, but did it anyway).
• Quote: “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.”  ― Mark Twain
• Discuss things that are hard or scary in life, for example: going off a diving board, getting a shot, giving a talk, talking to someone new, running a mile.
• Make lists of what each family member is good at. (p. 68 in Teaching Your Children Values). Discuss how that makes you feel about yourself. You are unique and no one else is just like you. You are special, and you can have the courage to do hard things. 
• Scripture: "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." —Deuteronomy 31:6
• With God's help, we can do even more things than we can do by ourselves.

Week 4

• Tell the story of King Noah and Abinadi (Mosiah 11). Emphasize that the king wanted to kill him, but he went back again to preach.
• Sometimes it takes courage to go back and try again.
• Tell the story from page 60 of Teaching Your Children Values, about a child who fell from his new bike, knocked out his teeth, and got back on again the next day to try again.
• Discuss situations in which we may fail, and when we should try again. 
• Remove training wheels from son's bike and give it a try—and another!

Week 5

• Tell the story of Daniel and the king's meat. 
• Do you think it would have been hard to eat different food when everyone else was eating the king's meat?
• We should do what is right, regardless of what our friends want us to do.
• Read the story "It takes real courage to be a chicken" from p. 56 of Teaching Your Children Values.
• Discuss situations in which friends might tempt you to make a wrong choice, and what you can do.
• Play the game "Carrying Beans."
• People know you mean what you say when you look them in the eye. Practice having conversations while keeping eye contact (p. 63 from Teaching Your Children Values).
• Quote: “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”  ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 

Week 6

• Tell the story of Nephi and the boat.
• Scripture: 1 Nephi 3:7. 
• It takes courage to obey God's commandments.
• Talk about the tools from the lesson "Nephi's Courage."
• Play matching game with the tools.
• Make "banana boats" (banana splits) for treats.

Week 7

• Tell the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den.
• Do you think Daniel was afraid to pray? 
• Quote: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that
  something else is more important than fear.”  ― Ambrose Redmoon
• Why do you think Daniel decided to pray to God even though he could die? 
• Talk about making decisions in advance, so it will be easier to make the right choice when it comes up. Write lists of decisions. (p. 71 from Teaching Your Children Values)
• Role-play being confronted with each of the choices on your lists, and practice making the appropriate response.

Week 8

• Tell the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3).  
• Why did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego choose not to pray to the idol? What was the consequence for not praying to the idol? 
• God helps those who have faith in him.
• Play the red-yellow-green game from p. 66 of Teaching Your Children Values. (Present situations, with red, yellow, and green answers: red for courageous, yellow for average, green for cowardly.)
• Discuss the "Hard and good" principle from p. 69 of Teaching Your Children Values. (The right choices often tend to be the hard choices.)