Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
Happy Monday! It was so great to see all of the characters at our History Day Wax Museum last week. Today we are introducing our Character Trait for the month – Courage! As a reminder, SLO Classical Academy defines courage as –
Courage: Attempting difficult things that are worthwhile and facing difficulties and challenges with determination to do the right thing even when others don’t.
Catch Phrase: Dare to be different!
Forging Courage:
Use these prompts to spark meaningful conversations in your family about this month’s character trait.
- Get the conversation started by having your kids list words or phrases they associate with courage. See if they can come up with any idioms. Challenge them to think of some possible antonyms as well.
- Talk about some recent books they have read and discuss who was the most courageous character in the book? Have them describe why they consider that character courageous. (TIP — This question is an excellent discussion starter for other character traits as well. “Who showed humility?”, etc.).
- What is something they have done recently that required them to dare to be different?
- Discuss the above quote by FDR. Ask your students what they think it means? What are some things that are more important to them than fear? What are some of their fears?
- We’ve talked about the fear of failure — this is an excellent time to remind our students that mistakes are okay; that it requires courage to try something new especially when the outcome is unknown.
- Brainstorm ways your family can dare to be different. Make a goal to act on a least one of your ideas.
- Is courage contagious? Can they think of any examples?
- Why do they think courage is a SLOCA character trait? Can they think of other character traits that require courage in order to do them well? For example, sometimes it requires courage to be kind when you fear you may be made fun of. And it takes courage to own up to our mistakes and accept responsibility for our actions, etc.
- Last month’s character trait was humility. When we think of courage we often think of being bold, brave, and confident. Can one be humble and courageous at the same time?
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