We watched Nim’s Island a couple of days ago, and Flora is currently rewatching it for the third time. It’s quite a neat, different little show about an 11-year-old girl who lives on an island with her marine biologist father and corresponds with an agorophobic author of adventure novels. The dad is lost at sea, and the author comes to rescue to the girl—but in the end the girl rescues her—the dad does get home safely (spoiler alert, I suppose, but my kids couldn’t enjoy it until we established that there was going to be a happy ending!).

The movie’s great on its own, but the best part from a homeschooling perspective is the opening scene, in which Nim runs along the seashore with her pelican friend Galileo and her seal Suki, and says, “I don’t go to school. I’m homeschooled—or rather, island-schooled. I learn everything from my friends.” And then Galileo the pelican delivers a real life lesson in how objects falls…

It’s on Netflix, and the Calgary Public Library has the film, the audiobook, and the two books. Which I already have on hold, so get in line.