I feel like window management is a good way to introduce vimscript as well. Lets you tweak some of the features like having the windows open on the right instead of left or getting rid of the w so it's just ctrl+{hjkl}.
I learned vi 20 years ago now, and vim a year or three later. In all that time, I've never seen the point to vimscript. If you want a heavily customized, scriptable editor, why just not use emacs? Vi works the way it works.