Study Guide: Zac & Abby Sunderland Documentary DVDs

This Study Guide is meant to be used in conjunction with the documentary DVDs:

Intrepid: The Zac Sunderland Story Parts 1 & 2 and Wild Eyes: The Abby Sunderland Story.

PART I of this study guide covers the background for Zac and Abby’s stories, including general and specific boating knowledge that will help you understand the stories better and is appropriate to read through before watching the DVDs. The guide is written with a child in mind and so themes and concepts are on a basic level. Use the concepts and themes for launching points for your older students to do their own more in-depth and interest-led research.

To enhance your studies, there are also links to science projects that help illustrate some of the weather phenomenon that are discussed in this guide and throughout the DVDs.

Utilizing one of the suggested Geography apps during this phase of the study is an excellent and fun way to add more to learning (and fun!) to your round the world studies.

There is a page of discussion questions for each part of the documentary set. Feel free to read through these before watching the documentaries or just chose a few questions that are the most meaningful for your family. It was after the discussion of a sailing documentary that Zac came upon the idea to sail around the world himself. Talk, dream, imagine! You never know where your discussions will lead!

PART II of this guide contains specific background information on Zac’s trip around the world including one information/study page for each stop along Zac’s route. You can have your child find each country’s flag online or in an atlas and color the designs if you wish. There is a very brief introduction to the country followed by some geography and demographic questions that can be answered orally or written down as you discover the answers and learn a bit more about each country.

If you have a globe or some other type of world map, have your kids mark each of Zac’s stops and have a look around the surrounding area. This was one of the most interesting things for our family to do as we watched Zac sail around the world.

PART III of this guide contains specific background information about Abby’s solo circumnavigation attempt including a bit about Abby’s life growing up sailing and her homeschool experience. There is a world map of her route along with a detailed diagram of Abby’s boat, Wild Eyes and a list of discussion questions for after watching the DVD.