Brave was released on DVD yesterday. I know this DVD was highly anticipated by my little girls. We first saw Brave when it came out for my youngest daughter’s birthday. We all loved it. I have two girls that have hair like Brave so it was fun having so many comment on our way in and out of the theater. I saw a lot in the movie that I liked or at least much more I liked than didn’t like. I also thought the movie was perfect for a unit study. So, once it came out on DVD, I went over to Toys R Us and picked it up. I was in luck since it was on sale and I got it for only $14.99. Next, we ran home to watch it and I took careful note of things I could use in a unit study.
When I design a unit study such as this I start out by brainstorming. Once I have all my ideas written down, I determine which I want to focus on and how long of a study I want. Brave had plenty of concepts to chose from and here is what I came up with.
Themes for a Brave unit study:
Geography: Scotland. Include brief history.
Science: Bears. Study bears indigenous to Scotland or bears all around the world. Study eating habits, habitat, and hibernation.
Music and Art: Study the music and art of Scotland.
History: Since unit studies are short I like to focus on a specific topic. So for Brave, I chose archery. Merida did love her bow.
Virtue: Obedience, bravery, respect. Merida was not especially respectful or obedient. It led to her downfall and greatly affected others in an adverse way. It is important to study this so a child can see the result of such behavior and how one can be forgiven. Merida was brave and that is a positive characteristic she displayed.