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California History Unit Study

The Coop

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Whether you call California your home or just want to study California history, I promise you that it can be fun and so enriching! I loved my 4th grade year in public school and remember so much of the California history we studied. I have been so excited to create my own California History study plan for my daughter, and I want to share it with you.

You can download a PDF of our unit study with links to all products or keep reading!

Choosing Curriculum

I did a bunch of research on California history curriculums already out there and settled on the literature based, California Out of the Box. The curriculum was designed for 8-12 year olds, and is not only literature based, it is also multidisciplinary. Meaning, it covers multiple subjects including: social studies, arts, life and earth science, folklore and mythology, geography, poetry and literature, research methods, and writing skills. My daughter loves books and I thought this could be a great fit for us.

In my research, I had also found California History for Kids and thought it might compliment my unit study well. I purchased these two curriculum items to review and make my unit study plan.

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Creating a Unit Study Scope and Sequence

I wanted to time really build something spectacular for us to study, so I bought my curriculum in the summer and spent about 8 hours reading through topics, suggested resources and material, broke it into units, and wove it all in to one singular plan. I chose not to include dates or timing for my units as I find that to be overwhelming with our lifestyle. I want the flexibility to spread things out or speed them up as needed.

I considered the field trips I wanted to plan and invite my co-op. Some field trips are really only possible with a group. The timing of scheduling these trips were a big factor into timing my study as we went through the material. For instance, I found myself needing to push through to cover early explorers ahead of our trip to Cabrillo National Monument. Then, with our California Missions field trips spread out over the course of a month, I could slow down and take our time studying Missions.

Supplemental Material

Some supplemental material was suggested by California Out of the Box, some was recommended by friends, and some I researched independently.

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Historical Fiction - Literature

All but one of these books were recommended by California Out of the Box. I added in Li on Angel Island to add in more on immigration to California. While I did purchase all of these in paperback (mostly used through Amazon or my local used bookstore), we prefer listening to Audiobooks together.

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Bonus Resources

Because we learned about the Channel Islands through reading Island of the Blue Dolphins as well as in our California Out of the Box, I didn’t buy separate books. However, I thought these looked great and I may still add them to our reference collection. The Cruise of the Arctic Star is another wonderful Scott O’Dell book and takes the reader on an exploration up the coast of California. We bought it, but only read chunks of it as we had plenty of other reading.

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Field Trips

Because we live in California, planning field trips is super easy. More specifically, we live in San Diego and have easy access to so many wonderful places. I thought a lot about what trips are best as a group and those that would be great for just my family. Here’s what I settled on:

Co-Op Trips

Family Trips

Cabrillo National Monument Tide Pools

Timing Your California Unit Study

This unit study could be done in 2 months, a semester, or over the course of a school year. I wanted to have all our studies focused on this topic which is why a multidisciplinary curriculum or unit study works so well. It covers many subjects and we only need to add in math on the side. Because this was our sole focus, I chose to do this in a single semester.

Take my plan and modify it to fit your family! Consider field trips you may want to take and the best time of year for them. The beauty of homeschooling is our ability to customize our studies for maximum learning and fun.

Download our California History Unit Study

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Coming soon…

Visit Channel Islands with Kids

Planning a California History Road Trip

How to Do the California Mission

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