Californians? For history do we have to follow the same history sequence?

[lea_lpz]

I know at 4th grade they begin doing Califirnia history, than US for 5th, than Ancient history for 6th, Middle History for 7th, and US again for 8th. That would not necessarily align with the history cycle every year. So wondering if we need to do that and if so how do you include it?

[Crimson Wife]

Unless you are working with a charter that cares about you following the state standards, I would just ignore it.

 

What we did/are planning:

 

Oldest:

K & 1st ancients incorporating Bible history using KHE & library books

2nd medieval using KHE & library books

3rd & 4th U.S. history incorporating California history using Catholic Schools Textbook Project From Sea to Shining Sea and Juanita Houston's Our Golden California

5th world geography using Glencoe World Geography

6th ancients & early medieval using K12 Human Odyssey V1

7th later medieval & early modern using Human Odyssey V2

8th TBD, either K12 American Odyssey or Human Odyssey V3 (leaning towards U.S. history again)

 

Second:

K & "transition" U.S. history using Julianne Kimber's I Love America! and library books

1st world geography using Carson-Dellosa A Trip Around the World series

2nd ancients & early medieval using SOTW 1 & part of 2

3rd later medieval & early modern using SOTW 2 & 3

4th & 5th modern with an emphasis on U.S. history using SOTW 4, CSTP From Sea to Shining Sea, and Our Golden California

[SeaConquest]

Thanks for the book recs, CW. :)

 

OP, have you looked at Beautiful Feet? They have a California history curriculum.

 

ETA: I forgot that I bookmarked this California history bibliography put out by the California Library Association: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.cla-net.org/resource/resmgr/imported/Eureka%20bibliography%20summer%202011.pdf

[Ellie]

I know at 4th grade they begin doing Califirnia history, than US for 5th, than Ancient history for 6th, Middle History for 7th, and US again for 8th. That would not necessarily align with the history cycle every year. So wondering if we need to do that and if so how do you include it?

 

The California Education Code does not require private schools (that would be you, unless your children are enrolled in a charter school, and then you'll have to do what that school requires) to follow any specific sequence for history. You're supposed to cover California history somewhere between first and sixth, and again somewhere between seventh and twelfth. You are NOT required to do it in fourth grade, although that's pretty common, especially in public schools.

 

This is what it says:

 

Sections 51210 & 51230

Grades 1-6:

Social Sciences – Anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, psychology and sociology to fit the maturity of the pupils; foundation for understanding history, resources, development and government of California and the U.S.; American economic system, including entrepreneurs and labor; man’s relations to his human and natural environment; eastern and western cultures and civilizations; contemporary issues.

 

Grades 7–12

(in addition to requirements for grades 1–6)

Social Sciences – American legal system, operation of juvenile and adult criminal justice systems, rights and duties of citizens under the criminal and civil law and the State and Federal Constitutions; human rights issues, with attention to the inhumanity of genocide.

 

 

 

Of course, no one ever checks up on you, so you can do whatever you want anyway, but of course you'd want to include California history somewhere, yes? :-)

[lea_lpz]

Thanks Ellie! We are part if a charter currently and have not had any problems so far but dd is in 2nd grade so grades 1-3 are social studies and fairly relaxed and not specific. We've used mfw for k & 1st and are currently using their Adventures in US History which is a brief 1 year overview of US history for 2/3 graders. If we stick to the cycle for mfw then grade 3 would be world cultures & geography, 4th ancients, 5th middle history and so US would not come until grades 6 & 7. A study of your state is included in that in one of the years just not sure which. I have also toyed with spreading ADV over 2 years and adding in the American Girl Books and Portraits of American Girlhood. If we do it the time would be now as we are up to the American Revolution. Or doing the cycle out of order and so doing American history for 4/5 using Portraits of American Girlhood followed by Prairie Primer.

 

I think if the charter begins to dictate too much of our choices we will do the private school affidavit.

 

Say you did unit studies Ellie. I may want to do more of unit study approach then classical approach. What did you like more about unit studies?

[Crimson Wife]

I have POAG and incorporated parts of it into DD's study of U.S. History but for us, it fell very much into the "supplementary" category, just like the Homeschool in the Woods Time Travelers unit studies (which we also did a few of). They are fun but much too light to serve as spine IMHO.

[Ellie]

Thanks Ellie! We are part if a charter currently and have not had any problems so far but dd is in 2nd grade so grades 1-3 are social studies and fairly relaxed and not specific. We've used mfw for k & 1st and are currently using their Adventures in US History which is a brief 1 year overview of US history for 2/3 graders. If we stick to the cycle for mfw then grade 3 would be world cultures & geography, 4th ancients, 5th middle history and so US would not come until grades 6 & 7. A study of your state is included in that in one of the years just not sure which. I have also toyed with spreading ADV over 2 years and adding in the American Girl Books and Portraits of American Girlhood. If we do it the time would be now as we are up to the American Revolution. Or doing the cycle out of order and so doing American history for 4/5 using Portraits of American Girlhood followed by Prairie Primer.

 

I think if the charter begins to dictate too much of our choices we will do the private school affidavit.

 

Say you did unit studies Ellie. I may want to do more of unit study approach then classical approach. What did you like more about unit studies?

 

As long as you cover California history *at all*, you should be fine. There are no requirements, not even for public schools, for when anything should be covered.

 

Of course, I am a proponent of private homeschooling rather than public-school-at-home, because as a private homeschooler you don't have to justify anything you do to anyone at any time. Ever. :-)

 

I like unit studies because mostly you can incorporate everything--history, geography, science, arts and crafts, literature--into learning about your favorite things, or important things (which could be both, lol).

[...................]

Agreeing with Ellie.

[shinyhappypeople]

Thanks Ellie! We are part if a charter currently and have not had any problems so far but dd is in 2nd grade so grades 1-3 are social studies and fairly relaxed and not specific. We've used mfw for k & 1st and are currently using their Adventures in US History which is a brief 1 year overview of US history for 2/3 graders. If we stick to the cycle for mfw then grade 3 would be world cultures & geography, 4th ancients, 5th middle history and so US would not come until grades 6 & 7. A study of your state is included in that in one of the years just not sure which. I have also toyed with spreading ADV over 2 years and adding in the American Girl Books and Portraits of American Girlhood. If we do it the time would be now as we are up to the American Revolution. Or doing the cycle out of order and so doing American history for 4/5 using Portraits of American Girlhood followed by Prairie Primer.

 

I think if the charter begins to dictate too much of our choices we will do the private school affidavit.

 

Say you did unit studies Ellie. I may want to do more of unit study approach then classical approach. What did you like more about unit studies?

 

I wouldn't worry about it.  If you're enjoying MFW, keep going with that.  You can cover California history by reading a few biographies of famous Californians, visiting a mission, and maybe taking some field trips to other historical sites if you can.  Don't stress. :)

[Dmmetler]

What I did for state history (not in CA) was to do it over a summer, between 4th and 5th grade. DD was concerned that she was "behind" because she hadn't done it yet and ALL her PS friends had.  I bought the same workbooks that the PS used, had her work through them on her own, with the help of google if needed, and pick several places she wanted to visit and learn more about, which we incorporated into a family vacation. She also picked several issues of concern and wrote state officials about them, and got some nice responses (the cynical side of me says that they're probably from some intern in the office, but they were still nice responses).

 

It worked pretty well for ticking that box without actually taking a full year on stuff that, for the most part, had already been covered through just life experience (admittedly, that might work better in a smaller state than in CA-in our case, we really have driven through pretty much every single part of the state at various times and visited museums, battlefields, historical houses, and so on for years).

 

 

[serendipitous journey]

I agree that it oughtn't be a stressor.   We are using the Beautiful Feet California history through literature study and supplementing some (for the history of Americans of Chinese and Japanese descent, esp. Chinese workers and the WW2 Japanese internments), I am running it in addition to our world history, spread over a whole year, with no written output other than coloring and assembling the timeline: I wanted more literature for this child anyhow, and this works well. 

 

Intellego has what looks to be a nice California unit study available, much more Unit-study than Classical. 

 

We'll probably also get our hands on the Library Video Company's "US Geography for Children: California" and watch it a few times; and I have a couple of the WTM-rec'd state study resources (though I can't find them just now to include their titles) and the Jackdaws Portfolio for CA, which I plan to just sit and talk about with A. this round.  When N. hits state study I may have A. use the Jackdaws material in a more rigorous way. 

 

FWIW I'd suggest asking your charter about the history soon, just so you know.  In the charter we've used (and will next year for N, but are on common-core induced hiatus for A) they are happy for homeschoolers to follow alternative history and science cycles in the middle years, as long as the major topics are included at some point. 

[Ellie]

Also, if you'd like to use something more Official to study California history, I cannot recommend highly enough His California Story, by Lesha Myers. Lesha wrote this because she couldn't find a California history that was truly based on original source documents. So she did the research, and wrote the book, and used her own support group as guinea pigs. :-) I helped proofread the first printing. :-) You'll want the teacher's supplement, as well.

[lea_lpz]

Ellie how long is it? Is it a full year curriculum?

[Ellie]

Ellie how long is it? Is it a full year curriculum?

 

Yes, it's a whole year. But you could easily take longer to do it, if you don't want to focus a whole year on California (which doesn't bother *me*, lol. I love *all* history.)

[lea_lpz]

I started considering it. I am debating not following a trad. history sequence so much. Thanks! It looks pretty neat!

[Lawyer&Mom]

I did CA history in public school.  Highlights:  Island of the Blue Dolphins, Farewell to Manzanar, a trip to a Mission and a trip to the state house in Sacramento.

 

Fourth grade is when we officially studied CA history, but I think we read the books in fifth.  Farewell to Manzanar coincided with our study of the Holocaust, which I think worked well.

 

 

[Allearia]

I am wondering if the Beautiful Feet California History is Christian or secular? How much religious content does it contain?

[Ellie]

I am wondering if the Beautiful Feet California History is Christian or secular? How much religious content does it contain?

 

Beautiful Feet Books is a Christian company. The study guides follow the

. Although most of the books used are trade books (books you'd find in the library as opposed to textbooks), the study guides definitely incorporate a Christian worldview. You could tweak the assignments in the study guides to make them seem less religious, I guess, but there will still be an underlying POV regarding things like the westward movement of Christianity.

[lea_lpz]

Does the teacher supplement have a book list and history project ideas-hands on stuff, journal pages, etc?

[Ellie]

Does the teacher supplement have a book list and history project ideas-hands on stuff, journal pages, etc?

 

This is the description from the Cameron Publishing website. :-)

[SeaConquest]

I did CA history in public school. Highlights: Island of the Blue Dolphins, Farewell to Manzanar, a trip to a Mission and a trip to the state house in Sacramento.

 

Fourth grade is when we officially studied CA history, but I think we read the books in fifth. Farewell to Manzanar coincided with our study of the Holocaust, which I think worked well.

This is my recollection as well. We also read By the Great Horn Spoon and built the missions out of sugar cubes. I got Santa Barbara and it looked awesome.

[lea_lpz]

Ok thanks!

[Lawyer&Mom]

On second thought, we probably read Journey to Topaz (4th grade reading level) in elementary school, and Farewell to Manzanar (seventh grade reading level) later.  You have your choice of internment novels.