State History: California Out of the Box

[quietgarden]

I couldn't find a review for California Out of the Box, so I thought I would write one. 

I have been so impressed with this curriculum, which teaches California history in (mostly) chronological order, using stories and novels as the pegs to which kids can relate the knowledge being studied. The 'Stories from Where We Live' has had some great short stories and the novels (Island of the Blue Dolphins, Valley of the Moon, By the Great Horn Spoon!, The Earth Dragon Awakes, and Esperanza) are really wonderful as well. Each section not only covers the history of California from the prehistoric period, but the natural habitats, geography, and more. 

Initially I planned to study each section during the year as it lined up with whatever SOTW volume we were on but the curriculum is pretty in depth and I decided it would be better as a summer unit study project between volumes. So we did 'Antiguo' after SOTW Volume 2 (he would have been too young for this after Volume 1) and we will do Missions and Ranchos and the Gold Rush this summer after SOTW Volume 3. This curriculum could also be used, of course, as a year long history course.

For those using the curriculum with various ages, there are suggestions for younger students in lieu of the novels. It seems like the intended audience is fourth to sixth grade based on the novels suggested in the main curriculum.

I also noticed the author has an online course she teaches using the book.

For us, we will use it as a summer "extra" making it more "light" by listening to the novels as audiobooks and doing the stories as read alouds. I will also omit or change a lot of the writing assignments so it doesn't feel too much like schoolwork. Though we didn't do this with the first unit, "Antiguo", in future units I would like to have him make a notebook/scrapbook to chronicle his studies.

One of the reasons I'm most excited about using this as summer units is that we can combine some field trips with camping trips, which I think will also align nicely with the habitat studies.

I wouldn't call the curriculum completely open and go but I also don't think it requires a lot of planning - mainly just reading over the lesson the night before and seeing if there is anything you need to have at the ready (i.e. a copy of a map from the appendix, a page marked from the Stories book (not included), or some supplies for a nature study). 

[El...]

Do you feel that it has any particular political leanings, or is anyone left out of the story that you thought should have been more included? I love the idea of integrating geological history. And camping!

 

[quietgarden]

@El... This is a great question! I think the curriculum is along the lines of SOTW - inclusive but pretty general without a political leaning. Over the course of the curriculum they focus on Native Californians, the Spanish in California, the 49ers, Asian, and Latino culture. There is a short mention of African Americans in California, but that is an area that one may want to expand on.

For someone who was religious with a more literal interpretation of the Bible, they might want to know that the curriculum mentions the earth is 4.6 billion years old a few times, but they could easily edit that out. 

For me, I think I will add in field trips to Angel Island and China Camp (we are in the Bay Area anyway) as well as attend some local Native American events and educational presentations. During the 'Antiguo' section I supplemented with books on our local Miwok people but our local Miwok museum closed during Covid and hasn't reopened. The curriculum also ends at the depression so unless I'm missing something in the glance over of future units we do need to add in Japanese internment, a Rosie the Riveter musuem visit, etc.

The book has a lot more I didn't mention, like John Muir (Muir Woods field trip!) and a section on water scarcity (an important topic for all of us in the future most likely). That's an area I would like to expand on with watersheds, water stewardship, etc. and maybe adding in a volunteer day working on projects with our local watershed (they have something once a month I believe).

Edited November 17, 2023 by quietgarden
forgot something!