Last year I wrote an in-depth post about my *plans* for spending our homeschool-year learning California history and geography, and the books I intended to use. This post is about the books we actually did read, field trips we did take, and activities we did do.
We follow a Charlotte Mason philosophy and because of major home renovations, we decided to take a year off the four-year history rotation and focus our history study more locally to lean into how much we’d be uprooted from our home this year and doing small road trips around our home state.
We looked at the different geographical regions of California, and we learned about the Pacific ocean and the creatures who live there.
We learned about the agricultural industry in California, the film industry, and the tech industry. We visited San Francisco, Monterey, Los Angeles, and Palm Desert. We listened to music and looked at art by California artists.
We went to Joshua Tree National Park. We went beaches. We went to the Redwoods.
We visited the La Brea tar pits and learned of California’s Ice Age history. We visited the San Francisco Bay (Coyote Hills Regional Park) and learned of the Ohlone people who called it home.
We visited the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum and learned about our local town history.
We went into an earthquake simulator at the California Academy of Sciences. We saw the kelp forest up close at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We built robots and learned about blue whales in an epic Imax theatre at the Tech Interactive.
We learned about how the state government works and we learned about protesting a bill at the state legislature that would affect the flexibility with which we homeschool.
We even went to Disneyland.
Oh, and we also went to the DMV, which my son renamed to the WPE (Worst Place Ever) and around hour two of waiting in line for our appointment that I had scheduled the month before, we started brainstorming how Walt Disney would have designed the DMV to not be awful. Seriously though, can we take some of the creative fun the Imagineers put into the lines for rides at Disneyland and incorporate them into the DMV?
A Literature-Based Approach to California History and Geography
We also read a lot of living books. Some, we read altogether. Some my third-grader read independently (I will put an asterisk next to the ones he read on his own).
How Did I Fit All These Books Into One Year?
Usually I’d schedule history/geography three days per week. About 15-20 minutes per day. One day we’d read from a longer book about a time period in history – working our way chronologically through the units headlined below. Another day per week we’d read one to two pages per day from Golden Numbers, G is for Golden, and the Geography of California. These three books took us the whole year to get through. The other day of the week we’d read a picture book either related to the chronological time period we were studying or a biography of a Californian.
For science this year we worked through Real Science Odyssey’s Earth and Environment curriculum, which I supplemented with a weekly picture book. Some of the books below we read during time scheduled for science – the ones about earthquakes, volcanoes, redwood forests etc.
One day per week we also covered “Nature Lore”, stories from nature like Pagoo and Odder.
On Fridays, on the drive to our weekly nature walk, we listened to California artists (the Beach Boys, the Eagles, Etta James, Henry Cowell).
On Sundays we have a family movie night and we watched movies that complemented our school week whenever possible.
As part of our bedtime routine, I read to my kids individually in their beds and my son and I read some of the novels in this list together at bedtime.
Our family vacations this year centered around road trips around California. I wrote about our family trip to L.A. here.
It is remarkable how much content you can read through in a year in 15 minutes per day. This may look like a lot but I promise when it is broken down over 5 days per week for 10ish months – it is totally doable.
I’ll be working on a free printable digital download of this booklist as well as my sample schedule, so check back for those resources soon. You can also sign up for my mailing list if you’d like to be alerted when I release new content.
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The California History/Geography Books We Actually Read
Golden Numbers by David Domeniconi
G is for Golden by David Domeniconi
For both Golden Numbers and G is for Golden, we read these books slowly over the course of a year – reading one or two pages per week. Afterwards I’d have my kids draw a narration in their history books about what they learned.
The best part of using these books is not looking ahead and having many “wonder” conversations over the dinner table about what the next entries would be. What will the author choose to represent California for the letter T? What about Z? We had many conversations revisiting the lists from memory over the dinner table and hypothesizing what was coming next. Not looking ahead made it much more satisfying when we turned the page to a surprise.
Geography of California by Lisa Greathouse and Ted Fauce
We read through this book slowly, each week learning about a different geographic region of California. At the end we drew maps of California showing the different regions. When we traveled on road trips, I would point out which region we were in.
Unit: The Ice Age
All About Strange Beasts of the Past by Roy Chapman Andrews (Ch 1)
All About Strange Beasts of the Past is out of print but the first chapter of this book is an excellent narrative of prehistoric animals finding themselves trapped in the tar of the La Brea Tar Pits. It is well worth tracking down.
Once Upon a Mastodon by Bonnie Worth
In rhyming Dr. Seuss fashion, Once Upon a Mastodon goes over the extinct animals of the ice age.
What was the Ice Age by Nico Medina*
My son read What Was the Ice Age? on his own after visiting the La Brea Tar Pits. We actually bought this one at the gift shop.
Fossils Tell of Long Ago by Aliki
Fossils Tell of Long Ago was one of our science books for the year and it nicely aligns with what we learned at the La Brea Tar Pits.
Complementary Activities:
Along with these books, we were fortunate to take a family road trip to the Los Angeles area to visit the famous La Brea Tar Pits and museum. It’s definitely an odd experience to be in the heart of L.A. standing next to a bubbling pit of tar…
We also watched Ice Age, the movie.
Unit: Indigenous Peoples
The Ohlone of California by Jack S. Williams
There are over 100 different federally recognized and self-identified indigenous tribes in California with diverse cultures, languages, and histories. We focused on learning about the Ohlone, whose traditional lands we now occupy in the Santa Clara Valley.
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott o’Dell*
My third-grader and I read Island of the Blue Dolphins together, but apart. My son read this book independently and then narrated back to me in his own words what he read. I read ahead of him at night.
Once we finished the novel we watched some Youtube videos about the real Kaia.
Unit: Early European Explorers
Exploration of California by Serena Haines
We read about European explorers and North America’s indigenous peoples last year for much of our history year, so this year my kids were not as interested in reading about more explorers. Exploration of California is a short and sweet summary of European exploration of California, Spanish settlement and the Catholic missions in California, the time when California was part of Mexico, and the Mexican-American war.
The Story of California by May NcNeer
Not going to lie to you, we only read some of The Story of California. The illustrations are beautiful, but my kids did not find the text particularly engaging. I’m including it in this list because of the illustrations.
Junipero Serra by Linda Gondosch
Another Not Gonna Lie moment – we also only read part of Junípero Serra. My kids struggled at their ages to connect with the stories of the California missions. This is a story I think we will need to revisit at older ages. Instead we watched a few Youtube videos about him and we talked about one of our favorite playgrounds in Sunnyvale – Serra Park and how it is named after Junípero Serra.
Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi
My kids did love Song of the Swallows and could connect it to the swallows that nest in the eaves of the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Centre at the Bay Lands Nature Preserve in Palo Alto. Song of the Swallows was a gentle introduction to the California missions. My daughter actually asks to re-read this one often.
Unit: Pioneers
The Pioneers Go West by George R. Stewart
The Pioneers Go West was one of my favourite books we read this year because of its ties to the local history in Sunnyvale. It describes the journey of the Stevens-Townsend-Murphy party to California – the first wagon train to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains, pioneering the route for what would become known as Donner Pass in 1844. Their story is not as well known because it didn’t end as horrifically as the Donner Party, which followed two years later and ended in tragedy.
The Murphys of this party settled in the Sunnyvale-area and the family was key to the growth of the region. Their influence is exhibited at the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum. This fall, a group of extreme trekkers will be recreating the Stevens-Townsend-Murphy party’s trail experience as they trek the route as closely as possible. The Sunnyvale Heritage Park museum will be hosting an event in October 2025 to bring this wagon train to life.
You can learn more about this wagon train through a series of podcast episodes:
An FYI: The Pioneers Go West was published in 1954, so as a reader, I did change some of the language and provided some context about some of the content related to the indigenous peoples in the story – but for the most part this book did portray the indigenous peoples in a positive way.
We were fortunate to take a docent-led tour of the Sunnyvale Heritage Park museum on a Tuesday afternoon to learn what it would have been like to be a kid in Sunnyvale in the early 1900s.
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales Donner Dinner Party*
My son devoured this graphic novel about the Donner party.
Patty Reed’s Doll – Rachel K. Laurgaard
Together my son and I read Patty Reed’s Doll after he read Donner Dinner Party. He liked seeing the story he knew written out in a different way, told from the perspective of a doll.
Locomotive is a story of how many families took the train West to Sacramento in the late 1800s. My son loves trains, and this book has been beloved in our home for years. It was nice to pull it out again and apply it to what we were learning in California’s history.
What was the Wild West by Janet B. Pascal*
My third-grade son absolutely loves the Who Was and What Was books. He read What Was The Wild West? on his own and it brings in some California history as well.
Unit: The Gold Rush
By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman
We really enjoyed reading By The Great Horn Spoon! and we were rooting for Praiseworthy and Jack. Afterwards we built a lego model of their gold mining camp and we watched the Disney film adaptation. This book continues to come up in our conversations even 6+ months later.
Family Movie Night: The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin
Buy it on DVD, rent it on Amazon Prime video, or if you have Disney+, you can stream it as part of the Disney collection. It is dated, so there are some scenes that require acknowledgement and explanation in a 21st century understanding of racism.
Chang’s Paper Pony by Deborah Kogan Ray
Chang’s Paper Pony is a story of a Chinese boy in the gold rush who yearns for a pony. He tries to earn enough gold to buy a pony but in the end it is Chang’s honesty that earns him a generous gift.
Unit: Californians
Usually once per week we read a biography or a fictional story about Californians. Some books were about famous people whose names you will recognize, others were about every day working people. Nonetheless both the famous and the unknown built (and continue to build) this great state.
Amelia’s Road by Linda Jacobs Altman
This is the story of a little girl whose family works as temporary farm worker moving around to different fields for crop harvesting.
Mamie Tape Fights to Go to School by Traci Huahn
Mamie Tape lived in San Francisco when it was illegal for Chinese immigrants to go to White schools. Mamie Tape fought for the right to go to school.
Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say
Grandfather’s Journey is the story of so many immigrants to California who miss home but love California. I personally understand this feeling of loving where you live but having your heart still back at home. It’s one complicated emotion.
Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders
The pride flag is a pretty common sight in California, and when we fly out of SFO Airport, we often fly out of the Harvey Milk terminal. Pride is a good book to explain what the pride flag is and who Harvey Milk was.
In Smoky Night, neighbors come together to support one another in a scary night of rioting, reminiscent of the L.A. riots in the 90s.
I love Pop’s Bridge! It describes building the Golden Gate bridge and men working equally alongside one another.
This Bridge Will Not Be Gray by Dave Eggers
This Bridge Will Not Be Gray is another great read about the Golden Gate Bridge and why it is painted red!
Game, Set, Sisters: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams by Jay Leslie
We enjoyed Game, Set, Sisters, a story about Venus and Serena Williams and their childhoods in Los Angeles.
Gizmos, Gadgets, and Guitars: The Story of Leo Fender by Michael Mahin
Did you know that Fender’s Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars were invented in Fullerton, California? I sure didn’t until I read Gizmos, Gadgets, and Guitars, the Story of Leo Fender.
Remembering Vera by Patricia Polacco
Remembering Vera is a heartwarming tale of a dog who worked for the coast guard in the San Francisco Bay.
Dorothea’s Eyes by Barb Rosenstock
Dorothea Lange is one of the most famous American photographers and she spent much of her career in California. We read about Dorothea Lange and studied her photographs this year as part of our picture study. I read through several picture books about Dorothea Lange and I felt Dorothea’s Eyes really captured Dorothea’s struggles with disability and how she channeled her strengths to change the way people saw the world.
Antsy Ansel by Cindy Jenson-Elliott
Ansel Adams is another famous California photographer, taking remarkable early photos of the mountains in Yosemite. We enjoyed reading about Ansel Adams and studying his photographs as part of picture study.
Levi Strauss gets a Bright Idea by Tony Johnston
There are some inventors who affect my daily existence over a hundred years later and Levi Strauss is one of them. My homeschool mom-uniform is usually jeans and a tshirt. Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea is a fun read.
Who is Steven Spielberg by Stephanie Spinner*
My third grader loves the Who Was books and he also loves film-making. He read Who is Steven Spielberg independently, which worked out well because when I think of Hollywood, I think of Steven Spielberg.
Who was Walt Disney by Whitney Stewart*
When I think of California, I think of Disneyland. My son read this biography of Walt Disney while on our road trip down to Anaheim to spend a day at Disneyland. We had a great time and my husband and I celebrated our ten-year wedding anniversary there with the kids!
Pocketful of Colors by Amy Gugliemo
Pocket Full of Colors is my favourite Disney-adjacent picture book. It is about colorist for Disney, Mary Blair, and how her artistic style was the inspiration behind It’s a Small World ride at Disneyland.
Who is George Lucas by Pam Pollach and Meg Belviso*
George Lucas is another famous California film-maker who lives not to far from us in Marin county. My third-grader read Who Is George Lucas independently. Next year we are doing our science unit on Astronomy, so we will be diving into the Star Wars universe and the world of science fiction as a complement to our space-learning.
Who was Steve Jobs by Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso*
Living not too far from Apple Park, Apple’s headquarters campus in Cupertino, it seemed appropriate to learn about Steve Jobs, another famous Californian. My third-grader read Who Was Steve Jobs independently.
John Muir: My Life with Nature Joseph Cornell
We enjoyed the short narrative chapters in this biography of John Muir.
What is Rock and Roll (Beach Boys Chapter) by Jim O’Connor
We didn’t read this entire book, just the chapter on the Beach Boys. The Beach Boys are a quintessential California sound! We listened to Beach Boys music driving to and from our Friday afternoon Nature Walks for a term and learned about them. I actually had never listened to their album, “Pet Sounds” before, even though it is considered one of the most influential albums in music history. It was interesting to listen to Beach Boys music in the entirety of their albums rather than just as a song at a time on a playlist or the radio, which is how I’ve always heard their music.
Unit: California Nature Lore (stories about flora and fauna of California)
Odder is a wonderful read! This narrative of a sea otter who is cared for at the Monterey Bay Aquarium after a shark attack is told in a freestyle poem form.
Little Gray’s Great Migration by Marta Lindsey
One thing I wanted us to do this year but didn’t manage to do is go whale-watching in California. I’ve gone a few times in Newfoundland where my family is from, but I’ve never been out on the Pacific ocean. I’d love to see a gray whale and an orca whale. This story tells of the migration of gray whales along California’s coast.
Pagoo by Holling Clancy Holling
If you’ve ever thought there’s no way you could fall in love with a hermit crab, you would be wrong. You can’t read Pagoo without developing a very fond attachment for this little guy.
The Tree of Time by Kathy Baron
I like The Tree of Time because it talks about the personal history of a Sequoia redwood tree and how old and big it was when different things in history happened (like when Julius Cesar ruled Rome).
This story is a nice complement to The Tree of Time above because in Redwoods, a boy is reading a book about how old redwood trees are while he rides on the subway. Maybe he is reading The Tree of Time?
Cactus Hotel by Brenda Z. Guiberson
Cactus Hotel is a story about the animals that live in cactuses over the year. It was a good book to read about desert flora and fauna.
What do we know about Bigfoot? By Steve Korté*
I’m including What Do We Know About Bigfoot? in the section about California’s nature – though perhaps this legendary creature should be categorized alongside other famous Californians instead. In any case, Bigfoot has allegedly been sighted in the forest in Northern California. We once had to end a camping trip early because my kids got too freaked out about Bigfoot.
Unit: California’s Earth and Environment
Earthquakes (Let’s Read and Find Out Science) by Franklin Branley
Our science curriculum this year was Real Science Odyssey’s Earth and Environment. We learned about tectonic plates and earthquakes. We looked up the fault lines in our area. We also worked together to update our earthquake kits and practiced what we would do in case of an earthquake. Earthquakes from the Let’s Read and Find Out Science series is a great read about earthquakes to go along with that learning.
Volcanoes (Let’s Read and Find Out Science) by Franklin Branley
Did you know there are volcanoes in California? We didn’t make it to Mount Lassen volcanic park this year, but it is on the road trip bucket list for a future year. We enjoyed learning about volcanoes with Let’s Read and Find Out Science’s Volcanoes to go along with our science lessons.
I Survived the California Wildfires, 2018 by Lauren Tarshis*
My third-grader loves the I Survived Series by Lauren Tarshis. He re-read the two related to California disasters this year.
I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906 by Lauren Tarshis*
What was the San Francisco Earthquake by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler*
My son read What Was the San Francisco Earthquake independently. Both this one and the I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake were informative and gripping narratives. After reading about earthquakes, we visited the earthquake simulator at the California Academy of Sciences. Visitors can experience simulations of both the 1989 and the 1906 quakes. Don’t forget to update your family’s earthquake preparedness kids when you get home!
Natural History Books I enjoyed
A California Bestiary by Rebecca Solnit and Mona Caron
I read portions of A California Bestiary outloud to my kids, but I mostly read this one for me. I learned so much about the critters we see on our weekly nature walks – especially about ground squirrels and lizards.
Secrets of the Oak Woodlands by Kate Marianchild
Many of our nature walks bring us to oak woodland habitats. I enjoyed learning more about flora and fauna we encounter on our walks through Secrets of the Oak Woodlands.
So that’s that! Those are the books we read this year for California history, geography, composer study, picture study, and some complementary science books that align well with California. We follow a Charlotte Mason style homeschool philosophy, and I would consider this list full of living books for learning about California.
If you would like to see how I scheduled all of these books out in our year, or would like help in planning our your own California history and geography year with your homeschool, send me an email through my contact page! I’d love to hear from you and offer you what help I can.
Warmly,
-Heather
ps: This post contains Amazon affiliate links from which I earn a small commission. Thank you for supporting my blog!
Enjoyed this post? Check out some of my other recent posts!
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Hah – I am so happy to see The Pioneers Go West in your collection! I thought it was well done as a children\’s book, especially since it is told from the perspective of young Moses. Giving tours to families, I often address the children directly and ask \”Do you think you could walk ten to fifteen miles a day?\”…. When it comes to the CA missions history – do any of those books tackle the issue of how the Indigenous people were treated in the missions? And that many many of them died? I can tell adults during a tour that within ten years of establishing the missions, 80% of the Indigenous population was gone and mention why (disease mainly, but also harsh treatment, enslavement, punishment after escape, massacres, results of rape, children born with deformities because their mothers were raped by syphilitic soldiers and priests – well, I choose a subgroup of all of those, depending on how the visitors react, but I def mention disease and enslavement), but I find it difficult to make a statement about this to children in a child-friendly way. I usually only say that the foreigners brought many diseases with them that were no known here and people had no immunity to them…. Along the same vein – Junípero Serra – quite a controversial figure, in fact. I dislike the fact that in school curricula, he is painted as a hero, when he was pretty cruel. I chafe at the glorification of the Spanish \”explorers\” who were actually exploiters, and then the Americans after them did pretty much the same – maybe not quite as drastic, but still: they stole land and disenfranchised both the Indigenous and Californio population. – Did you know that many Ind families used to give their children Spanish names to they would blend in better and not be recognized as Ind??? Yup. I love the shameless advertising for the museum! Well done, girl! And putting in a plug for the American West and History Expeditions at the same time – brilliant. Let\’s see how many of your homeschool families will drop by! We always ask visitors how they heard about the museum…. They have an alphabet book at the Museum Store (I think the title is \”G is for Goose\”?) which I featured once in a Facebook post – it is a collection of Aesop\’s Fables with lovely illustrations of CA landscapes/scenes. I\’m so impressed with the breadth of your homeschool studies! Including CA artists, musicians, famous people is such a great way to round out the story of the state! K
Yes it was more challenging to find a book that addressed the issues with the Spanish missions period in a way that represented the realities of life as an indigenous person. I talked to the kids about it but I think that’s why the resources I had were just a bit too much for them at their ages. We will revisit at another time when they are older as it is a complex conversation that even grown-ups have a hard time exploring. That’s why we just lightly covered it this year, despite its importance in the history of California.
The Pioneers Go West was a great read! It’s too bad it is out of print but I found my copy used.