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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: March 23 2006 at 7:04am | IP Logged
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After reading the Mater Amabilis site for a few weeks, I have pulled down all my Charlotte Mason books and am rereading sections here and there. My pile includes
Catherine Levison's 2 books, Real Learning, Educating the Wholehearted Child, and The CM Companion (whatever happened to Karen Andreola?).
Charlotte Mason's ideas aren't always clear to me on a first reading. I find that I can only absorb one or two ideas at a time.
Yesterday I was reconsidering the whole idea of a Book of Centuries. I was wondering, do you do one? Do you do it as CM recommended or do you do it differently? Have you found that it seems to help with retention and understanding of chronology at all? We have been doing a spiral book timeline, filling it in for the last year or so and haven't noticed it helping at all.  I was wondering if a book of centuries might be a better idea.
~Books
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Natalia
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| Posted: March 23 2006 at 7:39am | IP Logged
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I am about to build one acording to this link
Simply Charlotte Mason
I have been doing notebook pages randomly and I want to organize them into a BOC. I am planning to do one for both my children because I think that is all that I can keep up with.
We have been doing the spiral notebook timeline from SL. I think it has helped them to noticed what events were happening at the same time and it has given them some sort of framework, and also gives me a place to go back to when they do have questions about the order of events. The advantadge that I see for the BOC is that it would allow me to fit the notebook pages we make.
Natalia
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marihalojen
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| Posted: March 23 2006 at 8:12am | IP Logged
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Our Book of Centuries is one I was inspired to make in an afternoon by drawing a bold line across the middle of the page, 3-hole punching it and placing it all in a handy folder we had on the boat. Those spontaneous projects are some of my favorites!
We've filled it with clippings from magazines, Discover, American History, and Smithsonian, are three of our favorites that appear on our library's free shelves. But Samantha and Kirsten and Kaya also appear in the appropriate spot, as do famous composers' names with a favorite song, an ice cream cone by a picture of the St. Louis Zoo/World Fair/Meet Me in St. Louis tiny movie cover and drawings by dd of Viking ships and Silk Road caravans. Even phenomena such as the Little Ice Age, or the Year Without a Summer, or the Day the Mississippi Flowed Backwards are in there with the corresponding volcanoes or earthquakes listed right before.
So...I guess our timeline is like a great big collage full of just about anything we find interesting! I think it is a great way to make connections across all subjects, and I can see this original elementary version becoming colorful page dividers in an expanded high school version. I would say it definitely helps with retention and understanding of the chronology of events.
__________________
~Jennifer
Mother to Mariannna, age 13
The Mari Hal-O-Jen
SSR = Sailing, Snorkling, Reading
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mary
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 7:00am | IP Logged
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my kids have suddenly become interested in our history timeline (we have the sonlight book of time for each of them). we have added figures from the catholic world history book. my problem is that i don't like the figures sonlight has chosen for the timeline. now that i see my kids really are getting the concept (they are almost 8 and 5), i wonder if the timeline from homeschool in the woods would be a better thing to use. the book is gorgeous, the figures seem to be much more complete and it gets great reviews from hsers.
we can't hang much on our walls (we use a sunroom) so a book of time does work best for us. also, the kids like to play with their books, show dad what they've 'discovered' and like to look at their books when they watch history shows.
any opinions about the homeschool in the woods book of time?
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 8:42am | IP Logged
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Mary, this is beautiful! I've never seen this site before. I have the SL timeline too and that's what we've been using. I like how these figures have a small caption as a reminder of who the person or what the event is, and I love the rotated format for the Book of Centuries as well. Plus, I like how there are faint lines to encourage straight writing on the pages. Very very nice. I've been trying to figure out what to do with my ds's SL one as I am not very happy with it, but he is going to HIT THE ROOF if I make him start over! 
I also like how its all reproducible. I'm seriously considering getting the CD rom version as they can be reduced or even enlarged for kids who like to color. The Book of Centuries is a bit pricey...will have to see about saving up!
~Books
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Chari
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 10:14am | IP Logged
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Books, below is an article I wrote a hundred years ago......and posted in another thread........about how we do history and info about our book of centuries........
My oldest's book (dd17)is SO full, she will divide it into ancient and modern.....basically, before Christ and After Christ.
Apologies to the rest of you who have seen this a hundred times...........
History in Our House!
History is most unanimously the most favorite subject in this homeschooling family Our approach has grown from what it is today through our never ending desire to know more, and then some more, of the incredible past.
In about our third year of homeschooling, we purchased a history textbook from Our Lady of Victory School titled, How Our Nation Began, written by Father Furlong. We started reading about the Indians in America. The next chapter was about the Norsemen, and especially about Leif Erickson. This is where we were inspired to find books about Leif Erickson at the library. The children and I enjoyed his biography so much! We were all hooked, including mom (Like most of us, I have only a mild memory of early history and its people. And, certainly, what I did learn did not keep well in my brain. Most of the time, my teachers never even got to the end of the textbooks, and so I have never even studied WWI or any history past that time period! I have also never had any ancient history and just a smattering of European history. I had no idea why WWI was fought, that there was a Spanish-American War at the end of the 1800's or that Jamestown was the first permanent English colony. I always thought it was the pilgrims that were first! But, I digress..........).
After studying about Erickson, we moved on to Marco Polo, reading an excellent biography and viewing library videos. This was certainly making history more enjoyable. The children were connecting and remembering details. We also used maps to visualize Polo's travels. Christopher Columbus came next. Using the same resources as above, they learned. In addition, we also found a Catholic story of Queen Isabella.
We followed Cortez to the Aztecs, read about Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadelupe. Spent much time in Jamestown and followed Father Isaac Jogues and Father Marquette on their travels in North America, and stopped to visit with Blessed Kateri. We sailed with Henry Hudson, who would never give up on finding that water route across or above North America, and who would consistently make weak decisions, which finally result in his demise. We witnessed Peter Stuyvesant's governing of New York (along with his poor decision-making skills as well).
We did all the usual Pilgrim study, from the Mayflower to Squanto. And, having just finished up our study of the French and Indian Wars (Did you know that George Washington fired the first shot that started these conflicts? And, that he was pushed back by the French on July 4th?), we are heading into the Revolutionary War.
So, what's so special about our study of history? It sounds like what the schools teach, right? Well, we do not do it from a textbook, where we would get a few paragraphs about each topic and then move on (though I do use the textbook as a basic guide, going off on trails led by our studies). No wonder I don't remember much! We use biographies, fictional historical literature, videos of people, places and stories, non-fictional resources, activities (gleaned from specific activity books or the Internet) and discussion. We use our study of any historical topics to build our "Book of Centuries" (see following article). The children make relationships with these characters of history. They feel like they have "been there" as the history was unfolding. The writers of "real" books take us to places in ways a textbook committee could never do. The children write narrations (a retelling in their own words) from some of the studies, and place those in their Books of Centuries. This retelling makes the information their own. Since it belongs to them, they retain it better. I also have them do oral narrations of the readings. They especially like to tell their father what they are studying.
I decided early on, that we would do a thorough and in depth study of history, chronologically, on the discovery and history of America, as already outlined. Using real books, we have also visited history taking place in other lands at the same time. This year, we are also going to start a serious Ancient History study for my soon-to-be high schooler (who very much wants to get this started!), and follow it with the early Christianity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the rest of World history. And, as long as she is doing the study, we will have the little ones tag a long at their own levels.
It goes without saying that we try to have a Catholic view as much as possible about our study of history. We do include lives of the Saints where they fit in. But, there are many periods of history where it is difficult to find a Catholic point of view. I try to do read alouds of most our history so if we come across probable errors, or anti-Catholic bias, we can have a discussion. I feel this will prepare them for the secular world that will often have a different point of view from them.
Now, where to find the resources? I wade through the homeschooling catalogs, especially the Catholic versions, and order the books I want through interlibrary loan (With the homeschooling catalogs, I can usually trust that the books are a "safe" read.). Buying all we could use would never be practical for us, so I make great use of the library. I also look for resources online, such a amazon.com, or bibliographies. I also use bibliographies from the back of books. I ask the advice of other homeschooling moms, and lastly, I may look through books that are "lists of books." I do not just hand the books to the children to read on their own, but I check them carefully, maybe pre-read them, or just read aloud, editing or explaining as needed.
We also include geography with our historical studies. I purchased a book of blank outline maps (they are also available online; search "outline maps") and made copies for each child. We keep them in a one inch wide folder. We pull them out during our history reads..........or any reads, except maybe Tolkien and Narnia......and when we come to "places", we use our maps and atlases to locate them and then the children place them on their outline maps. This makes the geography more meaningful to them because they can associate the locations with the history they are learning.
And, that's it! This is how it is done in our home. I write this for you, to inspire you, to encourage you, to guide you........but, keeping in mind, that all families have different needs and desires. Remember that what works for one family may not necessarily work for another. Sometimes it is good to take a part of what another family is doing, adapt some of it, and dispense with the rest! It is what we do here! Enjoy your history, and if you have any thought to share with us about how it is done at your house, please share! I have a feeling we are about to set sail for a new way of doing things here, with all this new history we are delving into!
Our Book of Centuries
One of the main motivators for my children in learning to love history, is
their Book of Centuries. I had found the idea about making these books from
many different Charlotte Mason Resources. Still, in the end, like I usually do, I adapted to our own needs and desires. A description of our Books follows below:
Supplies:
2 inch wide hard notebook
page dividers
pen
sheet protectors
history resources for filling the book
We started by labeling each page divider from THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, giving each page divider one century. For example, Birth of Christ -100AD, 100-200, 200-300, etc. When we got to the 1600's, we went by half centuries: 1650-1700, 1700-1750, etc. all the way up to the present. The last page divider just says 2000…to catch all our present history. For the time periods before the Birth of Christ, we write, by century, 500-400, 400-300, 300-200, 100 to the Birth of Christ. We will fill in the centuries for ancient history as we need them. Oh, we did have each child use a graphic arts program (Printmaster Gold, specifically) on the computer to print a title page for their books. My oldest used pictures of Beethoven, Mona Lisa, a Dutch girl, Napoleon, an antique airplane, a Viking ship, a book with "history" written on it, a Gothic Cathedral, all surrounding a scroll where is written "Anne's Book of Centuries." My son chose to use some of the same, and included Our Lord's Crucifixion, the Coliseum, a Bible and an American flag and Golden eagle.
So, what do we put in them? Looking through my oldest daughter's book, we have included drawings, written narrations, pictures from historical coloring books (photocopied and then colored with color pencils or watercolors), paintings, copies of historical documents, our "state pages" (see description below), historical copywork, saint pictures, copywork from historical sources, journal entries from figures of history, and a very occasional noteworthy item from current events. We have also included our family Christmas newsletter at the end of the book, as it IS history!
While browsing through her book, we find in the 1700's: a written narration on Peter Zengar and one about King Philip's War, a copy of a letter from George Washington to his mother, copied from the Internet, copywork of the history of the American Flag, another written narration from a book she read about Catherine the Great, an article about a prophesy of George Washington's about America (found this on the Internet at a Catholic site, about prophesy; seems George received a vision), a colored picture of Beethoven, when he was a boy, and a few other written narrations about the French and Indian Wars, including George Washington's role as well as Braddock's and Montcalm's.
I listed these descriptions above to show two things. First, that there are many ways to fill the book. Secondly, and I believe, most importantly, to show that, though we may study at different times about Beethoven, the French and Indian Wars, read about Catherine the Great, another time study about the history of our flag, and then follow up with the Revolutionary War (which we are about to embark upon), we can see in a Book of Centuries, that all these things were going on either simultaneously or one after the other and that there is a relationship within the studies of history. My children enjoy finding these relationships and it helps put all of history in perspective, whether it be about the art of Mary Cassatt, the composing of Handel, the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson, the Crusades, the lives of the Saints, the fiasco of the last presidential election or their own family history.
We do place all the entries in sheet protectors.......since we learned in the beginning…..that the pages will tear out after frequent use. These will be such a great memory book for the children when they are done with their schooling. They take great pride in making them, and are always on the lookout for more to place in their books. In fact, in thumbing through her book last Spring, my daughter decided we needed to do more to fill the BC pages, so, I have built her a curriculum of Ancient History to do this year. This should be interesting!
NOTE: Our state pages consist of two pages; the first includes the name of the state, its year of statehood, a place for the state flower and state bird to be written and then drawn, a small copy of the U.S. with the specific state colored and anything else they feel inspired to add (my son draws a copy of the state flag). The second has just a place to write the state's name, followed by lines down the rest of the page. I made these with the graphics program on the computer. Once a month, more or less, I will read from an interesting book about a state, and the children will do a written narration on those blank lines, each to their ability. And then they use our resources to find the information on the first page. We are starting with the first thirteen colonies and hope to complete all fifty states by the time they complete school. These are placed in their Book of Centuries under the year the states were founded officially.
In the sweet of Mary,
__________________
Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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Helen
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 11:21am | IP Logged
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Dear Chari,
Thanks for the post. I haven't seen it before.
__________________
Ave Maria!
Mom to 5 girls and 3 boys
Mary Vitamin & Castle of the Immaculate
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 11:57am | IP Logged
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Thanks, Chari. I appreciate reading all about your thoughts.
BTW, do you have your young children keep a book of centuries, too? I'm concerned that if I do it with them when they are younger, they aren't going to want to do it when they are older, and it might not "stick" as well in their heads if they just review their book and discover that yes, they already added in Ghengis Khan when they were in the 2nd grade. I was thinking about starting this with early Jr. high. Thoughts, anyone?
~Books
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Book of Centuries
