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Paula in MN
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| Posted: Jan 21 2007 at 1:59pm | IP Logged
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Help, please! This is one area that I need help with. I do consider myself fairly organized, but for some reason I am having a hard time setting up a Timeline or a Book of Centuries.
I know that you are the ones to ask. Will you please share your ideas with me? Pictures would really be nice as I'm pretty visual... 
Thanks!
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 Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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Donna
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Paula,
Here are pictures from our Book of Centuries. We get alot of the pictures off the internet doing a Google search of images.
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Paula in MN
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Donna,
Thank you so much! This is a big help. I had thought about doing it in much the same way, using 3-ring binders and page protectors. My concern was that we would end up with so many pages that they wouldn't fit in the binder.
I suppose that we could start small, and as we learned more and added more to it we could either get a larger binder or several binders for different time periods.
Do you have the pages divided in any particular way? Like, every page covers 50 years? Or am I over-analyzing this?
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A Catholic Harvest
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Donna
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PaulaL wrote:
| Do you have the pages divided in any particular way? Like, every page covers 50 years? |
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We started with a page on "Creation". The next two pages are "The Fall" and "The Flood". From there we started writing in the year 3500BC using two pages to cover five hundred years. For more recent history, we cover between fifty and one hundred years on two pages. Modern history is even less...some pages are just five year spreads.
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lamamaloca
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Have you seen these?
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eschuetter
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I am looking at starting this in the Fall using these resources (I think):
Sonlight Book of Time
and the associated figures.
You can also see more options at the website for Homeschool in the Woods (who made the figures that Sonlight sells).
HTH - I'll be watching the thread for more ideas (since I am embarking on the same adventure  )
Erica
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Chari
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Paula, below is an article I wrote a hundred years ago......and posted in 2 other threads (use the "search" button above to find the other two threads)........about how we do history and info about our book of centuries........
My oldest's book (dd18)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,
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: Jan 23 2007 at 6:18am | IP Logged
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Chari and everyone,
Thanks for the great information. I knew we needed to do this, I was just geting stuck on the materials and the details.
Thanks! 
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Paula
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1floridamom
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Paula, if I had the wall space, I might put a timeline up there!  We have the Sonlight book and have enjoyed it (when the teacher remembers to pull it out.  ) Maybe it's me; I'm sometimes an "out of sight, out of mind" kind of person. 
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Donna Marie
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Does anyone know where I can find a binder like the kind found atHomeschool in the Woods? I want my binder to lay in landscape presentation...I think this would be easier to manipulate for a timeline, but I still want to use regular sized paper... any hints?
God Love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc 
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ALmom
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Donna:
I'm not sure if this is what you have in mind but our family has limited wallspace - and with 6 children, we cannot display everything we'd like to. For a solution in the history front, we came up with a fan-fold timeline, so that it can be neatly tucked into the pocket of the binder, spread out on the floor or displayed on the wall - whichever works at the time.
Here is how we did it - get 8 1/2 by 11 poster board and divide it out however you want. We marked the bottom in increments and then my dd cut out strips of construction paper - different color for each country/region so she could compare at a glance and glued the strips underneath/above the date divisions.
Historical people, events, etc. were either pictured or written on the appropriate color. Sheets are taped to each other on the back and then can be folded fan style which makes it easy to unfurl sections at a time. Of course, you can always furl out the whole thing.
One time we did it, we made AD on the front and BC on the back but I think the visual is better to just make seperate timelines for each so that you can then put them side by side to see it all better.
My dd added in the colored strips and that really does add to it.
Janet
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Timeline or Book of Centuries
