Timeline Help - Please!!!

[Stacey in MD]

Hi,

 

I just realized that we are starting school in 2 weeks and, although I've been meaning to, I still haven't gotten a timeline. We are doing MFW Rome to Reformation. I've never done a timeline before and know that I am not a do-it-yourselfer, so can anyone help me with a timeline that I could buy that wouldn't be too much work. I have looked at Homeschool in the Woods and Add-a-Century, but I'm just still not sure! I'm looking for something that would work well in a binder because I just don't have the wall space. Also, is it worth it to buy the figures? I tend to think that for myself it probably is because I don't want to have any excuses to not get the timeline done ;)

 

Thanks so much!

 

Stacey

[LivingHope]

My children work through Homeschool in the Wood's time line figures independently using the guide book showing where to place the figures. These fit into a binder. I don't worry about correlating time line figures with our readings. I think of this project as building a history reference for when they really want to use it. It is fun and we just work on it one page at a time...from creation to modern.

 

Janell

[Shelly in the Country]

When we first started homeschooling I bought my dd a spiral-bound, blank timeline book from Sonlight. I tried to make my own figures by photocopying things from Kingfisher and such. This was entirely too much work. We did get it done (I only had two children then.), but it was too much. I bought the figures from Sonlight the following year. This went much better. But....I now have 4 children. I did a rough calculation of how much it would cost to buy timeline figures for all of them and got sticker shock. So this year I bought the Homeschool in the Woods timeline figures on CD-ROM. I figure we will save money in the long run if I print them out and glue-stick them in. Besides, my kids like playing with glue sticks. I will still buy Sonlight's blank timeline books for my youngers (I got my DS his very own book this year.) because I like them. They are made of heavy cardstock and appear to be sturdy. I printed out all the figures we would need for our study of Ancients this year. I cut them into strips and put them in an empty shoebox. When it's time to do a figure, my kids cut it off the strip and paste it in themselves. They may color them if they wish. HTH!

[Julie in MN]

Hi,

 

I just realized that we are starting school in 2 weeks and, although I've been meaning to, I still haven't gotten a timeline. We are doing MFW Rome to Reformation. I've never done a timeline before and know that I am not a do-it-yourselfer, so can anyone help me with a timeline that I could buy that wouldn't be too much work. I have looked at Homeschool in the Woods and Add-a-Century, but I'm just still not sure! I'm looking for something that would work well in a binder because I just don't have the wall space. Also, is it worth it to buy the figures? I tend to think that for myself it probably is because I don't want to have any excuses to not get the timeline done ;)

 

Thanks so much!

 

Stacey

 

Stacey,

I've used Homeschool in the Woods with a high schooler -- and MFW uses it with their high schoolers. With young kids, you risk timelining them to death unless you're able to hold back, or unless you're using it as a core part of their learning. MFW already has a solid core & the timeline is just a small piece -- a beginner's method. Don't worry!

 

I posted one of our MFW timelines here (it's on a hall closet door, vertically): http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1976&p=28382#p28382

and there are other MFW timeline ideas in the MFW archives.

 

I know I worried about timelines at first, too, but it's really okay in the elementary years to just "stick up the next thing" right after the previous thing. If you have a timeline book with 10 blank pages in between events, most kids just flip past them without connecting with how that plays out time-wise.

 

After school begins, we'll all be calmer :)

Julie