At what age do you start a timeline?

[Marsha]

Thanks

[runningirl71]

I started when I had a 5th and 2nd grader. We have done history A La WTM for 3 years now and the timeline is a major component for logic stage. You can find the section on the timeline on pg. 270 of TWTM, in the revised edition. The author states: "Creating a time line teaches the student to trace chronological connections;" (p. 270). I started this with my son during his 5th grade year and dd went along for the ride.

 

I think if your kids like doing a timeline, it really doesn't matter when you start. But, in the logic stage is starts becoming a more major component in connecting history together.

 

My oldest did not home school this year, but I still had dd make a timeline since she was used to doing so. She is in 4th. As the months have gone by, I can really see her putting history together when she does her timeline. She can see what is happening in the different areas of the world at the same time. She is just starting to connect the dots, so I can see how this is very helpful in the logic stage. If it is started in the grammar stage, than it is just a bonus, and makes for good study habits once the logic stage hits, imo. :)

[Mamasteff]

Started in Kindergarten - I would do the writing. Now, end of 4th grade, she does the writing (we use the SL book of time). I love looking back at some of her funny little illustrations - I would give her a small piece of paper to draw an appropriate picture on, and clip it in.

[Marsha]

WHat book did you use?

I am going to order the Timeline cd And I will need several books.

Thanks

[Jill- OK]

When my older kids did their first ancient history rotation, we made one just by putting up their projects on a big piece of contac paper, in chronological order. (The projects that lent themselves well to this, obviously; hierogylphs, cuneiform tablets, etc.) We might write a narration on an index card to go with it, but that's it.

 

I plan on doing the same with my 3rd and 2nd graders this coming year.

 

In my mind...it's a valuable tool for Littles, if it's kept simple. Sort of like learning to read a calendar, only easier, really.

 

The older kids will probably have a timeline, too, but I consider it most useful for teaching young kids about the linear aspect of history; if I'm not mistaken, the ones that WTM is describing in the logic stage are more for looking at simultaneous happings, and making connections between events.

[Marie in Oh]

and we are doing one this time. I didn't think they would get much out of it when they were in 1st and K. Now in 5th and 4th it is a more useful tool I think. 2nd grader and Ker just go along with the flow anyway. HTH>

[runningirl71]

WHat book did you use?

I am going to order the Timeline cd And I will need several books.

Thanks

 

 

If you are looking for a timeline book, I use Homeschool in the Woods resources. Their book and their figures.

 

Knowledge Quest also carries timeline products. Many (maybe even most?) Do a wall timeline, but it just doesn't work with the set up of the house we are now living in.

[Marsha]

I will have a K, 3rd, 4th, and 7th grader.

I need inexpensive timelines.

ALso, I may do too.

[mcconnellboys]

I'm starting to keep various timelines in fifth grade, next year.

[Marsha]

Has anybody bought and tried these http://www.millerpadsandpaper.com/catalog.aspx?categoryid=26&ItemsCategoryID=26&ItemsItemID=2388

[mommylawyer]

I started with dd this past year - Kindergarten, when we started studying SOTW 1.

 

In her timeline notebook, whenever we read/study about an event, I write in in the notebook. If it's history, it goes on the top half of the page (if you can imagine a page with a line running horizontally across the center of the page with 50-year increments - BC is on pink paper and AD is on blue paper). If it's something related more to the arts (although, arguably could be history), or inventions and the like, it goes on the bottom half of the page.

[runningirl71]

I will have a K, 3rd, 4th, and 7th grader.

I need inexpensive timelines.

ALso, I may do too.

 

If you want inexpensive, you could make your own. Our first year we lived in an apt. that had a hallway and I made my own out of a ream of butcher paper. You could also use copy paper and tape it on the back side. :)

 

ETA: I had my son make his own timeline book this year, although he isn't home schooling. I just bought a sketch book and we drew the line on the paper. If you go to the Homeschool in the Woods website, there are a lot of great ideas for making timelines.

[prairiegirl]

I will start timelines next year (oldest will be in Gr. 5) when we start going through the history cycle for the second time.

[Mamasteff]

Marsha,

 

We used the Sonlight Book of Time. It may not make tons of sense to the little ones, but as the years go on and you are adding to it, they will recall what they learned last year or the year before, and as the grades go up, you will be able to draw connections between events. That's one reason I wanted a bound book rather than the visual hallway - thought that would be an amazing thing to add to during the year! (Maybe we will do both next year? Our hallway has a sharp turn in it...)

[Peela]

We are only just doing one now, our 2nd time through the cycle, kids ages 12 and 14.

My kids have absolutely no interest in a timeline, so its a bit like pulling teeth, and its why I never succeeded with doing one before, but oh well, we are muddling through with it.

I started with a wall one but realised no one looked at it, it looked messy, and I preferred a book format. I have Sonlight's Book of Time so rather than reinvent the wheel, I am using that with them.

[Michelle in MO]

were the ones we did the WTM method. I bought a big roll of paper when we first started homeschooling, marked it off in centuries (smaller portions as history got more "crowded") and we would just add a date in a different colored pencil or perhaps a printed off picture from the internet.

 

I bought the History Through the Ages timelines in books, but unfortunately, my girls never took to them. Still, I think we'll keep them just in case. :)

[Colleen]

We use Sonlight for history, so my boys use SL's timeline books and the accompanying figures (produced by Amy Pak, of Homeschool in the Woods timelines). I'm not one who would put a timeline up on the wall; I appreciate having actual books with sturdy paper and pre-gummed stickers. Although truth be told, timelines aren't of great import to me. I consider a timeline a nice extra, not a necessary learning tool. My older boys have a very good understanding of when things happened over the course of history, but that awareness has come primarily through a great deal of reading, both assigned and independent.

[amber in GA]

as soon as they start history. When they are in K and 1st we are really just pointing to the time line and maybe putting a little cut out picture on it. The older kids add more detail.

[Carmen_and_Company]

It depends on the ability and desire of the child. Taz began keeping a timeline book in 6th grade when began hs'ing. He did not keeping the timeline book, but had the ability to do so. My dd started her own timeline book with the SOTW review cards & a notebook in second grade because she desired to do so. My youngest will begin keeping a timeline in 5th grade and currently has no interest in yet another required school project.

[Beth in Central TX]

Each boy starts their own individual timeline when they hit 5th grade. They input dates from their history readings, and we've had great discussions about the discrepancies that we see between the Kingfisher Encyclopedia and the Nothing New Press books and/or Streams of Civilization.

[LindaOz]

My 7th, 6th, and 4th graders are keeping a timeline in a notebook. But with my 2nd grader, when we add something important to the 'timeline' I give her an index card to draw a picture on and write a little caption, then she sticks it to the wall. The good thing about this is we can take them down, shuffle them, and then see if she can put them back up in the right order.

[mcconnellboys]

I saw these at convention and thought they looked good, but I actually bought a bound book that PHP was selling.