Timelines - has anybody made their own?

[sabrina]

I read in the WTM that it is important to keep the rate of time the same on your timelines. I really believe that this is important also but when I look at commercial timelines (School in the Woods & Sonlight) they change the range of years per page as time proceeds.

 

My questions are these:

1. Do you think it is important to keep the scale constant?

2. If you have made your own timeline - keeping the scale constant - what scale did you use in a notebook? on the wall?

3. What materials did you use for a notebook timeline?

 

Looking forward to your ideas! :001_unsure:

[happykate]

I used sentence strips from the teacher supply store (I'm sure I got that idea from these boards!) and have them on our wall. Each strip is 24" long so I attached them to the wall with no space in between and allowed 12" for each century. I would really have loved to go around the room in one continuous line, but our room wouldn't allow that so I've just used one entire wall. We're young earth "people" so I started ours with a picture of a globe I made out of construction paper then started the dates with 4,000 BC. We have a cross at 0 to roughly mark the BC/AD change. Each line of strips is about 4" below the one above to allow space for our pictures in between. Now...all that said, it is very basic and really as much for me as for ds at this point. I can see that as he and my other little ones get older we'll probably move into the notebook type for more personalization and detail but for us right now this is great. It was really important to me that the centuries each have equal space. The whole thing is so abstract to young ones anyway, I figured to be changing the scale would make no sense to ds. We're all, dh included, really enjoying it even though it's quite blank at this point. We're just starting ancients this year so that will be fun. I do have a picture of each child stacked on top of each other around his/her birth year and a picture of their great-grandparents at their wedding year (1935 and still married btw!), etc. They love that part. And we have a few Bible stories on their approx. dates. It's really neat to see the space between things and I think ds "gets it" as much as is possible for a 7 yr. old.

 

Okay...sorry that got so long. I get so much help from here, but rarely contribute that when I come across something I feel like I can offer I get a little crazy! Yes, this is crazy for me...timeline suggestions...woohoo! :001_smile:

 

Have a great day!

Katie, mommy to ds 7 1/2, dd 5, ds 3 1/2, dd 9 mos.

[luna]

I've used a portion of a roller shade that I've removed from the roller. It can be cut to whatever size you want, depending on how much room you need for pictures. I try to keep the scale the same, though it does seem wasteful when there isn't much in the ancient times. But, I do think it is more helpful to my children if they see it to scale. That way, they see how much more happened during later as there are more people, more inventions, more industry, etc. The roller shade can be unrolled as you need more length. I like a width of about 12 inches so we can add lots of graphics. This year, we are using something new. It's a poster style timeline I got from Geography Matters. I'm not sure I like it as much as a horizontal timeline, but it fits better on the wall!

Katherine

[Margo out of lurking]

1. Do you think it is important to keep the scale constant?

2. If you have made your own timeline - keeping the scale constant - what scale did you use in a notebook? on the wall?

3. What materials did you use for a notebook timeline?

 

 

1. Yes, personally I do. Otherwise, a timeline is only showing half of what it is intended to show.

 

2. I've made binder notebook timelines for my kids. I kept 100 years per open/two paged spread. I followed this from Donna Young (but not the sketchbook idea).

 

3. I used a larger notebook (2.5"? 3"?); heavyweight florescent cardstock paper (different colors for each volume of SOTW!)); timeline figures are a blend of SOTW AG and Homeschool in the Woods.

 

As we got into the 17th Century, the pages got too crowded. To maintain the integrity of the timeline, I used additional cardstock, but cut off the top 2" or so, allowing the date to show through. The section is then thicker, but it's easy to see that all occurred only during the same 100 year period.

 

I love our timeline notebooks. My dd's maintained hers for the past six years.

[Nestof3]

If you go to my blog, I have pictures and descriptions of how I made mine:

 

http://ournestof3.blogspot.com/

[LunaLee]

1. Yes, I do think timelines should have the same scale for consistency.

2. I used this free Charlotte Mason one http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/boc/

3. I printed it on heavy cardstock and put it in a binder. I had to tweak it a bit in the printing to get it to print back to back, but I liked how each century had a two page spread. I also like having it in a binder so that it's easier to add new pages.

 

Good Luck.

[Nestof3]

Sorry ladies, I gave the wrong link:

 

Here's the blog:

 

http://ournestof3.blogspot.com/

[materursa]

:iagree: I made timeline notebooks very similar to what Kristine out of lurking did.

 

Amanda

[Mommy22alyns]

Dawn (nestof3), I already repped you, but your blog post was just a lifesaver for me!. I followed the link to the Hannah's Homeschool Helps Yahoo group and found exactly what I have been looking for - for free! I'm such a dork, I feel like jumping up and down. :D

[Country Girl]

:iagree: I made timeline notebooks very similar to what Kristine out of lurking did.

 

Amanda

 

 

This sounds a lot like what I've been looking for. I would like to maintain some sort of consistency in spacing, allow for enough room for times when "more" happens, and yet not have a notebook that is so massive it is ridiculous (with tons of white pages). Since I am a complete visual learner and can't quite wrap my brain around how you and Kristine Our of Lurking made yours, would you guys mind stepping me through with a little more instruction?

 

Thanks!

[sabrina]

Timeline notebook pages........vertical VS landscape......any opinions?

[chanda7]

We've been keeping a notebook (vertical pages) with a page for every hundred years or so for the older centuries and every 50 years for more recent times. When we talk about someone, we find the appropriate page and write their name or their invention. We also note major events. Even with the different time periods, it still maintains the chronology of the people and events. Because we have school in our living room/kitchen, I just couldn't imagine having it sprawled out over everything.

 

I once saw a homeschool mom who had dedicated a wall to a timeline, and it was quite impressive!

[AudreyTN]

If you go to my blog and click on "My Timeline" at the top you can see pics.

 

I do think it's important to keep the scale the same. I made a snake timeline and just had each curve equal something. When I put the stickers on it we do guess about where it would go.

 

I made an American History separate. (That's what we're studying this year.) We put BIG events from AH on both timelines. For Example: Christopher Columbus and Pilgrims landing made both timelines. Lief Eriksson and Jamestown, however, did not.

[mom31257]

Thanks for discussing this. I'm wanting to do a timeline this year. There are some good ideas here that will help!

 

Amy of GA

Darin's wife for 17 years

11yo dd

5yo ds

[Peela]

I have recently made this one up- it's a Book of Centures, so each double page is 100 years, all the way through. http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/boc/

I have put it in a 3 ring binder. I put my kids writing assignmnents in the appropriate sections.

 

However, can I just say I think its easy to get hung up on such things and I personally think I prefer timelines that change (I have the Sonlight Book of TIme)at least for older kids, because I just cant fit enough figures and information on one double page for a while year (1900-2000) or even 2 or 3 pages for the Rennaissance period. Its a serious practical consideration! I personally feel that older children, at least, are quite capable of not getting confused, just because it breaks down to every 50 years from 1 AD to 1800 AD or whatever, and every 10 years from then till now. Maybe for the grammar stage its best to have a visual wall timeline so that they "get" that we know a lot more about the more recent times- but once the kids are older, it becomes a very practical consideration whether to do it the same way. Just my 2 cents.

[charlotteb]

2. I used this free Charlotte Mason one http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/boc/

quote]

 

Thanks so much LunaLee! This is exactly what I've been looking for :)

[ABQmom]

I have made my timeline. I didn't remember until this morning where I got my idea for a timeline, so I was having trouble making the part of the timeline for our upcoming study of early modern history. Anyway, Paula's Archives has ideas and some discussion about timelines. It was very helpful for me.

 

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/timeline.htm#scale