what do you use to make a timeline?

[garyandmolly]

I would like to start on a timeline. Something that I

I would like to add people or events from the various subjects that we study for example picture study, science etc.

Do you use a book, binder, a wall timeline or something else?

Do you do one per child? What is your favorite resource for it?

[Loowit]

The first time through the history cycle I wanted to use a wall timeline.  However, we didn't have the wall space to do it.  I bought a large poster board and used that and it worked okay and we just did this one big one for all the kids.

 

This fall we are doing ancients again and I am considering what I want to use.  We still don't have wall space to use, so I am trying to decide between an accordion fold in a binder or a large flip book.  I would like each boy to do his own (DD is doing her own thing).  The pro with the accordion fold is that you can pull it out and see it all in one long line, which I like this idea of, but I am not sure how well it would hold together.  The pro with a flip book is that it is easier to use at the table and would be easier to put together, not cutting and taping sheets of paper and such.

 

One thing I do like to do is buying sheets of printable sticker paper to make our own stickers to put on the timeline.  I find that they are much nicer to work with than using glue or tape

[Kat w]

With all my kids I just got copy paper and stapled them. (I let them staple, ds12 is obsessed with stapeling lol)

 

And we add sheets as we go.

 

I still have my big kids timelines. From acienta to present. My lil boys love looking out them.

 

It's cheap, easy to use ( pull out n unfold), and gives us lots of space to add everything . events, people, arts, technology, science discoveries, invention , and science people.

[Kat w]

We staple short end to short end and we have it horizontally orientated .

[Kat w]

....we also color coded the different things . like we did:

 

Science was a green colored pencil , history was red, and so on.

 

We put a "key" at the tip of every page. Green colored pencils =science. And so on. Helped categorize in their brains

[73349]

I like having a wall timeline because it's so easy to refer back to it.

 

I would use one for the entire family and let all the children add to it if there's an age span that has them studying different things.

[theelfqueen]

My plan for this fall -- with my 6th and 10th grader both studying British history at different levels -- I'm hanging a line across the room in our school space -- near the ceiling... above the windows. (Twine and command hooks and cute miniature clothespins -- I do this for hanging my Christmas cards, too) All entries will be made on blank index cards. Part of their output requirement for the class is creating cards and adding them to the timeline. When we're done we can put all the cards in an index card box.

[Kat w]

Oh I love the twine and clothes pins. I keep it up in out Hall to display their artwork. They love it and inspires new "works" lol.

Edited July 21, 2016 by Kat w

[Zoo Keeper]

Timelines are individual around here.  Older two boys had Sonlight's Timeline book (which has held up very, very, well); younger kids have the *FREE* :) timeline pages from Guest Hollow and each child has a small three ring binder.  Makes it easy to add in, take out, and otherwise customize. 

[ScoutTN]

We do one on the wall made from 24" roll paper. Color coded with a key taped to it. 

The kids write their entries and add pictures they draw or color or print off the internet or cut out from magazines. (My mom saves National Geographic and Smithsonian for them.)

 

Simple and useful. We have a wall about 6.5 ft long to use. 

[Kathleen.]

Kat W - I love your color coding idea.

[Momto6inIN]

I have the Knowledge Quest ones for the wall (we have a really big playroom and can get all 4 of them in 2 rows if we go around the corner) and while I personally adore them and they give me a happy feeling to look at and all the adults I know who never learned history either ooh and aaah over them and read them when they come over, the reviews from my kids have been mixed. :lol:

 

My younger ones (~1st-4th) enjoy putting Homeschool in the Woods figures up on the wall after lessons each week, but I don't think they ever really look at them after that. My older ones (~5th-8th) think it's a waste of time and roll their eyes, so I started having them make their own timelines in a notebook format, the free Simply Charlotte Mason ones. They don't love it, but they don't think it's quite so babyish and they do it without complaining.

[Lynn in Caribbean]

I got this idea from this board years ago - from KPzz (anybody remember her?  I wish I could thank her for her many posts that helped me!).

 

You need (1) study cardstock, and (2) wide, clear packing tape.  Tape the pieces of cardstock together along the BACK, so the taped-together pieces of cardstock fold up accordian-style.  This is a little tricky to do, since the packing tape is just hard to work with.  You will get the hang of it, after you mess up a few pieces of tape and paper!  Make sure the pieces are not taped so tightly against each other that you can't fold up the timeline.  Once everything is taped, fold up accordian-style and put some heavy books on top for awhile.

 

What I like about this (and I have made quite a few of these over the years):

--we can actually see the timeline, as a LINE - we can unfold and spread out over the floor or down the hallway, and see the big picture - which parts of our timeline are "busiest"? why? you can see those big-picture trends that you cannot see when you look only at the 2-page spread in a timeline notebook.  

 

--when you want to work on a 2-page spread, you can use the timeline at the table, as you would a notebook

 

--it's portable - you can fold it up, and it sits on the bookshelf along with your books

 

--each child can have their own

 

--if you really mess up a page (or the dog chews it), you can just cut that page out and tape in another one

 

--we seem to get more use out of this kind of timeline, because it's NOT so beautiful and perfect - it's just cardstock, so we don't try too hard to make it a work of art, just a place to gather our events, and see how they all fit together - but of course you can make it beautiful if you want   

[Jess4879]

We did this for the ancients:  http://www.myjoyfilledlife.com/2014/06/12/mystery-history-timeline/  It was very easy to do and the kids liked it.  I like that it could be folded and tucked behind a door out of the way.  That being said, I am debating about going to a book style now.  4 of these huge timelines doesn't excite me at all....

[rjand6more]

We have years that we do well with TL, and others that stink.  I have used the SL Timeline and the Guesthollow one bound with my Proclick.  I LOVE the idea of timelines.  I think this year we are going to do the accordion style as a family. We are doing American History(1 year).  I think I will print out the Guest Hollow ones that only pertain to Am History. I also think I will keep it simple and cut a lot of figures.  I hate to see jumbled timelines.  I will be using the awesome tip to color code them.  My kids hate coloring them, so, we can just color them the "code color." OR I could print them off in those colors!  Hm.  Wonder if I have time for that?

 

For high school, we have use the MFW timelines.  They have really long pages.  Those were nice too.

[garyandmolly]

Thanks for all the wonderful ideas. Now to decide which one to use!

[Kathleen.]

We use colored computer paper - the old kind that you'd have to feed into the printer on tabs. My mom had a package of it in five colors. The pages are all attached and I thought it would make a perfect timeline.

[Kat w]

Why thank you Kathleen :)

 

Worked well for us

[IMustBeCrazy]

For anyone who's done the notebook style timeline, how do you get a sense of the time between events?  Or is that secondary to gaining a feel for the order of events?

 

 

[Bics]

For anyone who's done the notebook style timeline, how do you get a sense of the time between events?  Or is that secondary to gaining a feel for the order of events?

We use the "Book of Centuries" timeline books (I use a binder) that Charlotte Mason used in her schools.  We add in anyone we study or learn about, not just history studies. Once a week, we get out our Book of Centuries and I ask who they care enough about to add in? I don't make them make entries, because I want it to be something that they care about.  One child chose to add in the artist Diego Valesquez, another did not.  I just bit my lip and let it go because for whatever reason, that artist didn't make much of an impression on the second child. 

 

As to realizing the passage of time--I see it beginning with my 8-year-old after just one year of entries.  It is the fact of having to turn all.those.pages. to get anywhere.  For example, she has entries for Diego Velasquez and Bach on her 1600s page--but then flipped a few more to put in Laura Ingalls Wilder as she read Little House in the Big Woods.  Not that big of a deal.  But, when we are thumbing through several centuries (pages) to get back to Ancient Egyptian studies' entries, suddenly the enormity of the time between started to dawn in her eyes, and frankly, mine too!

 

So we now have snippets of conversation that sound like this: "Mom, I thought the Laura books were a long time ago, but they are just one and two pages away from when I was born.  That's not really that long ago, is it?"

 

I like the idea of the big timelines, but it isn't feasible for us.  I am happy to have found a way for us to enjoy a timeline that works for us in the long-term.

[Bics]

Hope that Helps

Edited July 25, 2016 by Whippoorwill

[Tea 4 Three]

We use this one.  Add-A-Century.  http://addacentury.com  I like it because it is designed to be able to add on easily.  Very handy for those very crowded years.  It turns into quite the keepsake.

[journey00]

I got this idea from this board years ago - from KPzz (anybody remember her? I wish I could thank her for her many posts that helped me!).

 

You need (1) study cardstock, and (2) wide, clear packing tape. Tape the pieces of cardstock together along the BACK, so the taped-together pieces of cardstock fold up accordian-style. This is a little tricky to do, since the packing tape is just hard to work with. You will get the hang of it, after you mess up a few pieces of tape and paper! Make sure the pieces are not taped so tightly against each other that you can't fold up the timeline. Once everything is taped, fold up accordian-style and put some heavy books on top for awhile.

 

What I like about this (and I have made quite a few of these over the years):

--we can actually see the timeline, as a LINE - we can unfold and spread out over the floor or down the hallway, and see the big picture - which parts of our timeline are "busiest"? why? you can see those big-picture trends that you cannot see when you look only at the 2-page spread in a timeline notebook.

 

--when you want to work on a 2-page spread, you can use the timeline at the table, as you would a notebook

 

--it's portable - you can fold it up, and it sits on the bookshelf along with your books

 

--each child can have their own

 

--if you really mess up a page (or the dog chews it), you can just cut that page out and tape in another one

 

--we seem to get more use out of this kind of timeline, because it's NOT so beautiful and perfect - it's just cardstock, so we don't try too hard to make it a work of art, just a place to gather our events, and see how they all fit together - but of course you can make it beautiful if you want

I love this! Do you draw a line from short end to short end of card stock? Could u post a pic? Lol.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest]

My older two used cut in half 5x7 cards. One wrote the event, etc. the other drew a picture. We used our long hallway to stick them up in order until the year was over. After, I put the cards in order on cardstock, laminated each page, and made it into a book that both fondly remember as being the best thing from homeschooling {aside from CLE Math}.