Jan. 8, 2009 - Timelines!
One of the high points of our homeschooling is our timeline. Since my oldest daughter, in particular, loves history the timeline is just the ticket to keep her engaged in learning. There are a variety of timelines that you can purchase and/or download. For a free timeline to get you started check out FIAR Circle.
Several years ago when I was planning to get started I decided to make my own using perforated printer paper - which many of us no longer have use for. I decided to start 1635 BC until the present time (actually to 2010 (seemed like a long time away at the time!). Each 2 inches represents a 5 year period. If you are still with me you will realize this really a very large timeline. But, of course, since it is perforated, I can fold it up so that the total timeline is a just a few inches thick. I also laminated the AD portion of my timeline (the part that we use most of the time). Bottom line: I wanted to be sure that the passage of time was represented by a standard distance, while still allowing enough space for several figures during the time periods that are rich with history or that we would study.
For figures/pictures to add to my time line I have used: History Through the Ages by Homeschool in the Woods, and Historical Timeline Figures by Geography Matters and thought they were both great products. We also put ourselves and grandparents on as well using small photos a similar size as the other timeline figures.
This week we added to our timeline!
1) We added some figures about the establishment of the Bible such as Old Testament and the King James version to aid to what we looked at during our Bible time in our Betsy Ross study.
2) Historical figures we added related to our Beyond Five in a Row study of Betsy Ross were: Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Fleming, William Penn.
3) We also realized that we had never put our figure for the landing of the Mayflower and having recently celebrated and studied Thankgiving we added that. We also saw the figure of the Salvation Army establishment, and since we had rung the bells for them over Christmas we also added that.
4) Other figures we revisited were: The Revolutionary War, Boston Tea Party, George Washington, Louis Pasteur.
Here is a snippet of one section/page of our timeline:
