This is not a timeline for purists. It's a timeline that fits in a binder. Perhaps timeline isn't even really the right name for it! This is a way to keep track of people and events as they fit into various historical periods rather than listing them along a strict line of dates. It allows each child to have a separate journal and to add his or her own words and pictures to it. This requires very little parent help. Although this is not as visual as a true timeline, I've found it to be invaluable for helping my kids place people and events in history and remember them.
The website I found this on appears to no longer be available, so I'm posting this so the instructions will still be available online.
For this timeline, you will need looseleaf paper (I use unlined printer paper), a hole punch (if the paper doesn't already have holes), and a three-ring binder of some kind (so additional pages can be added later as needed).
On the front of each sheet, write a header with one of the following time period labels. The back of each sheet will provide additional space for drawings or notes about people and events that fit in that time period. You can allow several sheets for one time period, if needed, or you can add additional sheets as you run out of space on the first sheet.
Time period labels:
In the Beginning
Fall to Flood
Flood to 3500 B.C.
Ancient Civilizations (3500-500 B.C.)
Classical World (500 B.C.-1 B.C.)
Classical World (1-500 A.D.)
Middle Ages (500-1000 A.D.)
Middle Ages (1000-1450 A.D.)
Renaissance and Reformation (1450-1610 A.D.)
Exploration and Colonization (1610-1750 A.D.)
Industrial Revolution (1750-1940 A.D.)
Modern Era (1940-Present)
We use this timeline for historical figures, composers, artists, Bible stories, scientists, and any other person or event that seems of interest in our school studies. I allow my children to add drawings or notes of their own invention, so many of the entries are quite crude, but as the entries accumulate the product becomes a quaint creation of the child's own.
I don't use a separate notebook for this but keep it at the back of the binder we use for other school papers.
Update:
Here are example pages from two different children's notebooks.
 |
| From my 7 yo ds |
 |
| From my 12 yo dd |
