I adore history and I love reading about the events that shaped our society and the people who set those events into motion. I endeavor to pass that passion on to my children, so we read a variety of history books, watch a lot of documentaries, visit museums when we can, but in addition to that – we keep a timeline.
I’ve talked before about timelines, and how we’ve done them over the years. I’ve always seen timelines as integral to the study of history. In order to keep all of those people and events straight, children need to be able to see the scope of history. But timelines can be difficult to manage – especially if you don’t have space for a giant wall timeline. It can easily become just one more thing on the to-do list. Over the years, I’ve become a huge fan of the notebook timeline, or a Book of Centuries. I love that it’s compact and easy to store – an important factor when homeschooling seems to be taking over the house! Lately I’ve been brainstorming a way to make it even easier for you and your child to maintain a historical timeline.
I played around with a few different formats before settling on this one – it’s neat and organized, and it’s a fantastic way for your child to personalize history. Add anything and everything – a scientific discovery they read about in a science lesson, a favorite artist, family history, books they read that helped to make a historic period vivid in their mind…anything goes! It’s all about making connections. My oldest daughter has kept the same Book of Centuries for going on 5 years now. We enjoy flipping back and looking at some of her earliest entries. The Book of Centuries becomes a treasured keepsake – a memorial of their years homeschooling.
The Details: The Book of Centuries is 179 pages long and it spans recorded human history. The dates range from 6000 BCE all the way through present day. It is divided into 4, color coded sections: Ancient History (red), Medieval History (purple), Early Modern History (green) and Modern History (blue).
Each 2 page spread is divided into 5 categories:
While this is technically a Book of Centuries, the time periods are broken down into 1000, 100, 50, 20 and finally 10 year increments. I find this helps to keep things organized and to give you the most space. And because this is a PDF file – you can add extra pages if necessary.
Here are some samples:
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I’ve also put together a PDF of all of our exclusive Timeline Figures. These are the same figures that are divided among each of the full year programs, but if you are missing any levels and you’d like to purchase all of them together, you can! You can learn more about them here: Build Your Library Timeline Figures. You can use these figures with your Book of Centuries, or any other timeline format. Just color them in, cut them out and affix to your timeline with glue or double-sided tape. You could even print them on sticker paper and use them like stickers! There are 331 figures included and they are organized by the grade level program in which they are included. Due to the overlap in the history being studied, there are a very few duplicate figures.
** Our PayPal e-Junkie powered shopping cart will process your order. All our digital programs are in PDF form. They cannot be returned or refunded. Once you place your order, you will receive a download link to your items.