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Timelines and
Chronology books
by R. Proffitt
The methods Miss Mason used in her school at Ambleside to
make 'Chronology Books' (a 'book of centuries') was complex.
She advocated the use of a small notebook, wherein each page
was divided into a century, and small notations and drawings were added to the
page for every event the child may wish to make a note of in that century.
Our modern society has provided us with a few major
innovations that can make the book of centuries a much easier thing to produce.
Instead of using the notebook to write in, we can make our
own, using a binder and loose leaves within page protectors. Later these
pages can become our own, homemade, chronology book.
It is easy enough to make a timeline on a piece of paper, and
fill in the events for that century.
I recommend starting pretty small, and then adding and
changing your pages as you get more and more information.
Here is an example of a fairly simple timeline.
 The
page has a simple line going down the centre of the page. Events are
illustrated with small pictures. It is easy enough to find such... you can
search on http://images.google.com and
copy the thumbnails that crop up in your search. Alternatively you might
decide to draw your own picture, or make a copy (either hand drawn or photo-copy
depending on the rights in the book) of an illustration in your spine text or
encyclopedia.
In the example, I have hand drawn copies of images from the
Story of the World book, plus some images from a http://www.notebooking.org
link to history journal pages.
Events are annotated with the approximate date of their
happening.
 This
close-up picture shows you the process in action... the same simple timeline is
in use, a simple date and single line explanation of the event.
In this instance, the pictures again are from the http://www.notebooking.org
source mentioned before... as are the dates. All the ones mentioned are
biblical dates.
As time goes on, you may need to increase the allotted space
for the time as it passes. Since this timeline is for my own use and not
for the children, I have elected to simply use the same timeline shape, but
decrease the number of years for each timeline as the era becomes later, and
more events are recorded. For a children's timeline, you will probably need to
spend some time and money on the materials, so that you can make the timeline
gaps a regular size. Earlier dates will have much less information in them
and as a result will have many blank spaces. Later dates will end up
cramped as you try to write in all of the events you study.
The use of timelines or 'century books' can be very good for
putting events into perspective. You can see at a glance all the things
that were happening at a given time.
A timeline notebook, need not be something you do all at
once. You could simply print out a page or two, and mark a few significant
dates on them as you go along, reading through history. Coming to a date
in a read aloud, you might make a note of it so that you and the children can
later mark it in your chronology book.
Perhaps you would prefer a wall timeline, so that you can
reference it easily with a glance. The timeline book method is easily
adapted to a wall version... instead of printer paper, you would use a thicker
weight of paper... perhaps even cardstock. You may even like to make your
timeline on a larger piece of paper, such as 11" x 17" instead
of 8.5" x 11". You would print the timelines in a landscape
fashion, instead of the portrait one shown here, and then tape the paper end to
end, making a continuous line. This is easily folded accordion style once
you have finished studying a time period, or if you run out of wall space.
A good rule of thumb when it comes to studying time and
figuring how large a time period your page should cover, is to think about how
much room you need to annotate the 20th century.
Most people suggest about 100 years per page, but in the
latter part, you may wish to go as few as 50 years a page. The reality is,
it doesn't really matter how much you put on a page, because you can always add
a page to a timeline book if you are using a ring binder to do so!! One
hundred years to a page is all Miss Mason suggested, and I will not go against
that. I would also suggest that for children, a horizontal timeline or a
larger page size is best so you can easily fit in events and pictures.
There are some wonderful sites out there with timeline figures
for sale, timeline books and even timelines themselves... so even if you are not
up to making your own... there is something out there for you!
Follow Up Links:
Timeline Printables:
Donna Young
Notebooking
Timeline Purchases
History through the Ages
Sonlight
Paula's Archives
This link has a whole load of links to timeline figures,
plus a sample of what you are buying... She mentions the two above, and a LOT more!!
More Timeline Information
Paula's Archives
She has a great selection of links.
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