History Timelines

I've used several types of timelines to illustrate the passage of time to the kids.  The first timeline we did my first year of homeschooling was one many homeschoolers like, a long strip of connected sheets of paper pinned to a wall.  We added figures and dates to it as we went along.  Then, one day, I was looking at the discount shelves at Barnes & Noble and discovered The Wallchart of World History (Revised): From Earliest Times to the Present - A Facsimile Edition I think I paid less than ten dollars for it!  It was a great find.  We stretched it out in on the floor and spent hours looking at all the intricate lines, names, dates, colors...  We still use it and like it, specially because I can fold it back up and put it away! 

The long timeline on the wall ended up not holding up very well over time.  So, I decided that since we liked the old World Chart book so much, we would have our timelines in a notebook.  

The timeline chart has lots of useful information besides the long list of dates, events, and people.  It inclundes maps showing where those events happened too.  I also like that it begins with Adam and Eve and doesn't include politically correct history for the beginning of time - a rare find.  This edition isn't in print, but there are still some available for sale.

This week, Michelle started her own timeline notebook. She loves coloring the pictures, glueing them, and seeing how events progress along the line.
Building a timeline doesn't need to be expensive.  I use the History Through the Ages figures because I met the lady who makes them and just love her art.  For our pages, we used Donna Young's timeline charts on nice, heavy paper.  I also plan on having some of Michelle's own art work in the timeline.  I think it makes it more personal, plus I think Michelle is a pretty good artist too!

If all goes according to plan, Michelle will be done with history, from Antiquity to Modern times, in four years.  I plan to have her timeline bound into a book then.