How to Make a Simple Timeline When Space is Limited {video}

Our space is small. Our space is simple.

And dare I say...our space is free from the "school" look. In our attempt to create a welcoming haven for both family and friends, The Hubs and I have purposed not to let our home look like a classroom.

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True...learning takes place in every room and during every part of our days together. BUT, for the most part, we choose to emphasize the HOME of homeschool, not the other way around.

That being said, as I mentioned last week, timelines...and the ability to SEE history stretched out chronologically is a key element of our days.

Here's our simple way of creating a usable timeline when available wall space is limited.

As I mentioned in the video, I have my children make miniature timeline figures on a separate sheet of paper. They color the figures, cut them out, and glue them in the appropriate spot in our Sonlight Book of Time. Then, we add a brief description next to the figure along with the exact date or year of the event.

Because I, currently, have three school-aged children and only one family timeline book, I assign my children to draw timeline figures on a rotating basis. We ALL find the date in the book and discuss what should be written. But, only one child is selected to do the drawing portion.

While pre-fabbed timeline figures or internet printouts would look a lot more professional, I find more value in encouraging my kids to make their own timeline figures. In much the same way that notebooking differs from a worksheet-based review, hand-drawn timelines promote more cognitive mastery as the children have to correctly chronicle people, places, and events from memory. These child-made pictures cultivate creativity and individuality. And, in many ways, they show competence...whether or not my kids TRULY get it.

In addition to our homemade timeline, we also use two pre-made timeline books with accordion-style fold-out pages.

These two books, The Timechart History of the World and the Rose Book of Bible and Christian History Time Lines, can be spread out as needed in order to give us a COMPLETE glimpse of history...and then neatly tucked away on a bookshelf.

While our timeline book has been an on-going process for the past six years, we have also made many mini-timelines for specific, short-term projects. Some of these were placed in notebooks while others were displayed on the wall for a few weeks and then removed.

Here is a pic of a timeline we made together to launch our first week of the 2013-2014 school year.

My kids each took turns adding magazine cut-outs to represent the events in our "What We Did This Summer" timeline. Knowing that the first, last, and middle events would be the easiest ones to add in the correct order, I had my youngest learner work on the timeline first and progressed to my oldest who filled in all the gaps.

This short-and-sweet timeline was a great way to celebrate all the fun we had through the summer and introduce/review timeline skills.  

Other suggestions for a short-term timeline for introducing the skill of making timelines are...

• a "This is my life" timeline biography
• a field trip timeline
• a "history of our family" timeline with extended family baby/wedding photos
• a one-hundred-year timeline

More timeline resources

Why You Should Make Time for Timeline
Make Time for Timelines Pinterest Board
Miller Pad and Paper blank timeline book
Add-a-Century Timeline

Pre-fabbed Timeline Figures

History Through the Ages
Sonlight
Clip Art ETC {free printable clip art}
Portrait Gallery {printable portraits of famous people...I'm not sure of the copyright for this site.}