CTC-MTMM guides timeline question

[christyg]

Hi! I have a question about the CTC-MTMM guides. For a child who has a harder time drawing, could the Homeschool in the Woods timeline figures be used instead of having to do the drawings themselves? Do they line up well? I realize that there is a reason why they are asked to do it themselves (helping them remember the history stories). I just have a boy who has a harder time writing than his older sister did, and am trying to cut down his load a bit in that area. I wasn't planning on skipping any of the Draw and Write drawing assignments, just hoping to lessen the timeline stuff. Thanks for any help that you can give.

Christy

[LynnH]

My ds has dysgraphia and has a very difficult time writing. What he did for the timeline was fairly basic drawings, which really is all there is room for and then he would read the labeling to me and I would write it in the box. If you look at my blog for the 4 years before this one.you will probably see examples of his timeline pictures. He follows the directions, but they aren't any extras added to the pictures like I know my dd's would have had if she had done HOD. Finally I think at the end of Rev to Rev and then MTMM he did his own labeling, but only because he wanted to. I think it would be hard to find ones in homeschool in the woods that lined up.

[my3sons]

Drawing is not my oldest ds's thing either, but he completed the timeline drawings himself all of the way through. The primary reason to do the timeline entries this way is not necessarily to produce beautiful drawings, but more to make a memorable connection to the events by personally doing the work. There are more academic benefits to coming up with how to draw a picture to represent what you've learned, to deciding how to color it, and to labeling it oneself, than there are to cutting and gluing a picture into a timeline, especially at ages prior to high school. Here is a portion of a post Carrie wrote in regard to timelines...

Once we move to CTC, we begin a chronological flow to history using a 4 year cycle. At that point we do begin a continuous timeline, which will be added to each year. However, we do not do it in isolation but rather within a beautiful full-color Student Notebook that provides a deeper look at those timeline entries by providing places for written narrations, copywork, sketches, common place book entries, project work, and maps (in addition to the timeline). This makes for many connections among the history-related work and keeps the timeline book from being a separate book unrelated to the rest of the children's work. The student will add a new section to the Student Notebook each year (through each guide) until there is one large volume completed over 4 years.

On a sidenote, we did have our oldest son keep a separate timeline book for his beginning 5 years of schooling with cut and paste figures, but we have since found much greater retention and connectiveness when we switched to the method we're using now (both with our oldest son and our upcoming kiddos). Drawing and labeling the figures really helps cement the people and events in the kiddos' minds. It forces them to interact with the material more and makes it personal (and also very engaging to look at)! My boys are much more invested in their timelines now, then they ever were when someone else had done the drawing and labeling for them. It means more to them because of the work it has taken to produce.

Blessings,
Carrie

For these reasons, we had Wyatt do his own timeline. I am so glad we did! When he looks at his CTC through MTMM binders he has completed, and can see his one long continuous timeline penned and crafted by his own hand, it is like seeing a visual representation of him growing up! His drawings began looking pretty poor, and they improved more and more as he went along. At the close of MTMM, they still were not perfectly done, but they were so much improved that it was obviously worth the journey. On a side note, another thing that is interesting is to put Wyatt's timelines alongside my Riley's timelines. They look quite different! It's neat to see how each of them individually took something different from their readings and applied to their timelines. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[christyg]

Thanks so much for the advice! We will give it a try!

Christy