Timeline Suggestions for "Hist. for Litl. Pilgrims" (LHFHG)?

[kamariden]

Hi! First of all, let me just say this is our 3rd day using our new HOD curriculum and I just LOVE it! - even more than I thought I would. And my son is also thrilled to pieces. Anyway, now that that is out of my system....

Today we read page 7 in our "History For Little Pilgrims" book which gives instructions for creating a timeline which the student will continue to add to as we go through the book. They suggested using a poster board, but 1) we don't have any poster board in the house right now, & 2) we don't have anywhere to display or store yet another poster in our tiny apartment. So I thought about doing a journaled version of a timeline with one page for each event, but I wasn't sure that would have the same effect as having everything all together on one page/poster. Which got me to wondering what other parents have done for this timeline. I tried searching the boards but could only find timelines for the Beyond guide.

I would love to hear what you have done, how it worked for you, and if you have any suggestions for me.

Thanks!
Kathleen

P.S. If it helps, we're doing LHFHG w/1st Grade Supplements.

[my3sons]

Kathleen - I'm so glad you are off to a super start with LHFHG! It is such a fun program to do, and really teaches them so much for that age as well. As far as the timeline, the LHFHG guide has no plans for a timeline - HOD starts their timelines in Beyond when dc can write/draw better. However, if you would enjoy keeping one for LHFHG, here are some pics of the Beyond timeline, which can be made just by taping 2 sheets of paper together, so they can be folded and stored neatly in a folder.


HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

[Tansy]

A friend of mine uses 3X5 cards and thumb tacks and just pins them up on the wall around the dining room table.

[MomtoJGJE]

I'm interested to see what others have to say...

We did the timeline just on a big sheet of butcher paper.... we got through about 12 weeks of LHFHG and never used it again, then I got lazy and just focused on the right side of the plans, but I've not seen ANY other time in the manual where it says to put anything else on the timeline. So when we start back up we'll just reference the timeline IN the History for Little Pilgrims book.

But I might be missing something, which is why I'm interested in what others say

[crlacey]

We did not do a timeline in LHFHG because it would have been a mom project since DD was not up for the work involved in doing it herself. We are enjoying the timeline in Beyond now that she is able to do the drawings in the small space by herself.
If you really feel like you want a timeline, you could get a sketch book and draw a line down the middle of each page for your timeline in a book. Or you could use file folders taped together for an accordion folding style timeline. Or you could use posterboard or cardstock pages fastened together with craft hinges or punching holes in the ends and tying them together with yarn so that you can fold it up.
Here is a page that has info on timelines that I found helpful when looking into different types of timelines.
http://www.squidoo.com/homeschooltimelines

[creativemommy]

Hi Kathleen!

My son's doing LHFHG with the 1st grade extensions this year, too!

We're on Unit 19 now but began making a timeline when it was suggested in the History for Little Pilgrims book. I decided we'd make it very basic, not adding every event but the major events for the sake of time and space. We have a bit of space in our school area so my son makes a picture (similar to those at the bottom of the pages throughout the history book) and we tape it to the top of our wall. I made the first two pictures for him since he was a bit scared of "messing up" but as the year has gone on, he's made the rest - he BEGS to draw them now! At the end of the wall (outside the picture below) there's a cloud that says "Christ's Return". This has worked well for us and has really helped him put the Bible stories into his mind chronologically even though we haven't made pictures for every story. I was proud of his latest picture (flame with a stick man standing inside = martyrs) that reads "I'm Saved" even though it's misspelled because he did it on his own.



Since you don't have a lot of space, you could have your son make his using file folders that are glued (or taped) together to make it fold out when needed but fold together when not used for easy storage. If you don't have file folders, you could use plain paper or construction paper and glue it together to make a book that folds out to be seen and back in for storage.

Enjoy you LHFHG journey!

[kamariden]

crystal - how funny that you mentioned that link. I actually ran across that as well after posting my original question.


creativemommy - thanks so much for sharing what you did! That was exactly the sort of example I was looking for!

After a lot of consideration, what I ended up doing was flipping through the rest of the book and counting the number of events they had on their timelines. It came out to approximately 46-48 or so. So I dug out some cardstock, cut 9 pages in half, and then folded those halves into 3rds vertically. Then I hole punched the short side of the cards and taped the ends together to form an accordion. After that I drew the hourglass in the first space, the shining light in the last space, and then drew all the event images up until Christ's death and resurrection, using the book as a guideline & putting one image in each space. Then, since I could now see where Christ's life landed on the timeline, I drew in the hill with the 3 crosses. I drew all the pictures coloring page style and then my son colored in just the 3 from the first chapter which we just finished. I'll add more pictures and have him color more pictures as we move along in the book - making it an end of the chapter activity. I also labeled each of the pictures and put a little quote from the book under them. For example, under the hill with the three crosses I put "Jesus Christ is at the center of history" since that was the point the book was trying to make...that everything revolved around that event (even though chronologically it's obviously not the middle). Yes, all he's really contributing is color, but I want to be able to pull it out and discuss it with him as we go, and also as a review, to help him place events visually... if that makes sense. He's just not capable of drawing on the small scale yet, so if I asked him to draw the pictures, each event would have it's own 8x11 page and you probably couldn't tell what a quarter of them were unless he explained it, because he'd probably get bored with the assignment and get sloppy. Same is true with the labeling. His least favorite activity is handwriting, so there was no way I was going to ask him to label any of the events. In fact, it was while he was working on his handwriting assignment that I managed to get the majority of the timeline assembled. I figure I'll continue to add pictures on the days he's doing his handwriting and that way I can keep up and we'll have a nice visual aid to remind us of what we've learned. .....Anyway, that's what I eventually came up with.

My camera is charging right now, but I'll try to post some pics soon. Thanks for the great replies.
Kathleen

ETA: Oh, I forgot to explain that the reason I hole-punched the cards was so that I could put it in the same 3 ring binder as his other history papers for storage, but still be able to open the binder, pull out the timeline and unfold it for an at-a-glance review. This way I can easily take it with me to a doctor's office or my parents' house. I realized when I was reading the squidoo artical that Crystal mentioned that portability was key for us. This way I got portable, protected, and still able to be seen all at once.

[MamaBear23Cubs]

I have one started for my son and I just used a folder and have him draw the pics.

[creativemommy]

What a great idea you had! I love the coloring pages idea.

[Daisy]

For that age, I made cards. I made two sets of the symbols and laminated them.

With one set, they can practice putting them in correct order and telling them to you. I did this with American History cards that I made with my son when he was four years old, so they really can do this. String yarn between two chairs and let your children use clothes pins to "hang" up their time line. Lots of fun doing that.

With both sets they can play memory. When they find a match, they have to tell you what the symbol stands for and then they get to keep the set. If they can't remember, you tell them the answer, and the have to wait for the next turn to flip them over again.

All kinds of things you can do with them but the above were our main ways.

[kamariden]

I absolutely LOVE the idea of a history card set!

This time around, as he is older and his fine motor skills have advanced since I originally posted this, I'm just having him draw and label one image on a piece of hole-punched cardstock which we keep in a 3 ring binder. However, I figure when we want to look at it all together we can take it out of the binder and he can lay them all in order across the floor. Also, I can take them out, mix them up, and then have him try to put them back in order. We're only doing one event per card so we can later add notes to the backsides of things we want to remember about the event. For example, we could write Genesis 1:1 on the back of the first card which represents creation and we could write Rev. 1:7 on the last card which represents Christs return. When we get farther along and begin adding things like Augustine or Knights and Castles, we can use the back to write notes from any extra reading we might do on the subjects. He can make notes on why this person or event is important to history. This way he'll be making his own history book and timeline combination that he can continue to add to as time goes on and will be able to look back at everything he's learned.