"....Your children shall be like olive plants all around your table." Psalm 128:3

Monday, June 29, 2015

Keeping Company - Our Century Charts

Hi friends,

I am linking up with Celeste today to share a peek at our Century Charts.

When we first started implementing the CM philosophy in our home education, we tried Book of Centuries. It was something I was really looking forward to, and I thought my children would enjoy it, too. I was wrong. We stuck with it for almost 2 years, but they simply didn't enjoy it; it almost seemed burdensome to them. I was so disappointed because I loved the idea of recording all those important dates in timeline form.

Then I remembered reading about something similar to Century Charts, only a wall-version type of thing, in Volume 1, page 292 of the CM Series. It sounded like a wonderful idea, so I decided to give it a try. And my children immediately loved it!

Here is how we do it...


I took 2 pieces of poster board and divided each one into 6 columns.
At the top of each column I wrote the centuries that that column would cover, beginning at Creation, of course. :)



The why: to help my children visual the important events in history, and where those events fit into a timeline.

The when: at the beginning of each school week, I set aside a piece of paper to list all the important events that we read about that week. We list each one as we read about it. Then, on Friday, we add the events in the appropriate column on our century charts.

Sometimes we just record the date and event.

But sometimes we also we like to spice it up a little by adding a picture relating to the event.

While my children are filling in the century charts, I often hear them say things like, "Wow! The Great Awakening began only 31 years before The Revolutionary War began!" Or "Did you know that David Livingstone arrived in Africa exactly 20 years before the Civil War began?" They are making connections with these charts. History is unfolding right in front of them. And they are locking it in their memory.

Mission accomplished.  :)


Also sharing at the CMBC.

10 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this, Lisa! My two oldest are going into Year 4 next year, when one might normally start a BoC, but I've decided to delay that until next year or Y6, when the history cycle starts over. In the meantime, I'm planning to do a century chart like Jeanne's--in fact, I just cut out the paper last night! So this is very timely for me. I love your version and the connections your children are making. We have been keeping a binder timeline, but without specific dates (just columns), and it has worked just fine for the early years, but I think my older ones are going to enjoy this little step up to something more like yours. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the kind words, Celeste.
      Sounds like you are all ready for a new year. We are eagerly looking forward to it, too. AO is such a joy and blessing in our lives! :)

      Delete
  2. Thanks for this, Lisa. I still have another term before I begin Year 4 and I find myself wondering/praying about the right move next. We have just done the Personal Timeline up until now. Once we get up to date on that in a few weeks, I hope to have more of a firm idea as to what is the next step for us. Still mulling...I appreciate you sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I always enjoy seeing what other AO moms are doing, and I will be looking forward to seeing what you decide to do, Kristyn. Please share! :)

      Delete
  3. This looks wonderful - and I love the connections your children are making with it! A timeline is something I desperately need to introduce into my younger students' work but I haven't managed to do so yet. But it is something I fully intend to implement with them in this upcoming year. Thanks for sharing what you do!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This has been so much fun for us, Amber, and my children (and I) are getting a better grasp of historical events in timeline form. I hope you and your children will enjoy it, too. And I hope you post about it on your blog. I would love to see your version. :)

      Delete
  4. Love it, Lisa. And I love the blog's new look. Thanks for it. I will present on history soon, and your post came very handy for the century chart (I have not done one yet!) We don't do that bad with our book of centuries... the more I use it, the more they remember to use it too. But this charts are very helpful to have events and the historical period being studied at a glance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Silvia. I woke up one morning and got on my blog and it was completely white with no background! No sure how that happened but I had to re-do the whole thing. I do want to put photos at the top for the header...just need to take the time to figure that out.
      I will be watching for your post about history. Your blog is one of my favorite places to visit. :)

      Delete
  5. Love the timelines and how much you are all enjoying it. We have the same issue with math and have to do it through the summer at least two days--for three of them anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have heard that many homeschool families school "lightly" through the summer. I have found that doing it this way helps my children easily adjust to a full load of lessons when the new school year arrives.
      Thanks for visiting me today. :)

      Delete

Thanks so much for stopping by. I love to hear from my readers, and your thoughts are welcome. And I try my best to respond to each and every comment. :)