Our Timeline

As some fellow homeschool moms and teachers have requested, here is our timeline from last year when we studied American history. I pulled this picts from early in the year, but by the end of the year we had filled most of the slots.

At some point in my children's education they will complete a full timeline, whether on a wall (which we just don't have the space for now) or in a book (so that each of them can have their own as a reference). I like the options from Five in a Row and Hold That Thought. And I like the notebook variety, such as History Scribe.

For now, this works for us. My kids are on the younger elementary age, so a detailed timeline isn't as important as a simple grasp of basic chronology is fine.

Hanging on our wall is a postcard display, purchased from Oriental Trading. Instead of postcards, we use colorful 4x6 index cards.

The display rests on three easy-to-remove sticky hooks by 3M.

Each card is made by one of the kids so that they all contribute to the overall timeline.

In Word, I created a 2-column 4x6 paper, with 1/2" margins. On one column I place the picture, chosen by the child, from Google Images (though pre-printed characters, such as those from Homeschool In the Woods, would work well, too). One the other column, I type what the child tells me about the historical event.

We print the Word document, cut and glue it onto the index card. The child then draws and illustrates a 4x6 picture regarding the historic event or person. We glue that on the back.

The kids enjoyed making this sort of timeline. We could take the pictures out at anytime for review and then the girls could put them back in, testing their chronological knowledge. During the course of study a child may have an interest in another person or event, so we'd add that in too. Even though we focused on US history, K had some questions about Napoleon, so she did a bit of research on him and made a card just for him. M enjoyed learning about artists of the time, so she contributed a cards on Audobon and Serat.

One thing that bothered me about even attempting this sort of timeline was: what would I do if I needed to add an event between two well-placed cards? And you know what? It was never an issue. The girls and I enjoyed taking the cards out to review and rearrange to include the new date. My excited girls were very motivated to keep this timeline because, for the most part, it was their own work with their own interesting historical tidbits on it. So a little ownership goes a long way with the wall hanging.

This year, however, history isn't our main focus, but geography is. I had thought about making cards for each country we study, but we're doing that in our notebooks already. One of my goals this year was to begin going through the Veritas Bible cards. So I now place those cards in the holder as a perfect and useable display.

So many companies offer a great variety for the use of timelines. And so many creative moms have made exceptional uses of wall space and notebooks. I'll post a few other links as soon as I remember where I saved them. But please share what your doing (or what you'd like to do) with your kids in you schoolroom. :)

Math

Need I say more?

New Habits

Slowly we are slinking into our rhythm of the new school year. The study of world geography excites the children, though math tends to bit a bit mundane for them.

One of my goals for the year is to teach each of the girls the basics of playing the piano. I figure that I can get them through the primer levels (thanks to the million years of lessons I took) and if they show any sort of talent and desire, then I can pay a professional. So to give each girl her special piano time, each child has her very own lesson day. K started first last Monday and has declared that she LOVES piano. She has diligently practiced every day. Which is amazing for this highly distractable child. Taking a picture of her playing was easy, because she sits on the stool for lengths of time and studies the music. The other children...well, they LIKE piano, but twirling/staging plays/playing with BB seems to be more fun.

So here's K, my dedicated little virtuoso:


And Micah has a least one new habit (other than playing in the trash can and drowing little people in the dog's water dish). He likes slurping his sister's cherry dr. pepper from Sonic (surely I'm not the only mom who seizes the opportunity to buy drinks during Sonic's happy hour, am I?):

True or False: A platypus is a mammal.

This week we are continuing a study of mammals. You all know that my kids are animal lovers, so this study was hand-picked for them. Science is definitely not drudgery around here. Especially when we allow the finer educational qualities of Beanie Babies and Webkinz in our schoolroom.

For starters, mammals have hair and nurse their young. Most mammals birth live babies, but not all. Monotremes are a type of mammal that lay eggs. A duck-billed playpus comes to mind:

Marsupials are also mammals, but they have a pouch for their babies to safely nurse as they continue to develop. Kangaroos fall into this category and so do Webkinz koala bears.
Australia has the monopoly on these unique mammals. So now add this island continent to the places my safari-loving K wants to visit...after petting the leopards in Botswana (really...she wants to live there thanks to National Geographic).

Even my tiniest student has a favorite, unique animal: Clifford, the biggest, reddest mammal of all!

Micah, the Messy Muffin Munchkin

There's never been any doubt that Micah loves his food. He eats anything and he eats it all. He started with real bananas at 5 months and hasn't stopped since. Today he devoured a chocoloate chip muffin.

By the way, I don't think I'll be getting any Mother of the Year awards in '08; but my kids think I'm a winner because, not only did I serve a healthy dose of chocolate in the shape of breakfast muffins, I also let them eat ice-cream for their morning meal at least once this week (maybe twice, but I'm not going to admit to that. [rationalization]And before you call the breakfast police, we have a wonderfully wholesome menu lined up for this week to account for my shotty meal preparation last week. Besides, really what is the nutritional difference between yummy chocolate ice cream and doughnuts or frosted flakes? And really, who wants toasted pop tarts when they wake up and the temp outside is already a humid and blazing 95 degrees? [/rationalization]). Amazingly, I ate none of these sugary treats. But I did notice that my kids were a bit more energetic during schooltime.

Now whether Micah is on a sugar-high or not, he's into mischief. Today he stole my phone. I caught him trying to cram it into his shape sorter. If you peep through the holes, you'll notice all the other things this little thief was trying to hide: his sister's newly created potholders, clean pacifiers and a few of the girls' hair pieces. Now that he's perfected pounding loose articles into these shapes, we know where to look for our missing items.