How we use Timeline Notebook by Learning Areas for our kids

Our story about why we created the Timeline Notebook by Learning Areas

When my homeschooled children were very young (6 and 4 years old), I wanted them to record history events in a timeline notebook. After looking around in the homeschooling market, I couldn’t find a timeline notebook that I was happy to buy. For example, some products would have just one timeline per page, and the page could be filled up so quickly that it became overcrowded. I could have made a notebook by hand but it is a rather time consuming task. Eventually, I sat down and developed the timeline notebook by Learning Areas so that I can easily print it whenever I need to. As my children’s skills develop in future years, I can simply print a new notebook and don’t have to draw it by hand numerous times for several children. And so, the Timeline Notebook by Learning Areas was created. I hope it will benefit many. My kids really enjoy using them. Even younger children (under 6 years old) demanded to have their very own timeline notebook.

The benefit of Timeline Notebook by Learning Areas

The Timeline Notebook by Learning Areas is used as a place to record important events or noteworthy persons or discoveries or inventions or artifacts. While students are learning the Bible, history, geography, art, literature, math, or science and technology, they write or draw their observations at the corresponding time period on the chronological timeline. You can either write, draw or paste your ideas, images or symbols.  By keeping your timeline notebook, you will see more connections in history, building a richer appreciation for the context of events.

What is in the Timeline Notebook by Learning Areas?

Each century has 2 timeline-pages for recording events or noteworthy persons or discoveries or inventions, and 2 empty artifact-pages for drawing or pasting images of artifacts such as household items, musical instruments, tools, vehicles, weapons, art and architecture, science, and technology. If students are too young to write or draw, parents may want to complete the notebook for the students, thus modelling how they might be able to complete it when older.

The timeline has four learning areas to make it easy to distinguish the key learning concepts. This gives the student more working space.  Also, this helps the student to organise their page layout.  With less clutter on the page, the four learning areas help students to think about their work in categories, and this enhances understanding.

Each timeline page has 4 lines, numbered 4, 3, 2, 1 as follows:

• Bible – record what you learn in the Bible on line #4
• General History and Geography – record what you learn in History and Geography on line #3
• Art and literature – record what you learn in Art and Literature on line #2
• Math, Science & Technology – record what you learn in Math, Science & Technology on line #1

There are a couple of empty pages at the end of the notebook reserved for drawing maps or noting any special topics the students are interested in.

Samples of my children’s entries

It might encourage you to see some of my children’s entries in their Timeline Notebook by Learning Area. My children made a lot of observations as they saw different events happening in similar periods. It is also encouraging to see their illustrations of the history events. Because my children are young, they just illustrate the events in the artifacts’ pages instead of drawing artifacts during that period. Because their drawings are big, I will add empty the artifacts pages later if they need more empty pages. Here, in their Timeline Notebook by Learning Area, you can see both history & art combined.

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My 9 years old child’s entries

My 7 years old child’s entries

I assisted my son with writing since he is still too young to write neatly in the timeline, but he illustrated the events by himself.