Practical Tip Book of Centuries for mom and kids

Here’s this week’s practical tip ~

A Charlotte Mason education includes a Book of Centuries.  Following Ms Mason’s approach, children enter records, illustrate and write brief notes and mark dates of famous people, events, wars, eras, inventions and significant breakthroughs in their Book of Centuries as they study. 

For a young child, a visual timeline  chart or line along a wall or around a room is best.  It gives a child a bird’s-eye view of events in time; with Biblical and ancient history starting way back, with modern and current dates stretching out.  My young kids loved pasting the pictures on our timeline that went all around our room!  Finding the right date and placing for the picture on the timeline was an excellent introduction activity to a lesson or theme.

Middlesdchoolers enjoy their own book or notebook version.    Older children enjoy adding their own notes and illustrations or clip art.  Allow your children freedom to express their thoughts and details in their own, personal way.  Some kids prefer pasting clip art and drawing pictures, while others like to write lists.  I often provided a detailed timeline for specific themes, like World War ll, for example, which can be folded and pasted onto the relevant BOC page.  Over the years, their books fill up and become a wonderful reflection of the history they have studied.  This activity is an excellent conclusion to a theme or topic.

I wrote a post on how you can make you own very cheap, frugal Book Of Centuries using a store-bought notebook, or convert a spiral bound book into a BOC. This post includes the spacing and page layout suggestions.

I wrote about my joy of using a Book of Century as a mother’s record of work and I still love browsing through my BOC and delight in the scope and richness of the education we have journeyed through these 19+ years.  (In response to @Leanne’s comment about not having kept her own records in her BOC, I wrote, “@Leanne, If this is an idea you enjoy, just go ahead and do it! I “caught up” my BOC in one afternoon a few years ago! I simply took each History Core book we had studied and wrote in all the events, wars and famous people studied. The next day I took my Art Era Timelime and cut it up and pasted all the thumbnail-sized pictures in the main art eras, included all the famous art works and artists, and my BOC was instantly filled with color and info! In fact, if this is something your kids have let slide, it makes a good recap and overview activity which they might also enjoy!)

Here are some links and free Book Of Centuries downloads:

• Practical Pages’ latest free download ~ Book of Centuries by Nadene (Please be patient, this is a large download – 142 pages)
• I added thumbnail prints of famous artists and masterpieces to my BoC from my Art Era Timeline.
• Make your own Book of Centuries using Simply Charlotte Mason.com free download
• How to use your Book of Centuries on Simply Charlotte Mason.com
• Practical Pages’ History Timeline – Our Wall Chart at the end of the Year
• Practical Pages’ Frugal Timeline Book – a simple and cheap Book of Centuries made using an exercise book.
• Heart of the Matter.com How to Make a Timeline Easily with excellent details and instructions.
• Microsoft Office has teacher’s template and excellent screen clips to Creating a Timeline in Microsoft
• Donna Young.org has fabulous free Timeline Instructions and Timeline Forms
• Higher Up and Further In writes How and When to Begin a Book of Centuries

Wishing you every blessing, Nadene

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