History Timelines & Notebooks

We've used a few different ways to record history and I've included a few images of the history notebook & timelines six of my children have done. The ages represented are about 11 years to 16 years, both boys and girls. I've put them in approximate order of the age when they were done, youngest to oldest.

When they were all younger we had a great timeline all along a wall which was always a talking point with anyone who walked up the hallway but a couple of years ago we knocked the wall out to give us some more room in our kitchen area and that was the end of it.

I require them to keep a record of the history they are covering but pretty much leave it to them as to choice of how they do it. A couple have used a spiral notebook but the preference seems to be for separate notebook pages.

Timeline figures for Famous King & Queens of England (872 AD - 1952) can be found here.

Free timeline figures are here also.

Helps for notebooking.

 

General  history - ideas & information; also great book & movie lists to supplement history; very useful website

 

Canadian history - ontariogifted.org/meghan/history.htm

http://www.juniorgeneral.org/ A great place for paper soldiers - as long as you don't mind hundreds of little men all over the house. We've used this site innumerable times.

http://www.papertoys.com/ Models of the Taj Mahal and Shakespeare's globe theatre.

Historical Maps of America  

Free Notebooking Pages here; here and here!

 Paper models of sphinx, pyramids, and other architecture.

Books and crafts for teaching history and making timelines.

How to make paper look aged: Try this.

Reading the above (which I'd had cut out from somewhere years ago) makes me wonder about the teaching of history generally. I have a vague memory of 'learning' about the Eureka Stockade, and something about the 'Proletaria't and 'Assimilation' from my school days. Any historical knowledge I've gained has been in the process of teaching my own children and I probably couldn't have given any better answers than those above when I was in sixth grade.
This quote is from a Parents review article I read recently and from what I've seen in my own children it certainly rings true.

"Here we may notice the use of fiction in history. History should narrate truth. Can fiction, such as the historical novel, be in any sense an aid to truth? I think so, with proper selections and under proper guidance. Fiction kindles the imagination, awakens interest, and secures attention; it is the most pleasing form of narration and it need not sacrifice a truthful impression.

What children remember is the characters of the leading actors, their part in the movement, its issue, and the general picture of the period."

My kids love history and have read copious amounts of Sir Walter Scott, G.A, Henty, Rosemary Sutcliff, and other historical fiction writers and this has given them good background knowledge for works of historical non fiction. I noticed this when it came to them reading Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples which can be difficult unless you have some knowledge of English history.