Another timeline question

[mo2]

Thanks to all of you who responded to my other thread about timelines. Now, one more question. :)

How do you decide what dates/events to include on your timeline? Thanks again!

[Beth in Central TX]

I usually included dates of major wars, ruling dates of key figures, birth/death dates of the important people noted in TWTM, dates of major inventions, and the founding of key cities.

[mo2]

Sorry..one more! I know one of you said you don't do timelines until grade 5. Do the rest of you also wait until your kids are older, or do you think it is of value in the grammar stage also?

[Alana in Canada]

We started the time-line when we started with the Ancients--two years ago. My kids were 5 and 8, then. We didn't really keep it up until just last year (um, still on Ancients) but it made more sense to my son, then. It is now "his job" to take the timeline figure, write a teeny tiny description as in "Vikings sail to Vinland" and put on the date. He then has to locate the page in our time-line book and paste it in.

I wanted to have a few things already in there, so that when we go through it all again during the dialectic/logic stage he can begin to put things together.
Maybe I'll regret it, but I hope not.

[Chris in VA]

This year, I printed Hannah's Homeschool Helps timeline cards, thinking I'd use them for our timeline (free! colorful! Yea!). I do use some of them, but she doesn't include all the events I wanted. She did, however, include blank templates so I could print my own. If you want them all uniform in size, this is great. You can just pick what you want to include from your studies, search yahoo or google images for a picture, size it for the template, and off you go. I ended up doing a few extra, particularly saints of the Church. But for the most part, I don't use the blank template.
My timeline is coordinated to SOTW (2, this year). When we read about someone or a great event, we make a timeline pic for it--the same way we make an entry in the notebook. Once in a great while, something goes on the timeline that isn't written about in the notebook, and vice versa. In general, tho', they coordinate.
As far as when to use the timeline, like I said in my other post, I'm not so concerned about dates as I am about giving dd a visual picture of history. In fact, our first timeline only had dates on the figures, and we just put them in order (some overlapped, so we put them above and below the line, or beside each other).
Hannah's email is hannah.r-w@hotmail.com. She has a yahoo group, but I'm sorry I can't link you to it.

[Jill, OK]

I just responded to your other thread, but no...I don't wait.

I consider looking at a *simple* timeline in the grammar stage to be similar to learning to read a calendar. (Only simpler, really.) I know many folks here differ, but I don't start history study until kids can understand basic before and after sequencing, and that's really all a very basic timeline is.

As far as what to include...I really just chose what I feel is the most important. Or, what would *fit* when we did the craft timeline. ;o)

[Narrow Gate Academy]

For now we are including any of the HTTA timeline figures that we cover in history. As the kids get older I plan to allow them more choice on what to include so they can personalize their timelines.