A TimeLine Update

I admit I have only had, literally, a couple of minutes to think about this and spend on-line looking for ideas. I, of course, went straight to OfficeDepot.com (I LOVE office supplies!!). Honestly, I was looking to see if I could get packs of one color, of index cards. I knew I had seen them with multi-colors in a pack, but one color per pack I could not recall seeing.

I found them! I was a bit excited, but then I started looking at sizes. How big are the cards? What other sizes can I get? I think I'm leaning toward a 3"x5". I can get blue, yellow, green, and pink. I also found a card box to hold them (made from 70% recycled materials!). Now, I just need to decide how to put them in the box.

Do we want all the literature together? All the history together? Which if you think about it kind of defeats the idea of a timeline. So, I think I am going to put them all mixed in together (the colors will make it easy to find what you are looking for) but use dividers for every 100 years, or thousand, or whatever makes sense.

I'm excited. I think the girls may like it. So, YEAH!!! I've decided on something for next year!

TimeLines

Timelines, trivia and Charlotte Mason all go together. We have been homeschooling for seven years now. (I know; I can't believe it either!) We still have not started timelines. In the beginning, it was a lack of space. A long wall, where you can put up a long sheet of paper to write names and dates on, was just not going to happen in the yellow house. Then when we moved here, honestly, I did not want a long piece of paper, with writing all over it, hanging on my hallway by the front door. Yes, I realize this is our girls' education; however, it is our home too.

So, I thought maybe we'll do one when Jesse's started her middle school history. Well, she is still finishing Story of the World, from the grammar stage. She will finish it this year, so next year is the year! For the last few days, I've been rereading my Well-Trained Mind book and glancing over a friend's newer version of the same book. Last night, I ventured onto the website. There is where I read "index cards". Hmm. A timeline made from index cards?! How would such a thing work? How would you keep it? How much of it would there be?

This morning, I found another site about timelines. It led me to yet another site, to show an index card timeline in use. Granted the thing was written in Italian, or German (the lady that led me there said Italian, but those words looked more German to me considering how close the Italian and Spanish languages are). Anyway. The Italian, German, lady had put each timeline item on its own index card. She had a line, similar to Jesse's new artwork line in her room, with the index cards hanging in order. I don't think they keep them out all the time, but they are (I'm guessing here) easy to get out and put away when you are done.

Last night I was wondering how an index timeline would actually work. I mean if you have each item on its own card, that is a LOT of cards. You know? But. This is where my mind started spinning. If you made the cards color coded, maybe it would work. For instance: pink=literature; science=green; history=blue. Then not only could you see what was going on in a hundred year period (per box or something like that I haven't gotten that far yet in my thoughts), but you could see quickly the years where scientific discoveries are abounding or wars were fought often and every where.

I think I'm liking this idea, but I definitely need to spend more time thinking on it.