Timelines are a great visual resource for seeing how HisStory fits together. We have utilized many different types over our years of educating at home. Different types work best for different things. Here I’ll mention just a few that we are currently using – and one of of main timelines that we are NOT currently using.
Ruth Beechick says a Timeline should be easy enough to memorize, that is, your basic points of reference should be. These points of reference help you place everything else within a context. We call our points of reference the PIPEline of HisStory™.
A simplified PIPEline you could use for younger children and their Notebook divisions is: Creation (God-Adam), Covenant (Abraham-Moses), Cross (Jesus), Reformation (Reformers), Founding (Pilgrims), Forging (Patriots), Restoring (Me).
Our Expanded PIPEline (for older children) is: In the Beginning God/Creation, Adam/the Garden, Noah/the Rainbow, the Patriarchs/the Covenant, Moses/the Law, Daniel/Restoration, Jesus – God with us/the Center of HisStory, Paul/the Early Church, the Reformers/the Reformation, the Pilgrims/the New Land, the Patriots/One Nation Under God, Go Ye/Expansion, Me/Restoration, God/His Kingdom Come.
Because America is significant as the first Christian Republic, we also have a PIPEline for our One Nation Under God: Reserved/the Discovery, Founded/the Pilgrims and Self-Government, Forged/the Patriots Fight for Independence, Established/the Constitution, Expressed/the Westward Expansion, Eroded/the Falling Away, Restoring/Remembering and Returning.
[Update: see the links we use now in our PIPEline of HisStory™.
Our primary wall timeline has been down since we moved here (We were suppose to remodel the library first, but now 5 years later are just now doing it.) I look forward to putting it back up – but will probably do it a bit different. So, here’s what else we currently do.
1) I have a “board” timeline (corrugated poster type) that has our links on it. It is easy to pull out and will sit on our whiteboard tray, yet is big enough for all to see, and show where things are happening according to the PIPEline (chain). We don’t add to this one – just use it to illustrate.
2) but from showing on this one – we make our “Topical Timeline” which is one JUST on the study we are currently working on – i.e. currently Astronomy. It has the links listed down the left side, and the topical things are added down the right side, where they fit in. They show how what we are studying fits into the PIPEline. These are kept in their Notebooks, in the proper divider section. (For those that have Noah Plan materials, these are somewhat like the ones in the NP Curriculum Guides.) See more about this below***.
3) Our youth (teens) also make a Book of Time [now called PIPEline Book of Remembrance] which is a Notebook Timeline which integrates ALL the things from all the topics. It is roughly color coded to match the links on the PIPEline. (I designed it before giving much thought to the links, but it is close.)
Our old wall one pretty much matched the “Book” – but mainly the younger kids to added to. It was a huge “snake” winding across the wall with dates marked on it. The children added figures or 3×5 cards cut in half that have the dates and person/event/whatever on them.
In redesigning our wall timeline before putting it back up (when the library is finished,) I am considering just putting the PIPEline across the top of the wall, and then putting the people/events under the proper “link”, perhaps on ribbons hanging down from each link. [UPDATE: I did design the PIPEline for the wall, and individual additions are placed under each link on the wall.]
Another way we have tried, that may work for you:
3×5 cards and box – Use dividers for the PIPEline (or centuries) and file 3×5 cards with the dates and information in order behind the proper divider. This can be a problem if you have little ones that tend to dump your cards a lot. I had the same problem with the Side-Tracked Home Executives home management program years ago. I spent more time re-ordering my cards that had been dumped again than working.
Many people use a “Book of Centuries” – A Binder with 2-page spreads for each century on which students record events, names, pictures, quotes, whatever. They can also add “papers” about things that happened then- narrations, titles of books read, etc.
***Our PIPE Journal (Notebook) makes this unnecessary. And we believe the PIPEline is a better method than “centuries”. It sorts every thing by the “big picture” context, rather than just dates. It is important to know not just what was happening at the same time, but to see the big picture of the time period.
Our PIPE Journal (HisStory Notebook) is not just a timeline notebook, but it does put what we study into the context of the PIPEline. We have dividers according to the PIPEline (along with a few others, which I’ll explain in an “Our Notebooks” posts someday). In the beginning of the Notebook is our overall PIPEline, behind each divider is an overview of that link, then there are the “Topical Timelines” and individual Notebook pages that relate. It is not just information/facts, but also understanding (reasoning with ideas), and wisdom (the Biblical “big picture”).
