How to Make the Mother of All Homeschool History Timelines

The New and Improved MOAHHT Timeline is 37.3 feet long.

We are in our third year studying World History. Two years ago we started with creation, traipsed through Ancient Mesopotamia, Assyria, Greece and Rome. The next year we moved on to the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation. And now we have finally landed at the age of Revolutions, Enlightenment, World Wars and Post Modernism. I have to admit that I have never had so much fun learning about history. Everyone says that you learn exponentially more when you have to teach a subject and that is definitely true. I’m pretty sure I was paying about as much attention as anyone else in high school and college when I took world history but somehow I had some gaping holes in my over-all big picture. I’ve been gradually patching those up as I prepare for our history lessons. There is nothing like taking your time and really getting into it to help put everything into perspective.

When I started homeschooling, I read that lots of home school families make a history timeline and add to it over the years. I thought that it was a brilliant idea and decided to make my own. We happened to have a huge cardboard box left over from something so I cut it up and made a 22 foot long timeline which we have been using faithfully to record the Trojan war, Francis Bacon, the Roman Empire, Bach et. all. I can’t tell you how helpful it has been to have a visual reminder of when things happened to help keep it straight in my mind. I know the kids are enjoying it too. They’re making lots of connections and having those “Aha!” moments that are so exciting when you home school. When you see that 2012 is 20 feet away from Ancient Egypt you get an idea of how long people have been around- and how short American History is compared to World History.

The other day I looked at our timeline and started thinking that although it was loved- a la Linus blanket, it was really a bit junior varsity. It’s made of plain old brown cardboard and every two weeks we fold it up and stick in the closet. It's looking a big raggedy. Plus, I am a selectively organized person (only a few choice areas of my life are organized) and it was bugging me that the timeline was hard to read and not categorized. Charles Wesley, The Rococo Period in Art and The Seven Years war were all in there together.

Humble and Jumbled.

Ye Olde Timeline coming in at 22 feet.

Of course, I could buy a timeline ready to go off the internet but that would just be too easy. I really wanted it to correspond with what we are learning. Plus, I wanted to have the visual impact of seeing how far away those ancient dates really are and I didn't want to have to squint too much.

So, I did what I tend to do and set out to improve the timeline. Everything can be improved. :) What I’ve got now is the Mother of All History Timelines and although still probably not considered pro, I think it is at least more varsity than my old one. Certainly more organized and easy to read. I have found it very helpful to be able to look at one thread of Science history and another one of Music and Art, Religion, etc. We are already having blast adding stuff to it. It is 37 feet long and made of 16 pieces of poster board. I know, where in the world do we keep it? Well, we’re pulling it out when we work on it every couple of weeks and I keep it in a cardboard folder that easily hides behind one of our doors. This was actually the packaging I bought the poster board in.

Storing the timeline- notice the gecko (school mascot).

I’ve separated each sheet into 6 sections: Religion and Philosophy, Literature/ Theater, History and Politics, Science, Music and Art, Eras and Epochs. Not all of the sheets have the same increments of time but it gives a general idea. If you gave even weight to all the dates you'd have a timeline that wraps around the block.

So, how can you make one of these nifty timelines for your very own? It’s your lucky day! You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. I just happen to have written down the instructions.

5,000 years of World History in 37.3 feet

You will need:

16 sheets of poster board 22”x 28”

A pencil

A yardstick

Markers: black, blue, red, purple

This is a bit time consuming but you can take a few days and work on it or have your kids help you.

1. On each sheet: Number in the right hand corner 1-16.

2. On 15 sheets: Draw a horizontal line (divide the sheet in half) with black marker at 11” to form the timeline. Then divide those halves into thirds by drawing horizontal lines with pencil at 3 ½” , 7 ½ “, 15” and 18 1/2”. This isn’t exactly even but it is easy to measure and it’s close enough for me. You will have 6 sections.

Dividing your sheets into 6 sections.

3. Here’s an overview of what you will be doing: These will be the headings for your sheets. You can either hand write them or type them up and print them. Cut them out and glue them to the tops of the sheets in order ( See picture).

a. Sheet #1 AD 3000-AD 2500 (500 years) 2 ½”=50 years

b. Sheet #2 AD 2500-AD 1800 (500 years) 2 ½”=50 years

c. Sheet #3 AD 1100-AD 400 (500 years) 2 ½”=50 years

d. Sheet #4 AD 400- 300 BC (700 years) 1”= 25 years

e. Sheet #5 300 BC-1000 BC (700 years) 1”= 25 years

f. Sheet #6 1000 BC -1300 BC (300 years) 2 3/8 “= 25 years

g. Sheet #7 1300’s (100 years) 1”= 25 years

h. Sheet #8 1400’s(100 years) 1”= 25 years

i. Sheet #9 1500’s (100 years) 1”= 25 years

j. Sheet #10 1600’s(100 years) 1”= 25 years

k. Sheet #11 1700’s(100 years) 1”= 25 years

l. Sheet #12 1800-1850 (50 years) 2 ¾”= 5 years

m. Sheet #13 1850-1900 (50 years) 2 ¾”= 5 years

n. Sheet #14 1900-1950 (50 years) 2 ¾”= 5 years

o. Sheet #15 1950-2020 (70 years) 2”= 5 years

Add Titles to Your Sheets

3. For all sheets:

a. Mark 100’s in red.

b. Mark 50’s in purple.

c. Mark 10’s in blue.

d. Mark 5’s in black.

4. On the sheet you have left over (this is sheet #1) draw a vertical line at 7" to start recording history around 3000 BC. I put a little jagged green line to note the fact that there’s some undetermined amount of time between when we start recording history with Adam and Eve and the year 3000. At 7 ½” mark the year 3,000 in red marker (you might want to do all of this in pencil first and then go back over with a marker in case you make mistakes.) Then mark every 2 ½ inches. (2 ½ “=50 years on this sheet.) Remember to count “backwards” since you are working in BC.

Sheet #1 is a little different.

6. Make your Categories. Copy these into a Word Document, use a bold font that is about 1/4 of and inch tall. Make 16 copies of this list. Cut them out and paste them onto each sheet (on the left hand side) in this order:

Religion and Philosophy

Literature and Theater

History and Politics

Science

Music and Art

Eras and Epochs

From Sheet #1

7. Now you are ready to mark each sheet in pencil according to the measurements in # 3. Put the dates below the lines (in pencil) making them about 1/4 of an inch tall. Each sheet starts with the same number with which the last left off. Go back over the numbers in marker following the color scheme in #4. Remember that on Sheet #5 which is AD 400-300 BC you will reverse the direction you are counting. (See picture). You can make a year 0 even though there is no such thing- or you can put
AD 1 and 1 BC on the same line. There are actually 9 years between AD 5 and 5 BC.

Sheet #5 The birth of Jesus.

Start where the last sheet left off.

The 1700's

8. Now, for the fun part. Decide what you want to put on your timeline. Just start wherever you are in your studies at the moment and don't worry about filling in the rest of the stuff. This is a timeline you can work on for years.

Make a list of all of the people, events and eras you want on the timeline for each chapter of your book. Start a powerpoint file and add each of these items on your list to the presentation. Then find pictures to go with the captions. The pictures and captions should be small- maybe 1" wide by 1 1/2 " high. You could add text to a document and have your kids search for appropriate pictures.
Be sure to include the date on each picture so you will now where to put it on the timeline. For people, we usually try to pinpoint a special event in their lives like when they wrote a certain piece of literature or when they invented something and pin them to their claim to fame. For other people who have too many claims to count, we just pin them to the time period in their life when we feel they were most influential. This is usually toward the second half of their life. You are the boss of your timeline.

9. The Eras and Epochs section is used for any long period of time you would like to note during history that doesn't fit into your other categories or that would make things messier if you added it to a certain category. For instance, there are many artists and musicians you could add to the mid 1700's so that section will probably be filled with pictures. Use Eras and Epochs at the bottom of your sheet to denote the Baroque period in art and music.