Wednesday, July 13, 2011

How To Set Up a History Notebook Using a Timeline and Notebook Pages

Modern Times History NB with Timeline (2)

I am busy getting ready for my high school age son's study of Modern History. We sat and discussed how he would like to document his reading and research and his choice was notebooking and a timeline. I knew just where to go for some help!

Having a membership in NotebookingPages.com's Treasury is like having a whole notebook page store at your fingertips. I literally found what we were looking to use in a matter of two minutes. We decided the Book of Centuries pages were perfect and using the Modern Times set I printed out, hole punched, and inserted his whole first term's pages quickly and easily. I know lots of my readers also use NotebookingPages.com's Treasury and I thought I would share how we are using Book of Centuries pages and you could adapt the idea to your family. These pages would work with any grade level.



Here are a few of the ways we used the pages.

Notebook Timeline Cover and Spine
I printed the title page and spine for the binder cover and this is why I like using the clear view binders. Doesn't it look great? He will eventually fill in the cover once school is under way.

Modern Times History NB with Timeline (3)
I then went back into the Modern Times set and printed the timeline pages for the 20th century. I hole punched the pages so they are side by side. He will fill in the dates and either draw or use images from the internet to decorate his timeline as he goes through his week's reading.

Modern Times History NB with Timeline (4)
Then he is going to pick two events or topics each week to complete notebook pages for and these will be filed by topic in the back part of the binder under the tabs.

Modern Times History NB with Timeline (1)
The Book of Centuries comes with these wonderful divider pages and I added a notebook page on the facing page for my son to make a "table of contents" for each section.


Notebook Timeline History Tabs
I also added sections with blank notebook pages for the spine history book and the DVD course he will be watching. He will keep notes, maps, quotes, and sketches in these sections each week.

This was a quick and easy way to set up his history narrations for the year. If he needs more pages, I will just pull up the NotebookingPages.com Treasury, the Book of Centuries, and find an appropriate page to print for his work. Note: There are Book of Centuries sets for all time periods you might need in your history study.

If you would like to read more about how I use notebooking pages in my high school plans, you can read my Notebooking in High School Squidoo lens.

8 comments:

Mary said...

Love this! I get giddy every time I see that you have a new post, because I know it is going to be good.

Lori said...

Thank you! I am going to spend some time looking at this at your squidoo lens!

Windhover Farm said...

Another great post as I attempt to figure out the way we do history timelines. Would you need both the Book of Centuries and the Modern Times pages? What is the difference btwn the two and how are they used differently? Thanks for continuing to guide me along in h/s.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom said...

The Book of Centuries set (all time periods) is ONLY available to Treasury Members. You cannot purchase them separately.

Hope that helps.

kimberly said...

Wow! That looks awesome! Thanks for the inspiration!

Good Old Days Family Farm said...

I've been thinking about starting a timeline with my children but feeling a bit overwhelmed about where to start. What if I pick the "wrong" system and we end up overwhelmed and I've confused my children until they don't know what happened when. (Can you tell I'm a fairly new homeschooler?) Of course Debra at NotebookingPages.com would have the solution! Thanks for this post! I'm going to purchase some pages right now! =)

desertramblings said...

How would you teach a student to notebook? I have one son who has a hard time writing down "his thoughts" or "what he has learned." He is 13.5 years old (8th grade) and language skills is an area of learning difficulties. In 6th grade, we did very consistent daily oral narrating. So in 7th grade I tried to get both boys (they are fraternal twins) to do written narrations on some of their readings both for them to record what they read and so I could see that they actually read the assignment. I had started back to work fulltime that year and while their dad was home with them, he wasn't doing any of the school with them. This son really struggled with the written narrations. When I said "just write what you would tell me if I were here" and encouraged him to not worry about whether the writing was perfect, he still struggled.

Fast forward to this year when he is using IEW to work on composition. He recently told me this is THE BEST PROGRAM he has used ever for writing because it helps him figure out what to write and how to write it. I got the feeling that the 2 years we worked on trying to write narrations gave him the "blank page" problem with his writing and he felt like he was hanging in the breeze on his own to figure it out.

Any advice on how to teach him to notebook? I think it's a great tool but just can't figure out to get him to do it and do it consistently. It doesn't seem to matter whether he is typing his narrations or handwriting them - they are still a challenge for him.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom said...

desertramblings,

Notebooks are a perfect way to get over the "blank page" problem, especially if he has had some background with IEW.
Build on what he knows how to do by starting with a key word outline. Use the kwo to then write a few paragraphs on the notebook page.
I do a variety of things with my boys. I use the timeline as a tool in the notebook as well. I have them pick a certain number of events from their history reading to add to the page. I have them pick one of those events and research it and make a notebook page. They summarize readings, speeches, and additional research on nb pages. They use the nb pages to build essays. Use the IEW process with your current curriculum and books.
Hope that helps.

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