Timeline
Free Printable Blank Timeline for Any History Curriculum
Download our printable, blank timeline!
Want to see a free chronological history curriculum that incorporates a timeline? Click here!
Every homeschooler should have a timeline! A timeline lets you SEE the flow of history, lets you record and remember the people and events you've studied and also makes a nice "portfolio" of years worth of work.
We have created free timeline printables to help you construct your own timeline and provide ideas and teaching tips at the bottom of this page. Follow the instructions below. *All downloads on this page require Adobe Acrobat Reader (free).
Print
out our exclusive, free timeline cover and slip it underneath the plastic protector
on the cover of a 3-ring notebook. The timeline "spine" is a graphic
you can slip down the spine of your notebook for easy reference. Click to download
a cover for either a girl or a boy.
The
next step is to print out the numbered timeline pages provided below and put them
into your notebook. You will need a total of 100 hole punched papers for a complete
timeline.
B.C.
Timeline Pages
30 pages:
(4100 B.C. - 0 B.C.)
The Ancient
World
The Classical World
A.D.
Timeline Pages
70 pages:
(0
A.D. - 2010 A.D.)
The Classical
World
Early Middle Ages
Middle Ages
Renaissance
Trade & Empire
Revolution and Independence
Unification and Colonization
The World at
War
The Modern World
Blank Timeline Page (Use this page to print out extras or to make smaller timeline portions. I've made the PDF editable so you can add in your own custom dates!!)
Now all you do is fill it up! You can print out blank pages as needed (if you fill up a page of specific dates, you can just have an extra page with the same dates inserted).
We
put just a little bit of everything into our timelines (you can see a sample page
to the left). When we read a book set in a certain time period, we paste in a
picture of the book cover. We also Google images, write in text or create our own pictures right on the pages for whatever
we're studying.
Our son likes to flip through his timeline and look at all of the "historical" books he's read. It's not only fills him with a sense of accomplishment, but he's getting a great review of his studies without even realizing it.
May 2011:
I've been working on making timeline figures for Otter's timeline notebook. I thought I'd share the template below with everyone else with a sample of how it works. Feel free to download and use to make your own timeline figures for any period of history.
It's easy to clear the template for your own use. I've included instructions on how to do that quickly (1 click!) for Microsoft Word and Open Office users.Timeline figure template in .doc format
Timeline figure template in .docx format
Timeline figure template in .odt (Open Office) format (This template has a few differences than the Microsoft template. I had to adjust a few things. Also, shapes and text boxes from Word don't show up in Open Office. However, the main parts of the template should work fine. I have no way of checking though if the embedded font worked at the top of the page!)
A little bit more about timelines...
I've found that a timeline is a very wonderful tool for not only seeing the big picture of history, but also as a way to help foster the retention of everything we've studied. As Otter thumbs through the pages of his timeline notebook, he's able to see how everything fits together AND at the same time review all of the wonderful books we've read since we paste the covers in on a regular basis. Timelines don't have to be tied to your history classes. You can also paste in scientists and achievements from your science curriculum, artists (and even the works they created), composers from your music studies and novels you read for literature, if they fall into a historical time period. If you get your children into the habit of pulling out their timeline on a regular basis for a variety of school subjects, they'll start to really understand how things fit together in the past. Also, when they finally graduate, they will have a lovely scrapbook featuring their many learning adventures over the years!
If
you liked these printables, please check out our
other printables!
Some Other Timeline Ideas:
- Take the pages out of your notebook and line them up on the floor to really see how time and events have progressed -stretch it across the room and down the hall! This really gives kids an idea of how long ago something happened.
- Quiz each other with questions like, "What books did we read set in Medieval times?" "Who do you think is on the same page as Mark Twain?"
- Enter in pictures of your family members on their birth dates
- Examine your timeline and find connections that you might not have seen otherwise.
Here are some more resources for timelines:
Timeline Figure Resources:
Geography
Matters
Go to their history and timeline materials to see the timeline
figure CD's. They have free samples you can take a look at. Some of their images
look like "clip art".
Google
Use Google images to find a picture of a book cover or person.
History
Through the Ages
Homeschool Through the Woods sells several timeline figure
packages. They provide "detailed" professional (very attractive!) looking
black and white drawings. They also offer a CD where you can print off pictures
from all of the sets at whatever size you need - not just small for your timeline.
Historical Timeline Figures
These are "cartoony" black and white line drawings. You can see the
entire listing of names and events listed for their sets (which is really nice
to be able to do).
Images
of American Political History
A collection of over 500 public domain images.
Konos
History Heroes
Colorful and "fun" characters for your timeline.
Each set of history characters also has an activities book you can buy separately
(looks like fun)!
Portrait
Gallery of Historical Figures
An alphabetical listing of people in history.
Click on a name and you are taken to a page with a portrait. You can shrink the
portraits down for your timeline pages.
Online Timeline Resources
(Use these to get ideas from or to guide you
in creating your own.)
Alterna
Time
A collection of timeline links for lots of different subjects (not
just "history").
Bible
Timeline
It's just text, but useful!
HyperHistory
A gigantic online, clickable timeline (with some maps too!). Wow, this thing isn't
the prettiest timeline I've ever seen but it's still pretty neat.
