Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
Timelines are great learning tools, but taking time to find images or have your kids try to draw them can take ages. And, after all that hard work the images aren’t consistent or good enough to make a lasting impression. Imagine if you had a collection of historical timeline figures you could use for all your history projects, for all your kids, and for your entire homeschool journey! Home School in the Woods offers such a product called Timeline Collection: A Collection of Historical Timeline Figures (grades K-12), and we were fortunate to receive a copy to use and review.
Product Description
The Timeline Collection: A Collection of Historical Timeline Figures is a massive product. You get every figure you’d need for a historical timeline every year you homeschool your children. That’s what makes it a great value. You don’t have to buy a bunch of individual products. You can make a timeline that covers all of history with this one purchase.
There are over 1260 historical timeline figures in this collection. They are beautifully drawn realistic figures with intricate details. Each figure is labeled with a name and the date. There are short summaries of information provided for each figure, if you choose to use them, or you can write your own.
What’s Included in the Timeline Collection Download
Helps Folder
Helps Page
Includes copyright usage and tips for navigating the pdf files and resizing images.
Lapbook Page
Gives an insider view of the Old Testament Lap Book that’s available through Homes School in the Woods.
Timeline Helps Page
Provides ideas for different wall timelines, portable timelines, and notebook timelines complete with pictures of examples. It also gives ideas for how to incorporate the timeline figures in games, lapbooks, and handwriting practice.
Indexes Folder
The index folder provides an easy way to locate specific timeline figures you are looking for. At the top you can click on “Names and Dates” and access a page that lists every timeline figure with the page number it’s on.
Then you can go back to the index page, choose whether you want notebook or wall sized images with or without text and the page number.
PDF Folder
Alternatively, you can skip the indexes folder altogether and go directly to the pdf folder to find all that you need. The images in the pdf are organized by these folder categories:
- America
- Bonus
- Creation to Christ
- Napoleon to Now
- Resurrection to Revolution.
When you open one of the category folders you’ll see a page that lists all of the names and dates of timeline figures in that category. There are two folders that hold notebook sized images and wall sized images. Within those folders you can choose whether you want images with or without text.
Here’s a sample page from the “Creation-Christ” category folder, images with text.
Here’s a sample page from the “Napoleon to Now” category folder, without text.
Why Use Timelines
On the blog, Home School in the Woods talks about the importance of timelines and how useful they can be to children. Learning so many historical facts can be confusing if you don’t give your children a visual way to store all that information. With a timeline they can pinpoint what they are learning in history in the big picture and see how it relates to other things that were happening in the world during that time.
How We Used the Historical Timeline Figures
Ancient Greece Timeline
My daughter is taking an ancient history class at our local homeschool group. She is studying ancient Greece, so we decided making a timeline would be a fun way to document that slice of history and give her a unique way to review for the upcoming unit test.
For her timeline, she chose to make an accordion timeline to fit inside her three-ring binder. First, I printed out the set of pages covering Ancient Greece from the Timeline Collection. Then, my daughter chose only the figures that pertained to what she had specifically studied and cut them out.
After coloring them, she glued the figures in order on a six-page accordion timeline. (I made it in advance for her using card stock and packaging tape after following directions from the timeline helps page). Finally, she wrote the dates in twenty-year increments to best fit the dates of her timeline.
Scientists Project
My son is very interested in science right now, so we created a book of famous scientists. First we read about a scientist. Then we colored an enlarged timeline figure of the scientist.
I used the helps page to learn how to enlarge images, and it was so simple! I chose the select tool, clicked on the image I wanted in the pdf, and pasted it onto a word document. Then I customized the image size and added my own text.
I also added a page for recording what he learned about the scientist. My son wrote about how Albert Einstein loved compasses when he was a boy and drew a picture of one.
Ideas for How We’ll Use the Historical Timeline Figures in the Future
I’m so excited to have the Timeline Collection to use for my son’s entire homeschool journey. Next year I’ll start reading The Story of the World. Since my son is young, we’ll mainly read aloud, so keeping a history timeline will be a great way to keep track and review what we’ve learned over the course of the year.
After reading a chapter, I plan to print out the figures we need and have my son color them. I’ll have him write a simple sentence or label the picture himself. Then we’ll add the figures to a wall timeline.
I envision using the timeline figures to make simple review games too, like concentration or go fish. We can glue figures without any text or labels on index cards. Then we can write, or cut and paste, text that corresponds to the images on different cards.
Other Products of Interest
With the United States Presidential election coming up, Home School in the Woods has a hands-on history U.S. Elections Lap-Pak available to make the most of this current event for grades 3-8. Students complete twenty-one small projects on related topics like political parties, caucuses, primaries, conventions, stump speaking, and campaign advertising. These projects are creatively put together in a visual, foldable “lapbook” that makes a wonderful resource to review every time there is an election!
Home School in the Woods offers other hands-on history materials including maps, activity-paks, lap-paks, activity studies, time travelers studies, project passport studies, and other timeline materials.
We’ve enjoyed the adaptability and beauty of the Historical Timeline Figures. I’ve been able to meet the homeschool needs for both of my kids who are at two very different stages, learning about different things. To find out about more of these hands-on materials from homeschoolers who have used them, check out the reviews at Homeschool Review Crew.
