Using The Book of Centuries

I created and use a Book of Centuries in our home and my cottage school class "Leap into the Love of Learning." Today, we created our Book of Centuries for the school year. A Book of Centuries takes the study of history beyond the memorize and forget approach often seen in schools. This approach is hands on!  Children create a timeline of what they want to remember about each person and event studied.  A Book of Centuries helps organize history studied into an easy to use and understand format, and puts that information into an easy to retrieve format.

When we have larger groups we even add other steps:
"Stepping into Character." This is where the student comes as a character of history to teach others about them. "News Reporter."When the person being reported on is evil, the children can be a reporter, telling about the evil person. 

I recently changed the pages of the Book of Centuries to be a one page spread instead of a two page spread. I printed the Time/ Place grids on to card stock.  Each card stock page becomes an index page and content referenced on the index page is expanded and placed behind that page. 

We created our own tabs:
* Green for Creation– Ancient Times–1 AD
* Deep Burgundy Red for the Birth of Christianity, the Apostasy, and Medieval Times– 1 AD–1500 AD
* Blue for the Age of Discovery and Foundations of Liberty– 1500 AD– 1800 AD
* Yellow for the Fullness of Time–1800 into the future. 

When we begin the Book of Centuries, we have the children add their information, their parents' information, when their parents married, when their brothers and sisters were born. I want children to grasp what history is and they are part of history.

Once the children see themselves as part of history, we begin our study with a discussion of Pre-Mortal life which culminates in the Creation and the Fall. In addition to scripture we use the Apostle Bruce R. McConkie's book, "Doctrines of the Restoration: Sermons and Writings of Bruce R. McConkie," Chapter Ten: Christ and Creation. The children create a page for each day of the creation.  We use McConkie because it is a restored Gospel view. McConkie places the Creation and Fall scenario found in scripture and the temple, side by side. Then they can more clearly understand what the scriptures say and do not say about the creation. My students are then prepared to further research and learn more about the 36 Noble Men and Women from church history, nine artists; nine musicians; 36 mathematicians, explorers, inventors, scientists;  36 statesmen; and nine poets found in the Family Hour that we study each year, then add them to their Book of Centuries. Each child's Book of Centuries will be a treasure of their own making. 

Helpful Resources mentioned above:
Book of Centuries
The Family Hour
Leap Into the Love of Learning Class

Inspiring Learning and Commonplace Books

In a world saturated with visual images, children and adults can often become spectators, stagnate in their learning, fail to grow and develop. Sometimes they just need to limit some stimuli and replace it with richer, more varied, and valuable stimuli, so they can inspire, grow, and expand their learning. Two ways to inspire learning is through exposure to new ideas and  homeculture. This can be done through home environment and parental example, such as the home and example Gordon B. Hinckley's parents set for him. If parents take the lead in taking notice, developing health curiosity, following through, then sharing it with their children, they will find ourselves inspired, and it can plant the seed of inspiration in their children. Inspiration to learn more can come as parents read aloud great literature, discuss current events, visit museums, attend plays, attend concerts, visit the library, take walks in nature, conversations with interesting dinner guests, and any number of experiences that enlarge our window on life. Through all this, we often have impressions to look something up, experiment, explore, and learn something. If parents do not write it down, the opportunity for learning may pass them up, as then the next impression captures their minds and swallows their interest. 

A Commonplace Book is nothing new, they have been used as a learning tools since at least the 16th Century. A Commonplace Book, is a common or central place to gather quotes, ideas, things one learns, and reactions to those things. I find it is a great place to record those thoughts that inspire us to want to learn more and expand our horizons. A great place to record what is learned when we pursue new ideas. Sharing these impressions and investigations can expand others interests, as well. I like to use plain marbled composition books. They are inexpensive and relatively durable. Their hard covers making writing easier when there is no table or desk near. During back to school time they can usually be found for 50% or more off at Walmart and Target. I like to purchase a case so we can use them to record things we want to study and what we learn when we follow through. They can also be used to annotate books we read, lectures we attend, and even as a simple journal.  Sometimes we leave them plain. Sometimes we glue scrapbook paper to the front and back cover, make a large paper pocket on the inside cover for loose notes, and add tabs to the page edges to separate annotations for different books.

Consider this wonderful learning tool!

MHA's Let Freedom Ring Devotional

"Let Freedom Ring: A Daily LDS Devotional for the month of July is now available. This LDS daily devotional is designed to celebrate freedom and Independence Day all July long with your family. The devotional was created to be used by families use the whole devotional or customize each year to the growing needs of family. Devotional includes for each day--Scriptures from the four standard works, quotes from church leaders, pictures, poetry, songs, documents, stories, excerpts from talks by church leaders, and more to select from.

Quote of the Day June 17th

"Gracias, danke, merci whatever language is spoken, 'thank you' frequently expressed will cheer your spirit, broaden your friendships, and lift your lives to a higher pathway as you journey toward perfection. There is a simplicity even a sincerity when 'thank you' is spoken." - Thomas S. Monson

Quote of the Day- June 16th

"Today, there are three kinds of people:  the have's, the have-not's, and the have-not-paid-for-what-they-have's." - Earl Wilson

Quote of the Day June 15th

"Children are like trees. When they are young, their lives can be shaped and directed, usually with ever so little effort. Said the writer of Proverbs, 'Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it' (22:6). That training finds its roots in the home. There will be little of help from other sources. Do not depend on government to help in this darkening situation. Barbara Bush, wife of former United States president George Bush, spoke wisely when in Wellesley, Massachusetts, in 1990 she addressed the Wellesley College graduating class and said, 'Your success as a family, our success as society, depends not on what happens at the White House, but on what happens inside your house.' " - Gordon B. Hinckley

Quote of the Day June 14th

"I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people." -Mahatma Gandhi