TIMELINE EXPLAINED

"Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it."  - Winston Churchill

History isn't learned by brow-beating with books. It is learned by dramatizing the Battle of Bunker Hill at a local park with a hill. It is learned by eating stale biscuits like the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. And it is engrained by walking past a timeline on the wall every single day. Visualization is the key to memory retention!

Why It Is Important

KONOS’ method of studying units with a character trait focus has students studying Samuel and Helen Keller at the same time, because both are examples of the character trait Attentiveness. When the characters are placed on the Timeline, students see Samuel is in BC while Helen is in AD. This visual picture shows students we DID NOT study them because they knew each other… but…  because they BOTH POSSESSED ATTENTIVENESS.

Few parents realize Martin Luther lived at the same time as Christopher Columbus and Leonardo da Vinci …flash… the Renaissance AND Reformation!     OR     Squanto lived concurrently with Shakespeare.      OR   Harriett Tubman was alive when the Titanic sank.

These are facts KIDS DISCOVERED ON THEIR OWN while using the timeline and seeing history visually converge.

The Results

We were studying American history thread in Volume 2. I was using the Timeline to wrap up and make important points. Jason, 10 years old at the time, wanted to get outside and dramatize Yorktown, so he said, “Mom, it is really simple. All the explorers have telescopes in 1400-1500s, all the settlers have hatchets in 1600s, all the Revolutionary War men have three-cornered hats in 1700s, and all the Founding Fathers have white wigs 1700-1800s. We are explored, settled, fought the British, founded a nation. Boom. Now can we go outside?” I let them go outside. The TIMELINE is invaluable!