History Notebook/Book of Centuries

This is a continuation of a post about History Notebooks. I began with a "Book of Centuries" a few years ago, which is an idea from the Simply Charlotte Mason website. When the children were younger (Love of Learners and Core Phase), the Book of Centuries was great. We could draw pictures, print pictures online, or copy pictures from books and glue them on the various "century" pages with a few notes about the date, place, or person.

We were not extremely vigilant at keeping this up, but we added to it every now and then. In all, it was more scrapbookish than a learning tool.

After reading some of Living History's books, mainly "The World Before Christ", I find myself anxious to record what I'm learning about each time period, the events that took place and people that lived then, as part of my regular study materials. I felt the Book of Centuries was just not what I needed anymore.

In comes the History Notebook (see free notebook pages here). I decided to go back and write some notes about the previous Epochs I've studied. Basically I'm starting from the Creation again and moving forward. I'm not writing about every single person and event, but choosing the ones I felt I learned the most from. For example, I've studied Noah and the Flood several times, but not as much about Noah's immediate descendants. So, I wrote notes about Ham and how his wife Egyptus brings the line of Cain into the future generations. I also studied Nimrod and the building of the Tower of Babel.

One aspect that I am considering important is to note the various sources where I am getting the information from. Hopefully, when I go back to study these eras again, I'll be able to add the new sources of information as I study. Keeping all of these divided into Epochs, or time periods, makes cross-linking happenings in other places during the same era much easier.

I'm very excited about this new method of study. I do not have many local peers who are interested or willing to study the things I'm studying. This is taking the place of the classes and colloquial groups I used to have. My current book club is at a stage of books that I have already read, which is great so I can study these classics again, but also feels limiting on any new studies. I'm thankful I found these resources from Living History and feel inspired to study on my own.