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A New Page in History

5/15/2012

7 Comments

 
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"It is a much disputed matter how we shall begin to teach history."

"children should begin with their own times and read history backwards. We want  to give reality to history by showing that it is not something remote, to be  found in books only; we want to show that the life of each child forms part of  history; then we may lead him on to see that the whole world is different for each man that has lived, better for each noble life, and to feel quite early  that God has sent him into the world with some work ready for him, and that his  business is to do that work."

"To a little child ... we must proceed  from the known to the unknown..."

"I venture to think that a child who begins history thus--not at the Creation, nor even at the Christian era, but at his own "nativity"---will get to understand it better than if he tried to survey the world from any other "pin-point" in time."

Enter: The Century Chart- a record of a child's life history

"The first square stands for the time before he is a year old...the second square for the time when he is one year old,  and so we mark the squares accordingly. The first line gives the first decade of  life, in the second line we have all the tens, in the third all the twenties... A  child very quickly learns to read on a black chart the number corresponding to  any square in the century of squares; "

"Later, ...historical events, are added"
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The quotes above are from this article I read recently about introducing history to a child. It mentions this idea of a Century Chart; there are examples and also a beautiful little story at the very end.

This is one for my oldest son. Each square has a photo of the big event in his life that happened that year.  It was easiest for me to print tiny pictures of each event to put in the square. The first photo is the night he was born. (The photos are a little different from the article's examples where stamps/drawings were used.)

This is made from 12x12 cardstock. Using a ruler, I drew a one inch grid first in pencil, then with a fine-tipped black marker.

I cut off the excess paper on 2 sides. The grid sheet  is attached to some nice scrapbook paper with gold corners.

My son's name (covered up) and the year 2007-2107 (a century) are in the title line.

I might move the graph off-center to make a space on one side for writing other dates of special events.

For now, ours is in a scrapbook page protector, but I'm looking for a frame with a removable back so we can admire and add to it yearly.

"How valuable some such tabulated knowledge is as a basis of historical teaching...

 ... it forms a framework, which from the first
saves events from getting shaken into
disorder in the memory..."
(Oh, I can relate to that!)

I'm looking forward to adding a new photo for the year that has passed at his next birthday. I want to say a little prayer for his upcoming year, when we do. I also hope it causes us to reflect on the passage of time that the chart represents and the changing and growing that have been done.
7 Comments
Heather Mac link
7/2/2014 11:11:04 pm

I love this. My children are all older, over the age of 10, but I still believe this would be an amazing activity for adding to their book of centuries. Thanks, wonderful thoughts.

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Bobby Jo
7/3/2014 05:02:59 am

Hello!
Thanks for stopping by. I did end up finding some $2 'calendar' frames at the local hobby store that worked perfectly for displaying this page for the children to look at frequently, but adding it to the Book of Centuries is an interesting idea too!

Reply
Sara B.
12/8/2016 05:13:51 pm

I would so love to do this! But what to do about adopted kiddos? I'm hoping some of your readers have ideas for me! So much time and memories lost! :'( My bios I could easily do this for - but the other 2 - ugh, I don't want to dig up bad memories, or make them sad that there's wouldn't be as complete as their siblings' - but at the same time, it could be a healing process, as well. Something to ponder, I suppose.

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Bobby
12/9/2016 05:46:57 pm

Hello!
I do know that Mason had the kids fill in their own squares with a small drawing. I've been considering switching over to this method as my days fill up faster recently instead of taking the time to find, print, and paste tiny photos.

I believe the children drew a star on the square when their life bgan, or when a sibling was born. You could possibly have them draw several boxes of stars for the years before they were in your home. Maybe even discuss how their little lives were shining bright even before you knew them, and how God placed them with you on the special year where they begin their drawings other than stars?? Just a thought. That may smooth over sad memories possibly?

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

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Mama Rachael
4/11/2017 07:10:56 am

I know that for adopted kids, we adopted a set of 5 embryos, and were approved and waiting for domestic infant, knowing their own history can be so important. I'm sure there is a 'age appropriateness' for dealing with some aspects of their lives, but celebrating their birth, their joining their forever family... there is a security in this.

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Celeste link
7/3/2018 01:52:47 pm

I know this is an old post but I really like this idea. Did you start the century the year the child was born or farther back? I think it might be nice to start it a little bit back to be able to add some family history like when mommy and daddy got married birth of older siblings etc. Does that sound like a good idea?

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Bobby
7/3/2018 09:10:39 pm

I began at the year they were born as that is how it was explained in the parents review article I read on it. But I think personalizing it is ok too! It would make layout much trickier unless you added fold back flaps for the earlier years? Or just had a separate additional century page for the previous events. The point is to make one century of time clearly visible to the child beginning with their own century which is of the most interest.

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