My Book of Centuries

Product Description

History becomes memorable when you personalize it!

With My Book of Centuries you will create your own personal record of the discoveries, inventions, people, places, and events throughout history that grab your interest and pique your curiosity.

A Book of Centuries is kind of like a timeline that doesn’t clutter your wall space, because it’s in a book. But it is so much more! It is a book your children create and keep for themselves, which makes history take on a personal significance.

Use with the whole family—Create a family Book of Centuries with younger children and allow each older child to create his own.
Encourages more personal connections—The four-pages-per-century format gives your child plenty of room and some gentle guidance to help him create a century-at-a-glance chart, notice contemporary noteworthy persons, trace interesting artifacts through the centuries, and summarize his findings in a brief narration. (See page details below.)
Lasts for years—Thick paper and a sturdy spiral binding allow you to create a keepsake that will last for years to come.
Makes history come alive—Help your child discover the mental connections that make history come alive. My Book of Centuries will encourage a lifetime of loving history.

Four Kinds of Pages

Brief Narrative Page

Use the Brief Narrative pages to summarize any century that interests you. Remember, these books become “a keen delight” because you are allowed to personalize them. You get to choose what will be included, focusing on the events and people that you have made a personal connection with during your studies.

Century At a Glance Page

Each block in the grid stands for one year in the given century. You can use this grid to note specific events where the date is important, recording something that you found most characteristic about that year. Feel free to record by writing or by drawing.

Noteworthy Page

Each century gets one page with columns to list or draw pertinent information. Use this page for events or people that you don’t particularly need to know the exact dates for, but want to remember the general idea of who were contemporaries and what was happening during the same era. The columns simply allow for some organization of the data.

Century Artifacts Page

Draw items from the various time periods that you see on museum visits or in book illustrations. You can also select an item of personal interest and show how it changed over the centuries, drawing that artifact in the same place on the different pages. For example, you might show how pianos or eyeglasses have changed over the centuries.

Here is a short video of Sonya Shafer explaining the basics of keeping a Book of Centuries.

Our basic Book of Centuries is still available as a free download, but we are pleased to also offer My Book of Centuries as an expanded version in printed or downloadable form.

Additional Information

Dimensions	8.5 × 11 × 1.25 in
Media Type	Printed Book, E-book (pdf)
Suggested grades	4–12
Author	Christie Groff, Sonya Shafer
Pages	218

Reviews

out of 5

missingtheshire – Jul 26th 2011:

Ok now I need a new 6 year old to start school with – I am in my last year and how I would have loved this for the last years:(( Looks like a fantastic resource as always. Linda
out of 5

RobinP – Jul 26th 2011:

Oh how wonderful! I’ve not really been satisfied with any BOC I’ve seen. This offers so many options! My 8 and 7yo boys will love this, and so will I!
out of 5

Homeschooling6 – Jul 26th 2011:

Adding to my ‘wishlist’
out of 5

Steffanie – Jul 27th 2011:

I agree! I can’t wait until we can use this. Beautiful job!
out of 5

Christine – Jul 27th 2011:

Great job, Christie! Need to purchase one for our household.
out of 5

Heather J – Jul 27th 2011:

Fantastic as always! Thank you for making ideas become al useful things.
out of 5

Misty – Jul 27th 2011:

Oooooooh, I like! Definitely going on the list for this year. Now I can have my wall back…..but I do love the visual aid that a wall timeline provides.
Hmmmm, maybe a dual system would be nice.
out of 5

Alicia – Jul 27th 2011:

I have looked at many time lines and books – this exceeds all others! Love it! I will be buying this for my kids – 2,4,7 and 9.
out of 5

Sara B. – Jul 27th 2011:

Oh, beautiful! I will have to see about getting those for the kids as they get older. Thanks for another awesome resource!
out of 5

havefaithplease – Jul 28th 2011:

This looks fantastic! I’ve been slow to start a Book of Centuries due to my lack of creativity. You have just solved my problem! This is on my list of “to buy” for the upcoming school year!
out of 5

simple home – Jul 28th 2011:

I already purchased the Wonders of Old timeline book for my son’s history this year. I really like it, but this one looks even better! I will definitely be getting this one for my next child. Thanks!
out of 5

Penny – Jul 28th 2011:

I could never get my BOC to work out right. Christie’s BOC looks like it is just what I need. I’m going to order this BOC.
out of 5

Tina H. – Jul 28th 2011:

Wow! I’m new to the BOC idea, but thought it would be too cumbersome to keep decent notebooks on our own. However, with THIS book, I can see my girls creating beautiful keepsakes of their educational years. They are entering 4th grade now, and we are just beginning our formal study of world history (with Mystery of History) so this is perfect timing! Ordering later today!
out of 5

Melissa Jones – Jul 29th 2011:

Unless I am missing something, the only thing I do not see featured in this BOC are the blank pages the students of CM used to draw their own maps. I can’t quite get over that fact. I do think all that information should be together. I don’t suppose I could manually add that in???
- out of 5
  
  Sonya Shafer – Jul 29th 2011:
  
  You could easily add those if you get the e-book version to print for yourself. You could insert map pages wherever you wanted them.
- out of 5
  
  missceegee – Jul 29th 2011:
  
  Melissa, the beauty of the e-book version is that you can personalize as much as you’d like adding those things which are important to you.
  
  When I created the book, please understand that I wasn’t trying to recreate exactly what Charlotte’s schools used, but simply my interpretation of how to make a BOC most useful to my family. It is offered not as “the right way” of making a BOC, but simply as “one way” of making a BOC. Feel free to make the e-book version your own to meet the needs of your family.
  
  By way of further explanation, I didn’t include map pages in the book since I choose to keep our map drill work separately from our BOC as the two things serve two distinct yet related purposes for our family. I also didn’t want the book to become so large as to be unwieldy. It’s quite hefty as is.
  
  HTH,
  
  Christie Groff
- out of 5
  
  Donna S – Nov 16th 2011:
  
  I think the Century Artifacts page is blank for drawings and such. I missed it the first time I scrolled through but went back and checked because I wouldn’t like it without a page for drawings. This book looks so fantastic!
out of 5

Rachel – Jul 29th 2011:

Can you give a little more information about the book construction? How heavy is the paper? Would it be suitable for light watercolors? Of what is the cover made? Is the spiral binding metal or plastic?

I love the design and layout of the book and it makes me look forward to graduating to a BOC when the time comes.
- out of 5
  
  Sonya Shafer – Jul 29th 2011:
  
  The paper is similar to a sketching journal’s paper. We tried to match a sketch diary that I had found in a craft store in the drawing and painting section and liked the feel and weight of the paper. The cover is UV-coated card stock and the spiral is plastic.
out of 5

Laura – Jul 30th 2011:

What is the range of dates for this new Book of Centuries? Is it the same range as your basic Book of Centuries?

I like the format very much. Thank you for offering this.
- out of 5
  
  Jordan Smith – Jul 30th 2011:
  
  My Book of Centuries goes from Creation to 2100 A. D., so roughly the same dates as the free Book of Centuries download, which goes from 4000 B. C. to 2099 A. D.
out of 5

Trisha – Jul 31st 2011:

Sonya,
Thank you for this wonderful resource, and THANK YOU for dating the pages B.C and A.D. What a blessing!
out of 5

Beth – Jan 4th 2012:

I am wondering the total # of pages in this book.
- out of 5
  
  Doug Smith – Jan 4th 2012:
  
  It has 218 pages.
out of 5

Kelly – Jun 27th 2012:

If we order the ebook, is it okay to print multiple pages for more than one child? Or is the spirit of it that we print it only one time? Thanks! (I’m thinking of using it for myself to help my understanding of history, then to use it for my son in a couple of years when he’s old enough. But, I don’t want to abuse the spirit of the ebook.)

Thanks!
- out of 5
  
  Jordan Smith – Jun 28th 2012:
  
  You are welcome to print copies from the e-book for any members of your immediate family, so what you described is just fine.
out of 5

Lori – Jun 28th 2012:

What are the dimensions? Thank you!
- out of 5
  
  Jordan Smith – Jun 28th 2012:
  
  My Book of Centuries measures 11″ x 8.5″.
out of 5

Amy (verified owner) – Nov 13th 2012:

It looks like the BoC is in landscape mode. I was hoping to buy the PDF version and use it in a binder. Do you have any tips for finding a landscape binder, or can the pages be put in a regular binder (hole punched on the top)? Thanks!
- out of 5
  
  Sonya Shafer – Nov 14th 2012:
  
  Try doing a Google search for “binder landscape format.” I saw several possibilities there. Alternatively, I suppose you could hole punch at the top of the pages, but the dates are up near the top of the page and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to put a hole through that important aspect. You might try printing the sample and punching holes in the top to see how it would work.