I really like these Usborne books, and our The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History is getting alot of love in our household. Satori isn’t exactly learning her world history yet, but she loves to look at the pictures and listen to mama read. She has been understanding the concept of how the world started, when oceans formed, when animals started, plants formed, when they came on land, when dinosaurs lived, and finally, humans. Her favorite page is this one, she loves to trace her fingers along the spiral here while describing how history has unfolded:

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1This was about the time of Charles Darwin’s 200 birthday anniversay last month. I enjoyed reading many other mama bloggers descriptions of how they celebrated his birthday and found some great books and resources. We have added to our library What Mr. Darwin Saw (released just a few days ago on March 1, 2009) and Charles Darwin (also recently released). Next year we will celebrate Darwin Day in style.

From Charlie’s Playhouse, we got this huge timeline. The back side has an  Activity Guide for ages 4-10, glossary and FAQs for kids and adults.

It just kept unfolding and unfolding – to a full 18 feet long! Made of durable, wipe-clean paper, it is perfect to run along, and after I read the “book” to Satori, she had a lot of fun running along it. On a whim, I shouted out parts of history and she would jump to them, and she was very good at that. I was impressed at her ability to retain what we had read just a few minutes ago. (Remember, I was kinda shouting, so you may want to turn your volume down a bit, lol!)

Another version they offer aside from the giant floor-mat timeline is a smaller poster suitable for hanging on the wall. Or, you can get the Ancient Creature Cards to make the most of your timeline.

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Another great investment to our home school, what a way to keep all the history periods memorable.

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