Book of Centuries

One of my favorite things about a Charlotte Mason Education is notebook keeping. There is such a variety of notebooks that a Charlotte Mason student comes to know over the years from nature notebooks, to commonplace notebooks, science notebooks, and more. A favorite notebook of mine is the Book of Centuries (BOC). Here is a book, a museum collection, of all the historical treasures that a student has come to know from 4th grade until the end of their education, which for some could be a lifetime.

So what exactly is a Book of Centuries? Simply put, a BOC is a sketchbook for drawing and recording history in a chronologically-arranged fashion. It has 2 pages dedicated to each century in history, one side blank for the sketches and one side lined to write in the events by date. These sketches and written events are to be of the child's choice, allowing them to record weekly what they have found to be important and significant from their lessons. 

The BOC is not to be rushed, or filled in all at once, but it is to become a life-long interest to the child, slowly recording and intentionally choosing what to place in each century. Each drawing chosen is to represent something significant, interesting, valuable, or important to the child. Each child's book will be different and unique, as what they enter will be their personal connection to their lessons. It is supposed to be organic, to flow naturally as they learn about the battles, inventions, discoveries, explorations, and people they find significant in history.

As the child fills in the pages and lines, overtime, they will be able to look at the events at a glance of that century and be able to connect historical events, people, discoveries, and inventions. My own children have been amazed when they had connected that Kipling, Theodore Roosevelt, David Livingstone, Winston Churchill, and Charlotte Mason all lived in the same century! The sewing machine, telephone, and the telegraph inventions also share the same 19th century. Mozart was born just 20 years before the Declaration of Independence. And the sundial was invented not long before Aesop wrote his famous fables. They have made these discoveries all because they have stayed faithful to recording weekly in their Book of Centuries.

At the very end of their BOCs, there are 10 or so blank pages for map drawings or other special studies. When my children study about a country, they can choose to sketch the country's map in the back of their BOC and briefly write something important that they learned about that country. For a special study, a child may choose to dedicate a page to ships used in battles, explorations, or trades. Or maybe you have a child interested in historical clothing and they will choose to sketch and label how clothing changed over the centuries. ​

How to make an entry in your Book of Centuries

• It is important to allow your children to sketch and record what they feel is important and interesting to them.
• Once a week, have the child choose what they will record in their BOC and write in the name of the event/person/artifact/etc. and year or year span of event on the lined side.
• Next, have the child decided what they will sketch to represent that entry. Keep in mind that there will be many sketches added over the years, so keep the sketches an appropriate size and placement on the page. An encyclopedia is a great resource for finding a picture to look at as you draw your own. Of course, google always works too!
• If drawing in pencil, like my children like to do first, go back and outline with a black calligraphy pen or other good quality pen.
• Carefully erase pencil lines once the ink has dried.
• Let them make it their own museum that they will grow to cherish as they add to it year after year, and hopefully continue to naturally record in it, as we should never stop learning. 

Because this is a weekly activity in a Charlotte Mason education, hopefully this becomes natural for students to reach for their BOC as soon as they learn or read about something of interest that prompts them to record it in their book. But sometimes students can get stuck on what to record in their BOCs. So to help them think through their lessons, I have created a list of ideas that might help them remember something from the week.

Feel free to download this idea list and slide it into your student's BOC to help them get started!

While there are many Book of Centuries resources out there, my favorite is from Riverbend Press. They are hardcover, thick paper, and of such beautiful quality that I simply could not settle for anything less.

If you're looking for a more detailed article on how to keep a Book of Centuries in your home, check out this PNEU article The Book of Centuries.