Breaking Through the Generation Gap

Updated 22 Aug 2017 by Claire V Brisson-Banks, BS, MLIS, A.G. ®

           © Copyright 2005-2017 Timeless Genealogies

Learning about ones' family history is both rewarding and interesting no matter what age the individual asking is concerning their ancestral background.

To assist this endeavor it helps to tie in historical events to their ancestors. Suddenly names, dates and places become connected when ancestral family members are part of the history lesson. They may have fought in the Civil War, WWI or WWII; taken part in the expansion out west or participated in the women's movement for the right to vote along with any other historical event. Just where do they fit in American history?

Learning styles can affect the outcome when working with youth and making oneself aware of them will help them to be successful in their ancestral research. According to Colin Rose, "There are three types of learning styles:

• Visual
• Auditory
• Kinesthetic and Tactile

Those who are visual will enjoy working with fan charts, creating an online presence for the family and perhaps hunting in cemeteries for long lost relatives and collecting photographs of ancestors. If they are listeners they may be the one who remembers names, dates and places, doing data entry, indexing and hunting through records. The last area brings in enjoying historical research combined with historical events, even participating in historical recreations or developing a family website. The combination of all three learning styles makes a great combination for a family of genealogical detectives!

Home Treasures
 

These artifacts and others can be intertwined into stories about ancestors. Once the stories are written they can be shared through blogs, wikis, websites, an online journal and scrapbooks. Some of the programs that make these things happen and possible are:
 

• Blogger.com
• Wordpress.com
• PBWiki.com
• SchoolExpress.com
• OurStory.com
• Google.com 

Scrap Booking

Scrapbooking has come a long way from years ago; however, scrapbooks are what is wanted by those creating them. Some are the ones created with scraps and stories written in by hand, others are done with the newer templates and photos added and end up with a more professional look and now there is online scrapbooking, choose the one that works best for your family. Bargainpack.com provides some great supplies shipped to your home.
 
Ancestral Activities 

To help children remember who their ancestors are one can make those ancestral pictures into jigsaw puzzles and then spend time putting the puzzles together and adding stories of those ancestors with the youth is a great resource that should not be overlooked.
 
One can also make a coloring picture of a family photo with a program by Anthony Craft called My Picture Puzzle, once installed it can be printed and then an individual can color the picture. Additional activities with pictures is to create online family albums with Flickr, Picaboo, Snapfish, Shutterfly or Photobucket.

Additional ideas are:

• Discover what happened on the day of their birth or what happened on the date of birth for an ancestor
• This day in history from the History Channel
• Create a timeline of your own life events, or your ancestors
• Learn what your surname means
• MyHeritageBook is a great gift and learning tool, use TIMELESSGEN code and get a discount
• Build a fun pedigree chartwww.familytreetemplates.net from a favorite cartoon character or a more tradition one
• Create a tree on FamilySearch Keepsakes
• Interview a Relative (don't forget the recorder!)

Ancestral Places

Looking for ancestral places can be done by using Wikipedia or Ask. Adding locations currently and throughout time helps to add understanding for the time periods ones ancestors were living in. One can also search for a map online and look under images instead of the web responses.

There are various map games at Map Web Games. Taking an ancestral trip is also another possible opportunity to locate ancestors in distance cemeteries and their home towns. Family Atlas can help you with mapping your family.

Historical Records

There are many locations to find historical records both online and in person. Archives, libraries and the Family History Library are just a few of the many physical locations. A few online locations are:
http://familysearch.org/, Ancestry.com, Rootsweb.com, Fold3.com, and FindMyPast.com. There are many others that have records available online however many of them are also subscription websites.

Viewing historical movies of the time period can also help to add understanding the culture of the times. Many like this are available through the public libraries or simply using a Google search engine and typing in "historical movies for children", you will be surprised at how many are available for free. The Ancestors Series is available online through BYUhttp://www.byutv.org/search?q=Ancestors.

There are also online games to help learn more about specific time periods through the Library of Congress' online website and these other sites:  

US Gen Web Kidz
Family Tree Kids
I Dream of Genealogy: Family is all around..
Walk Through Time
You Be the Historian
Who Am I?
America's Story
Abraham Lincoln Research Site
Middle Ages
Great Websites for Kids

Genealogical Software Program

Ancestral Quest

Maintaining total control of your family's information is most important, especially in today's world.
Ancestral Quest donated the code for PAF and created the first Family Tree Maker. It is simple to use, yet powerful for sourcing, adding pictures and linking and syncing with FamilySearch.org. It is available for both the PC and the Mac operating systems.

Portability

Android Devices
iPad Devices

Youth Online Resources

• Family History Activities for Children: 3-11
• Family History Activities for Youth : 11- ?
• Family History Activities for Youth
• Involve Children and Youth in Family History
• Youth and Family History
• Connect with your Family

"There are only two lasting bequests we can give our children - one is Roots and the other Wings"

                                                                       by Hodding S. Carter

© Copyright 2005-2017 Timeless Genealogies.  All rights reserved.  Written permission to reproduce all or part of this syllabus material in any format, including photocopying, data retrieval, or the Internet, must be secured in advance from the copyright holder. Contact: claire@timelessgen.com

Updated: August, 2017