Sunday night I taught a class at my local Family History Center, Finding “Hidden” Records on FamilySearch.
I covered everything from this blog post and then some. I really love teaching. So it was a great time for me. And bonus, my students were pretty happy too.
Well, today I get to teach a group of 10 and 11-year-old girls. I have ten minutes. Ten minutes is not a lot of time. You really can’t cover a lot in ten minutes. So I am going for quality. We are going to talk about preserving memories. I’ll tell them a story or two. I’ll show them how to add a photo and an audio recording to FamilySearch from the app. Then I am going to challenge them to go home and add 3 photos and 3 audio recordings to FamilySearch using the FS app.
I will send them home with this handout:
I hope at least one of those little girls will feel a nudge towards her ancestors.
Wish me luck!
ps – Those girls? They are members of my church. We have a program called Activity Days that is for 8-12 year old girls. They meet twice each month and learn new things, complete service projects, or participate in some sort of activity. I was asked to help out this time. If you are an Activity Days Leader and come across this post, please feel free to use my handout.
pps – If you are interested in my overly detailed handout from my Finding “Hidden” Records on FamilySearch class, send me an email and I’ll happily share. Email address on sidebar.
Amberly, this is awesome! I love that you’re sharing your knowledge with so many people, especially the next generation. Do you have any ideas for getting my children more interested in genealogy?
Thank you, Katie! 🙂
I think the trickiest group to get interested are the children of avid genealogists. I have all boys and they are sports lovers all the way. So my tactics with my own children may not work well for yours, but this is what I find has helped:
1 – Digitize any family videos you have and put them in some sort of easy format for your children to watch. At our house, Sundays are a no TV day, but home movies are allowed, so naturally, they watch them a lot.
2 – Have TONS of framed photos in the house – old and new. Add them slowly and constantly. Reference them when you tell a SHORT story. “Grandma Duval was such a good shot that she could take out a groundhog in her yard by shooting it through the eye from the front porch. Grandma Duval is the woman with the camera in the picture in my office.” Short story, kind of gruesome and rough and tumble, just what boys like, reminded them who she is based on one of the photos.
3 – Master the art of stories that are 1 minute or less. Tell just enough to get their interest. Hope they will ask for the rest of the story. Be careful to share those details with brevity. They aren’t genealogists, don’t talk to them like they are.
4 – I give a Family History gift every year for Christmas. Whatever the gift is, I make sure my kids are fully aware of it. Their copy doesn’t get wrapped or count as one of their gifts (they get three – one to use, one to amuse, and one to cherish, plus one Santa gift, and stocking stuffers), I just store them for now.
5 – We regularly play with our Family Go-Fish game. I created an expansion pack that I haven’t blogged about. It has all family history cards in it. https://thegenealogygirl.blog/2014/01/20/how-i-share-family-card-game-awesomeness/
Good luck! Getting genealogists kiddos interested is hard.
These are great tips! I’ve definitely tried the rough-and-tumble bit. They’re interested in our ancestors who were involved in sports, the military or anyone famous that they recognize.
I definitely need to work on the brevity bit. You’ll have noticed I’m not good at that! Ha!
The brevity bit is the hardest part for us genealogy lovers. 😉
And is it weird that I’m also impressed by Grandma Duval’s story? :))
Not weird at all. I’m not a gun-lover, but I am definitely impressed by her shooting skills.
This should be so much fun! I’d love to teach children about genealogy. I will be doing a presentation next month to adults in our community about genealogy, and I am already getting nervous! Good luck and enjoy!
Thank you, Amy! Your local library might allow you to teach a Family History class (or series) to children. You would be fantastic at that! I hope your upcoming class goes well! I wish I could help with the nerves. I have been put on the spot so frequently, for so many years that I don’t get nervous anymore. But, it has taken a long time. Playing the piano and the organ at church for pretty much my whole life cured the nerves. 😉
I taught law students for 32 years, so you’d think I’d be used to it also. But this will be my first time talking about genealogy to a larger crowd.
Sending lots of confidence and happy genealogy vibes your way! I hope it goes well for you, Amy. 🙂
Thanks, Amberly—It’s not til November 14, and I will probably blog about it!
It is people like you that make genealogy such a great pastime. I would say keep up the good work, but I really do not need to.
Thank you, Charles, that is very kind. <3
I would say good luck with the girls, but I have a feeling that you’ll really connect with them and at least some will take up the challenge. 🙂
Thank you, Su. It went really well! My friend and I each took 10 minutes. She introduced them to indexing – what it is, why it’s important, and then we indexed one record together. Then I covered photos and stories and how to add them to FamilySearch. The girls were completely engaged and excited to go home and try it out. One of my friends is the mom of one of the girls. She told me her daughter came home really enthusiastic about preserving photos and memories and trying a batch of indexing. Apparently, this girl was explaining how to do it all to her mom. So I think it was a hit! 🙂
That’s so good to hear. 🙂 I really believe that kids are genuinely interested in their family’s stories, and you’re helping them understand how to make sense of them and preserve them in a larger context. Well done!!!
Thank you, Su!! <3
I admire your ability to talk and teach. I find it difficult to speak to groups. Love the handout.
Thank you for your kind words, Cathy. I love teaching. But that is also my professional background. My degree is in Elementary Education and I taught Kindergarten once upon a time. Now I just mostly teach youth and adults about Family History. 🙂
I wanted to be a teacher when I went off to college but in the end it didn’t happen.
What did you major in instead?
Genealogy 😉
🙂 Ahhhhh…. the dream program.