It's All Relative: How to Trace Your Family Tree (Ages 10-13)

Tracing the lives of ancestors connects students to the past and brings history to life. In this class students will learn how to start tracing their own family trees. We will cover basic vocabulary, heirlooms, how to interview family members, primary vs. secondary sources, reliability of sources, and some of the websites that can help get started. We will begin class by asking each person to share what sparked their interest in tracing their tree. Throughout the lesson students will interact with slides, handouts, discussion, and sharing stories with the class.

During class there will be a time to show off a family heirloom and share a brief story of its importance to the family. Heirlooms can be anything passed down in the family that has meaning and a story such as: a family Bible, photograph, journal, furniture, doll, recipe, watch, quilt, etc. If your student has an item to share please have them bring it to class so it is ready. It also helps if they come to class with the family tree chart printed that will be provided when they enroll.

This course is for beginners, no prior knowledge is needed. While this course will focus on more traditional family tree format. I do recognize there are all types of families. Adopted students can trace their adopted lines instead of their biological lines if that is preferred. If the student is from a single parent family and can not contact the other side at all we can work with just the one side of the tree. Just let me know about any special circumstances at least 24 hours in advance so I can make adjustments that will help your student.