Genealogy For Children
At first, genealogy might not seem like a topic for children. But it is one that can be used with kids to help them in many different ways. Here are a number of suggestions on things to do with your 'descendants' using genealogy to help them learn about the world they live in.
Relationships
Kids grow up and learn about the people in their lives through meeting them. Most of the time they may spend hours and hours every week playing with cousins and being looked after by aunts and uncles and grandparents and not really know, or even care, how they are related. But a simple Descendants Chart of the appropriate family can make it all easier to understand. And if you use a software package that allows you to include pictures on the chart, you have a quick visual layout that they can associate themselves with.
"You have a sister and so do I. My sister is Aunt Cathy. I have a two little girls, you and Jane and Aunt Cathy has a little girl, Mary and a little boy, Jack. They are your cousins."
There is a very simple version of the family tree, on a tree shaped board, hanging on the wall at my in-law's house. Of course now my daughters can name some of their more distant ancestors, and the tree stretches across the floor. But they are learning!
History
This is probably the biggest area that the family tree can be of value in helping educate the youth of today. The ability to point to a family tree and discuss the events in relationship to a relative helps put things into perspective.
The Civil War is a confusing, often hard to understand block of American History. Being able to firmly anchor a couple of individuals in the family tree, you can help the student relate to the events on a personal level, rather than just some names and dates in books. Following the trail of a unit through the war adds so much to it.
The Battle of Gettysburg was one of the turning points of the war. The large numbers of troops, the huge loss of life were easy to see, but the rest is a mass of confusion. To know that one of your 4th Great Grandfathers was wounded there while a member of the 137th New York creates an interest. To learn that unit was instrumental in preventing the Southern forces from turning the flank at one end of the fish hook helps makes it come alive.
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