New Genealogy Textbooks for Kids

I received the following press release from a colleague of mine and fellow ProGen Study Group member, Jennifer Holik. While I usually feature educational opportunities for genealogists on my blog, these are unique new books for getting kids interested in genealogy and teaching them beginning research skills. 

Chicago, Illinois – March 23, 2012:
Professional Genealogist, Jennifer Holik, of Generations publishes six new genealogy textbooks for kids. Parents, teachers, and genealogical societies looking for a how-to genealogy textbook for elementary through high school-aged students need to look no further. In Branching Out, a new series available from Generations, author and professional genealogist Jennifer Holik provides parents and educators with the tools they need to teach genealogical research skills to children and teens.

Through thirty fun and educational lessons, students will learn the foundations of genealogy and how to begin research on a level that they can understand and enjoy. Each lesson contains a clearly defined goal, all necessary vocabulary, additional reading assignments, and lesson and homework assignments to extend understanding of the concept.

The Branching Out series of books begins with six paperback textbooks which are also available as a PDF or PowerPoint download. The PowerPoint files, which were created with the visual and hands-on learner in mind, contain the same information as the textbooks with a few fun and interactive extras.

The Branching Out: Genealogy Lessons for Adults will be released in April with additional books for families, genealogical societies, and educators to be published later in 2012.

The books are available on CreateSpace in paperback form at the links provided. The PDF and PowerPoint files are available at the Generations Store at: http://www.e-junkie.com/generations.

Branching Out: Genealogy for 1st – 3rd Grade Students Lessons 1-15
Book $24.95   PDF $17.95   PowerPoint $17.95

Branching Out: Genealogy for 1st – 3rd Grade Students Lessons 16-30
Book $29.95   PDF $20.95   PowerPoint $20.95

Branching Out: Genealogy for 4th – 8th Grade Students Lessons 1-15
Book $26.95  PDF $18.95   PowerPoint $18.95

Branching Out: Genealogy for 4th – 8th Grade Students Lessons 16-30
Book $32.95   PDF $23.95   PowerPoint $23.95

Branching Out: Genealogy for High School Students Lessons 1-15
Book $29.95   PDF $20.95   PowerPoint $20.95

Branching Out: Genealogy for High School Students Lessons 16-30
Book $34.95   PDF $24.95   PowerPoint $24.95

If you live in the Chicagoland area, you can meet Jennifer and purchase books at the Fountaindale Public Library’s Author Fair on Saturday, April 14, 2012. For more information visit the Generations Blog.

FamilySearch YouTube Channel

FamilySearch has updated their YouTube channel with lots of fun video clips, especially for beginners. There are ideas on getting started and helpful hints and tips. 

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

We're pleased to announce the launch of our updated FamilySearch YouTube channel, Thursday, Aug. 4th. Over the past few months, we have been creating video content to reach a variety of audiences throughout the genealogy world. 

In preparation for the launch, we are giving a few influential genealogy enthusiasts a preview of the channel along with an invitation to break the news in your online communities through your blog, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.

The playlists includes:

• Genealogy in 5 Minutes – a 24-episode series offering an overview of how-to’s, best practices, and helpful hints for doing genealogy.
• Woven Generations – an inspirational series about the benefits and success stories of genealogy work.
• Genealogy Fun – a fun video series highlighting the lighter side of genealogy.
• Societies and Archives – a video series highlighting genealogical societies & archives.
• Genealogy News & Events – What’s going on the genealogy world?
• Family History: Getting Started – a training video series for using FamilySearch.
• “How-to’s” from the Experts – a series of interview clips with best practices for finding your ancestors.

We value your feedback. Please don’t hesitate to let us know ways we can improve the channel and our video content. As we produce these series, if you would like to receive updates or video previews in the future please let us know. Your experience and perspective is extremely valuable to us.

Free Genealogy Course for Beginners

Family Tree University is offering a new free course for beginning genealogists:
Discover Your Family Tree: Genealogy for the Absolute Beginner

I have do not have experience with any of the Family Tree University courses, but this may be a good overview for those new to genealogy. It is an online course where you download the lessons and complete them over two weeks. At the end of each lesson there is an exercise to complete, and then you receive feedback via email from the instructor. The first session of this course will begin on Monday, October 11, 2010.

Here is the course description from the Family Tree University Web site:

This course will start you on the fun and rewarding journey of discovering your roots. Learn how to begin, where to look for information to extend your family tree, what to do with what you find and how to put it all together. 

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• How to fill out a family tree chart
• How to record and organize information
• Where to find information to extend your family tree
• How to search online and in repositories

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE

• Anyone new to genealogy and family history research
• Genealogy "dabblers" who need additional direction in order to advance their research
• Researchers who want a refresher course on core family history research principles
• Library and archive staff who want to master basic genealogy principles in order to better assist patrons