Connecting Over the Distance this Holiday Season

Kim and I were going through some boxes last weekend and found some treasures.  We found some old cassette tapes we had made when we were in college to send home to the family.  He has sent tapes home from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin and I had sent tapes home from study abroad in the Middle East to Utah.  We didn't know each other then so it was fun to listen to our younger selves.  They were treasures that our families kept with our letters and then returned to us when we got home.  We knew they were there but I'd forgotten about them.  What fun to discover them now.  We need to bring them into the digital age and store them with our other family history items.  

Likewise, my family had sent an old VHS tape to me while I was abroad.  I found this tape a few years back and took it to our Thanksgiving celebration.  My little sisters were so cute at that age and we got to see them and show the video to their current husbands.  We ought to dig it out this year and show their kids.  I remember when I received the tape I was so homesick I cried and cried while I watched it.  And I put it away and never watched it again because it made me so sad.  But what a joy to find now.  Pieces of family history that captured the every day and time capsuled it into the future.  

So I have a proposal for you if you are missing the regular holiday get togethers this year.  Make a recording, video or audio, and send it to your family.  Perhaps different parts of the family who are apart can share videos with each other.  Don't just let zoom conferences fade into the past.  Capture something and store it with your other family history items.  It might not seem very important now, but trust me, later it will feel like a cache of riches.  

Perhaps you can use costumes or props.  But it doesn't have to be a special production.  Tour your house.  Show them the projects you've been working on.  Take them through a day in the life.  Talk about past family gatherings.  Talk about what you want to do in the future.  Teach them a new (or old) recipe.  Talk about your family from the past.  Talk about your family now.  Talk about the craziness of 2020.  Someday we'll be on the other side of this strange year and we will have forgotten all the details.  It will be interesting to see what future generations think when they find out what we've been through.  

So put zoom away for a little bit.  Connect over the geographical distance this year, and see if you connect over the years too.  And let me know how it goes.

Family History for Right Now

Several years ago, there was much ado about Bruce Feiler's article in the New York Times entitled "The Stories that Bind Us."  In it he talked about how family history stories give kids resilience.  His assertions were based on some studies done in the Psychology Department of Emory University.  There, in the Emory Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life, Marshall Duke, Robyn Fivush, Jennifer Bohanek, noticed that children who knew more about their family history did better in therapy.  They created the "Do You Know" test with 20 questions about family history.  They found that the children who scored the highest on on the test also scored higher in tests of feeling like they have a sense of control in their world, lower levels of anxiety and more resilience.  

A sense of control in the world, lower levels of anxiety and more resilience!! Exactly what we all need--no matter what age you are--in these surprising, challenging, crazy pandemic times.  

Now is the perfect moment for each of us to look to our ancestors for strength and inspiration.  Now is the perfect time to instill those stories in our family members to lower anxiety and produce more resilience.  When you tell a family story, in person, over social media or over video conferencing, you are creating more peace in the midst of the storm.

SO, we've decided to look to our ancestors with you, over social media, our newsletter and etc. with the hashtag #ResilientRoots.  We hope you will join us and share your ancestor's stories of faith, resilience, patience, perseverance, flexibility, optimism, kindness, grace and connection.  We're excited to share ours with you.  I think we can all find the hope we need already inside us.  It is in the very DNA they gave us.  

Watch over the next couple of weeks:

Here on the blog

On Instagram

On Facebook

On Twitter

And On Our Newsletter

To read more: 

My previous writings about the science behind family history: https://zapthegrandmagap.blogspot.com/search/label/Science

Bruce Feiler's RootsTech Keynote: https://youtu.be/i8sZl-Ny2D0

Fivush, Robyn. Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; Bohanek, Jennifer G. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Duke, Marshall.  Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.  “The Intergenerational Self: Subjective Perspective and Family History.” in F. Sani (Ed.) Individual and Collective Self-Continuity.  Mahwah, NH: Erlbaum, 2007. Available at https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ad62/42da2284543ed3fe161049f941b3f0a43daf.pdf

Fivush, Robyn. Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; Bohanek, Jennifer G. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Zayman, Widaad. Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.  “Personal and intergenerational narratives in relation to adolescents’ well-being.” In T. Habermas (ed.). The development of autobiographical reasoning in adolescence and beyond. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 131. 45-57. 

Holiday Sales

We have a whole bunch of awesome holiday sales coming your way with deeper discounts than we've ever done before.  And some new products that are sure to help you create gifts and resources that will help you teach your family about their family history. They're all listed at familychartmasters.com/thanksgiving but you can see them here as well.

On Sale November 18–27

50% Off Family Gathering Idea Book
20 pages of Family Gathering ideas from our Family Reunion books. Never before sold separately. $20 value! All the best ideas to make family history fun playing together as a family.

50% Off All Zap the Grandma Gap Ebooks
Every book in the series, including the main textbook, the workbook and all 8 of the children's activity books. Even the complete Family Reunion books are on sale at ½ price. Tons of fun activities for the holidays to help your family learn about their history.

Both of these are available at https://zapthegrandmagap.com/orderpg.html

 

On Sale November 24–27 (Our deepest discounts for 2017!)

All new Gift Certificates

50% Off DNA Chart Gift Certificates
Help your friends and family show off the results of their DNA test in a beautiful way. Gift Certificates arrive instantly in your email ready to print and give. Perhaps you don't have easy access to their DNA test results, or you just want an easy and meaningful gift for a family member who has helped you with your research by taking a DNA test.

40% Off DNA Chart and Testing Kit Bundle
The .pdf Gift Certificate good for the cost of an Artist's Grade Canvas print arrives instantly to your email, and the Ancestry.com DNA kit is shipped to the shipping address you provide. Send in the DNA kit, and about 6 weeks later when you have your results, you can order your chart at familychartmasters.com/dna. Give the gift of a Canvas Ethnicity chart and a testing kit for not much more than the test alone.

Both of these are available at https://familychartmasters.com/dnagc 

No worries if you are spending time with your family this weekend.  We want you to be able to focus on them and make lots of great memories.  So these sales last all weekend.  No promo code necessary.  And keep your eyes peeled for more great sales coming in November.  Lots of great things to share with your family.  

RootsTech 2017: Speaking Schedule and Breaking New Ground

Ok.  I just have to brag on my family a little bit here.  As you know, my son Matthew was the first RootsTech youth speaker, and as far as I know, still the youngest speaker that has ever presented at RootsTech.  That was truly the highlight of my career and a big payday for this mom.

Well now we're breaking new ground at RootsTech again.  February 2017 I'll be giving one presentation with my father, and two more with my sister. (as well as two by myself.) We're truly making RootsTech a family affair.  As it should be.  I'm pretty sure I hold the record as the person who has spoken with the most family members at the conference.  It has been delightful to spend more time with my sister Amy and her two little sons and to spend time with my Dad while we've been putting these presentations together.  And they are going to be great presentations.  I'm super excited to share them with you.

Here's the schedule:

• 3:00 pm Wednesday Feb 8th  Nature and Nurture: Family History for Adoptees with Amy Slade: 251A
• 4:30 pm Wednesday Feb 8th  Skinny Genes: Successful Lean Startup for Genealogists: Ballroom A

(I'm also excited to be speaking at the Innovator's Summit this year about Lean Startup business practices.  Hopefully that will help new businesses in this market.)

• 3:00 pm Thursday Feb 9th   What's in Your Attic and What to Do About It with Don Carpenter: Ballroom A
• 3:00 pm Friday Feb 10th  18 Genealogy Contests to Play With Your Family Online: Room 151
• 3:00 pm Saturday Feb 11th Helping Your Grandparents Share Their Story with Amy Slade: Room 255B

You can see more details about each presentation on the RootsTech Website. 

I'm also giving a few demos in the demo hall.  I'll be speaking about our Zap The Grandma Gap Books at the Family Tree Maker booth.  And I'll be speaking for genealogyDOTcoach in the main demo theater at 11:20 on Saturday. The genealogyDOT coach booth is holding free demo lectures (we're calling them "Pep Talks"!) throughout every day of RootsTech. Even though I'm a coach, I won't be giving any Pep Talks in the genealogyDOTcoach booth this time.  There were so many great speakers there that I knew they were covered.  Check out the pep talk schedule here...So many important and knowledgeable speakers. 

So, really, you're covered for RootsTech 2017.  You don't even need to look at the rest of the schedule.  We have lots of great ideas for you and lots of help for your family history.  Looking forward to seeing you there!

Big Zap The Grandma Gap Cyber Monday Sale

From the Zap The Grandma Gap Blog: 

Our biggest sale ever will happen on Cyber Monday this year.

All e-books will be 50% off.  No coupon necessary.  

Just check out the website on Monday for great ideas to help you connect with your family.

Introducing My New E-Books

At long last, for the first time ever, I am pleased to announce that all of my Zap the Grandma Gap books and workbooks are now available in e-book form! It was a bit of a curve ball for this traditional librarian to decide to go digital, but with great thanks to my employee, Christine, I am ready to offer you all portable versions of each of my books, including my three brand new workbooks.

With hundreds of live links to all of the best genealogy sites all over the web and instant delivery, these e-books are sure to be a hit with your family members.  We hope this new delivery system will make it even easier to share your family history with your family members. 

And to celebrate this exciting milestone, I am offering an introductory sale on all of the e-books. If you missed out on the 20% off pre-order sale, have no fear, I've got you covered in a couple of directions with this new sale. We currently have two offers to help you spread the family history bug this holiday season:

1. Purchase a hard copy of any of my books or workbooks and receive the e-book of that same book for only $1.  This is a great option for giving a book and keeping a book. You can't beat a little personal reward for just a dollar, can you? Just place the order for a hard copy book and then order the same book in the e-book format.  Click on over to your cart when you are ready to check out and the e-book will automatically be adjusted in your cart to only $1. 
2. Purchase 5 or more e-books and receive 50% off your entire e-book order. Say you've banished paper books from your house and only live by your iPad? No problem, I've got you covered! The more you buy of my e-book editions, the more you'll save.  Buy multiple copies of the same e-book to share with your children or grandchildren, or purchase one of each just for yourself, it won't matter because you'll receive 50% off and you'll be saving tons! On this offer, you'll need to enter the promotional code "Zap5HalfPrice" and the sale will automatically appear in your shopping cart. Kind of like magic but more like computer programming.

I'm doing my best to lessen your trips to the store this December and e-books just can't get any simpler. They are great for gift-giving or for personal reading when you have a few spare minutes (on the bus or train, while you wait for your car's oil change, in the doctor's office, in line at the store...). Take a moment to review all of my Zap the Grandma Gap e-books and add some to your digital reader today. Order extra copies to send to friends or family. The more you give, the more you save! Win-Win for everyone, if you ask me.

The digital e-books will automatically arrive with a downloadable link directly to your email address (all books are .pdf files). The link is not sharable, unless you purchase multiple copies of the book (this is where our multiple copy sale comes in). The copyright on these e-books are for personal, home use only. However with our hard copy/digital copy sale, you can easily keep the print version and send on the e-book copy on without any concerns over copyright issues (or vice versa). Hopefully both sales will give you plenty of flexibility in all of your gift-giving needs. Grandma's love to send the digital copies to their children to use in their own homes and then keep hard copies for when the grandkids come to visit. One sibling can purchase multiple digital copies of the books or workbooks, for all of his or her brothers and sisters, so everyone can share in the joy of researching their family heritage. Or keep all of the copies for yourself as a secret hat trick for when family comes to visit you! The possibilities are pretty much endless. And yet the results are ultimately the same: helping you and your family connect to your past ancestors in order to build stronger bonds right now.

Let us know how it goes with your family members.  We love to hear about your successes in sharing your family's history with the next generations.  Thanks for helping us share this important topic and strengthening families.  We hope it strengthens your relationships--especially at this time of year.  Happy holidays from all of us!

My Mormon Ancestor

We're so excited to show off some more details about our new books.  Today we are going to focus on the "My Mormon Ancestor" Activity Book.

First I have to give another big thank you to my sister Amy Slade for her help with this book.  Also, many more great thanks to Erin Roudabush, Michelle Phillips and Christine Fazulyanov for their assistance in making this book happen.

You can take a look at the entire Table of Contents in our preview on the Zap The Grandma Gap website. 

With the “My Mormon Ancestor Activity Book” you can:

· Plan an Ancestor Family Home Evening
· Learn about Priesthood Line of Authority and how to trace it
· Find the Patriarchal Blessings of your ancestors
· Complete a temple dot-to-dot
· Document the church service and callings of your ancestors
· Gather information on your family’s missionaries
· Record information about the first LDS members of your family
· Make a handkerchief doll for church

Look at some of these pages:

These books make wonderful gifts for the holidays. Take advantage of the pre-release sale, 20% off all books at zapthegrandmagap.com, till November 30, 2014 and they will arrive in time for Christmas. Other great online and print resources to help families connect to each other by connecting to their past can be found at zapthegrandmagap.com.

My Pioneer Ancestor

We're so excited to show off some details about our new books.  Today we are going to focus on the "My Pioneer Ancestor" Activity Book.

First I have to give a big thank you to my sister Amy Slade (who just had a baby!) for her help with this book.  Also great thanks to Erin Roudabush, Michelle Phillips and Christine Fazulyanov for their assistance in making this book happen.
 

You can take a look at the entire Table of Contents in our preview on the Zap The Grandma Gap website. 

With the “My Pioneer Ancestor Activity Book” you can:

 ·Map out the pioneer route of your ancestors
· Decide what you would pack for a journey across the plains
· Learn how to find direction by the sun
· Compare your day to the day in the life of your ancestor
· Try classic pioneer recipes
· Write a Pony Express letter to a pioneer ancestor
· Play a game about the risks along the trail
· Contrast pioneer schools and modern schools

 

Look at some of these pages: 

 

This book will arrive in time for Christmas gift giving if you order now. Take advantage of the pre-release sale, 20% off all books at zapthegrandmagap.com, until November 30, 2014. Excerpts from all of the books can be viewed on the website at zapthegrandmagap.com/brandnewbooks. Other great online and print resources can be found at zapthegrandmagap.com
to help families connect to each other by connecting to their past.

This post crossposted to blogspot.zapthegrandmagap.com

My Jewish Ancestor

We're so excited to show off some details about our new books.  Today we are going to focus on the "My Jewish Ancestor" Activity Book. 

First I have to give a big thank you to Schelly Talalay Dardashti, Daniel Horowitz, and Tammy Hepps for their feedback.  All three were so generous with their time and help and the book is much better because of their contributions.  I am indebted and in awe of their genealogy expertise. 

You can take a look at the entire Table of Contents in our preview on the Zap The Grandma Gap website. 

With the “My Jewish Ancestor Activity Book” you can:
· Learn about Jewish history, traditions and culture
· Make and braid Challah bread with your family
· Solve a Jewish calendar crossword puzzle
· Record your family’s recipe for Charoset
· Find your family’s place in the Diaspora
· Learn the Hebrew alphabet
· Complete a genealogy word search
· Enjoy a Yiddish folktale and Nasrudin stories
· Color, cut out and tell stories with Jewish ancestor paper dolls

· Explore many other activities about your family’s history

Look at some of these pages:

 

This book will arrive in time for Chanukah gift giving if you order now. Take advantage of the pre-release sale, 20% off all books at zapthegrandmagap.com, until November 30, 2014. Excerpts from all of the books can be viewed on the website at zapthegrandmagap.com/brandnewbooks. Other great online and print resources can be found at zapthegrandmagap.com
to help families connect to each other by connecting to their past. 

This post crossposted to blogspot.zapthegrandmagap.com

Announcing Three New "My Ancestor Activity Books" for Children

Just in time for the holiday season, I've got some new Zap the Grandma Gap Activity Books coming your way! I am so excited to announce three new books for you to share and give to the children in your lives. I have created workbooks for the following heritages:

• With the “My Jewish Ancestor Activity Book” you can:
  · Learn about Jewish history, traditions and culture
  · Make and braid Challah bread with your family
  · Solve a Jewish calendar crossword puzzle
  · Record your family’s recipe for Charosets
  · Find your family’s place in the Diaspora
  · Learn the Hebrew Alphabet
  · Complete a genealogy word search
  · Enjoy a Yiddish folktale and a Nasrudin stories
  · Color, cut out and tell stories with Jewish Ancestor paper dolls
• With the “My Mormon Ancestor Activity Book” you can:
  · Plan an Ancestor Family Home Evening
  · Learn about Priesthood Line of Authority and how to trace it
  · Find the Patriarchal Blessings of your ancestors
  · Complete a temple dot-to-dot
  · Document the church service and callings of your ancestors
  · Gather information on your family’s missionaries
  · Record information about the first LDS members of your family
  · Make a handkerchief doll for church
• With the “My Pioneer Ancestor Activity Book” you can:
  · Map out the pioneer route of your ancestors
  · Decide what you would pack for a journey across the plains
  · Learn how to find direction by the sun
  · Compare your day to the day in the life of your ancestor
  · Try classic pioneer recipes
  · Write a Pony Express letter to a pioneer ancestor
  · Play a game about the risks along the trail
  · Contrast pioneer schools and modern schools

 These workbooks books offer a variety of fun and engaging activities to introduce your children and grandchildren to different aspects of their personal heritage.  We've included activities like mazes, recipes, dot-to-dot, and our always popular paper dolls.  Science has shown us how valuable it is for our children to have a sense of self (academically and emotionally) and these books are a fantastic to way to introduce your children to family history in an easy, interactive, and fun way.

As a bonus for you, we are having a pre-order sale.   

Place your pre-order with us by November 30, 2014 and save 20% on your entire book order.  

This sale includes all of my previous Zap the Grandma Gap books and workbooks, as well.  The books will be shipping in December--perfect for gift giving.  These books make wonderful gifts for children and adults.  Order by the deadline to take advantage of this fantastic sale.

Watch the blog next week for in-depth previews of each new workbook.  And take a look at my previous books here.  I'd love to help you bring some genealogy into the lives of your young ones this holiday season.

(This post is also available on my Zap the Grandma Gap blog.)

Conferences

There are two big conferences this week and next that I'd like to tell you about. I will be making the rounds at both and invite you to stop by and say "hello," if you happen to be attending either. Members of my team, Erin, Lara, and Michelle, will all be in attendance (at one or both conferences) as well.  Be sure to look for us.  We love being able to meet and talk with all of you when the opportunity arises.

The first conference I want to tell you about actually opened yesterday, July 27th, and will run through August 1st. It is the 34th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Salt Lake City, Utah. Be sure to check out the schedule from the link above, as there will be some great classes. I won't be presenting at this conference but I'll definitely be around, so keep an eye out for me and I'll watch for you.

The second conference, the BYU Conference on Family History & Genealogy, is starting tomorrow, July 29th, and both Matthew and I will be presenting here. We are each teaching classes on Tuesday, the first day. Matthew will be presenting "Get to Know Your Geezers" at 11:00 am.  I will have two classes that day, back-to-back.  I'll be presenting "Family Reunion Activities for All Ages" at 12:15 pm and then "Zap the Grandma Gap: Family History for Youth" at 12:45 pm.  Check out the other classes available at the link above, but hopefully Matthew or I will see you in one of our classes.

We love conferences and we love being able to teach others new ways to be more involved in their personal family histories. I look forward to meeting up with friends, both old and new, this week!