Wait what? The Wall Street Journal?

I was going through the deep deep recesses of Facebook today and found some notifications from over a year ago.  And look at this...  I found we had been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal.  Who knew?  Aparently the author's sister had bought some of our books. 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-use-online-games-and-activities-to-connect-to-grandchildren-1480302541

It is a great article about connecting with Grandchildren.  She is touting the use of family history as a Grandparenting tool.  We say that around here alot don't we?

Now, off to check on my Google Alerts...

And if you don't know what Google Alerts are, it is a great way to keep an eye out for interesting topics, people or geographical areas that are of interest in your family history.  You can set up a Google Alert, and when google finds something new, they send you an email. 

You can learn more about Google Alerts at https://www.google.com/alerts or watch this video.

Last Minute Gift Ideas: Zap the Grandma Gap Ancestor Activity Workbooks For Kids

The Zap the Grandma Gap Ancestor Activity Workbooks are unique gift ideas for the children in your life, and if you order by midnight Monday, December 19, 2016 you'll get a free shipping upgrade so that you will receive them in time for Christmas delivery! Click here to order now.

The “My Ancestors” hands-on workbooks come in 8 different heritages including British, Danish, Swedish, Pioneer, Mormon, Civil War, German, & Jewish. These fun books create bonds between generations with hours of activities, puzzles, games, recipes, stories and crafts that can involve the entire family. Timelines, paper dolls, coloring pages, maps, music, dot-to-dots and crossword puzzles combine to give youth ownership of their own genealogy and the send them on a quest to bring their family history to life.

Studies have shown that greater knowledge about family history strengthens and empowers youth by creating self-esteem, resilience and a greater sense of control over their lives. Learning about the family's past also strengthens the relationships between living family members by creating a shared experience and core identity that no one else in the world can duplicate.  Our children’s workbooks are designed to help kids gain the benefits of family history and start asking their family members about their shared past. Order these meaningful gifts here to begin! 

Family History Projects for the Next Generation

Rather than giving more stuff, the gift of an experience has become all the rage.  And what better experience can you give than working together as a family to learn about your family history?  This year you can give the gift of a family history experience by choosing Zap The Grandma Gap books for the youth in your family.  These books put the young person in the driver's seat and will have them asking you the questions about your family history.  With fun projects to do together, our activity books will ensure many hours of fun exploration.  Order by  December 16th for Christmas delivery. 

Our Biggest Sale Ever: 50% off eBooks on Cyber Monday

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.

Family History and Youth Infographic Part 2: Emotional Benefits

 

For more great ideas in teaching your children and grandchildren about family history, take a look at our Zap the Grandma Gap books and workbooks.

Fun Printables and Resources For Youth and Family History

I found some fun resources online to assist with getting children and teens interested in family history. These free downloads include a "Family History Detective" badge to use in coordination with a fun printable graphic that incorporates the twenty questions from the "Do You Know" study that came out of Emory University in 2009.  These printables can be assembled into a fun file folder project that children will enjoy putting together, learning from, and sharing at family gatherings.

Sugardoodle.net is a fabulous website for the LDS (Mormon) community and she shares lots of ideas for youth and family history including Family Home Evening ideas, descendancy research, and indexing tips.

Lastly, I received an email from Jana Greenhalgh about her new blog called The Genealogy Kids.   She's been doing lots of fun things with her kids including a big list of family history activities, tree tips, and research rules.

The Top 8 Websites For Family Reunions

Family reunions are a great time to explore your family's heritage together. Whether your family reunion is large or small, the key to a successful event is in the planning. Once you have selected the date and location, the beauty is in the details.  How do you inform family members about the family reunion?  What about meals, sleeping arrangements, and transportation?  What activities will bring the family members together for a meaningful event?

Take a look at our favorite 8 websites to help you plan your upcoming family reunion:
family-reunion.com
Wonderful website with all sorts of ideas from the people at RootsMagic. Also check
out their family reunion planner software at rootsmagic.com.
gatheredagain.com
Laura Phelps has written a beautiful website to accompany her book. Ideas
for activities, food, locations and much more.
reunionsmag.com
Popular magazine website gives resources for exciting places to hold your
reunion. Lots of amazing ideas.
family-reunion-success.com
Extensive planning website that includes e-books and e-courses with lots of
ideas. She gets the heritage piece.
familytreequotes.com
Reunion theme ideas with lots of great quotes on family.
genealogy.about.com/od/family_reunions
By Kimberly Powell, also a great starting place for learning about your
family’s genealogy.
familyreunion.com
The world's largest family social network. Share your favorite photos, create a profile with your family reunion announcement and add a homepage with up-to-date information about your event. Members keep the dialog going by leaving comments, questions, photos, ideas and encouragement on each others' posts!
pinterest.com
Search Pinterest for great ideas for reunion planning.

As you gather ideas for your family reunion, consider the interactions between family members to be one of the most important purposes of gathering together. Have you ever been to a family gathering where the kids go off to play together, the teens all sit around and look at their screens and the adults talk in the other room? Or have you ever been to a large family reunion where people didn’t know each other well and they were too shy to get to know their distant cousins?

Our newest book, "My Ancestor Family Reunion Edition" will show you how to change all that. Included are many ideas that will have Grandma playing games with her grandchild, aunts and uncles interacting with distant cousins and Grandpa sharing stories with the whole family. A real family reunion has cross-generational activities where everyone gets a chance to interact with their relatives, old and young. Order now and let the planning begin!

A New Book for Meaningful Family Reunions

Summer is upon us which means it's the most popular time for family reunions and gatherings!
We have heard many of you express interest in connecting with your families at family reunions.
Zap the Grandma Gap is happy to announce the new release of  "My Ancestor: Family Reunion" e-book version.  This multi-page resource includes 3 sections:

• A Children's Activity Workbook with rights to copy and use for the duration of the family reunion (Choose one workbook from Pioneer, British, German, Danish, Jewish, Civil War, Swedish, or Mormon) including over 50 pages of culturally specific activities
• 20 pages of FUN family heritage family reunion ideas
• 35 page children's workbook with interactive pages that are perfect for completing at the family reunion

Though every family member is a unique individual, these carefully selected family heritage family reunion activities will help the attendees find purpose, unity, and strength in their lives as they discover their common roots. Create new family history as family members engage in a shared family heritage using social media, blogs, and other online resources. 

Print the activity workbook pages and distribute as desired during your family reunion to explore your family history with fun and games! Youth will gain ownership of their family history and take the lead in learning about their ancestors and the culture that surrounded them.  As they accomplish these activities together with the help of their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings at the family reunion, they will strengthen modern family bonds while strengthening their link to the past.

Click here to order now for use at your upcoming family reunion and we'll get it send right out to you.  This an e-book and will be sent electronically as a PDF, so it's perfect for last minute planning! 

My Danish Ancestor Activity Book

I am so excited to announce our brand new My Danish Ancestor Activity Book.  This 52-page activity book encourages youth to ask questions and delve into the Danish history of their family in a fun way. The “My Ancestors” hands-on workbooks create bonds between generations with hours of activities, puzzles, games, recipes, stories and crafts that can involve the entire family. Timelines, paper dolls, coloring pages, maps, music, dot-to-dots and crossword puzzles combine to give youth ownership of their own genealogy and the send them on a quest to bring their family history to life.

As I've said before, studies have shown that greater knowledge about family history strengthens and empowers youth by creating self-esteem, resilience and a greater sense of control over their lives. Learning about the family's past also strengthens the relationships between living family members by creating a shared experience and core identity that no one else in the world can duplicate.  This new children’s workbook is designed to help kids gain the benefits of family history and start asking their family members about their shared past. 

I have a particularly inspiring Danish ancestor and I'm excited to share this book with my children and someday with my grandchildren.  But beyond that, this was our most requested book.  These are activities, games, and questions that will help you discover the exciting lives of your Danish Ancestors. You can: 

• Make some Danish rye bread and learn about Danish sandwiches 
• Sing a Danish Folk Song 
• Find some Danish family words  
• Complete a dot-to-dot of a famous Danish castle 
• Document what you know about your favorite Danish ancestor 
• Learn about Danish royalty and Danish crests 
• Solve puzzles about famous Danish people 
• Make a special Julehjerte to honor your Danish ancestor 
• Simple projects, recipes, and worksheets make it easy for your busy family to celebrate their Danish heritage. 

No matter what your age, you can help your family accomplish these activities together. As you learn, you can record your family history here to create a new family keepsake and pass your great Danish heritage down to future generations.

You can purchase this book now, through our website.  We'll also have plenty of copies on hand  at Rootstech.  Either way, you cannot go wrong when you use these books to introduce your children and grandchildren to your Danish heritage.

E-Book Sale Ends Today

It's the last day of 2014, can you believe it? I don't know about you, but this year flew by for me.  Time is funny that way. But as it is, I am happy to mark 2014 in my books as an author again. It was a real labor of love to add three new workbooks to my Zap the Grandma Gap collection. And then taking my entire series into the digital, e-book age was an exciting step. I really am pleased to be able to offer more workbooks, covering a wider variety of family heritages, all while trying to do it in a way that suits as many folks' preferences as possible. I really hope it will help families strengthen their relationships with each other and their ties to the past.

That said, as we close the books on 2014, we also close the books on our final sale of the year. If you didn't get a chance to take advantage of our hardcopy/e-book sale for Holiday gifts, I hope you'll do so now as a "year-end personal bonus" for yourself or a family member. The sale was designed with building your "family history and children" toolbox in mind, and is best utilized to "stock the garrison," so to speak. In other words, the more books you buy, the better deal you'll receive.

As a quick reminder the sale is as follows:

1. Purchase a hard copy of any of my books or workbooks and receive the e-book of that same book for only $1.
2. Purchase 5 or more e-books and receive 50% off your entire e-book order. 

For complete details on how it works, be sure to check out the original sale post, over on The Chart Chick. But do hurry because the sale ends today, December 31. 2014.

As we head into 2015, I want to wish you and your family the very best of New Years. We, at Family ChartMasters, count ourselves quite lucky to get to work with each of you and are truly grateful for your support. We hope for you and your family to have a wonderful, healthy, and safe new year of family memory making and memory discovering. Happy New Year's, everyone!

Paper Dolls Now Available

Some fun parts of my Zap the Grandma Gap Workbooks to pull together are always the paper dolls. Maybe it's because it brings back memories of days past when paper dolls were all the rage, or maybe because I just love seeing all of the heritages in costumed display. I love them. And now, you can order the paper dolls for hours of fun story telling and play.

We passed these out at Rootstech last year and they were a huge hit.  People loved having an extra set of dolls ready to go.  The dolls, and their costumes, come to you on a 42" x 9" sheet, ready for coloring and cutting. Each sheet comes with the paper doll family and their personal heritage costumes. I have the paper dolls from each of my Zap the Grandma Gaps Activity Books (British, German, Swedish, Civil War, Jewish, Pioneer, and Mormon) and they are designed to go right along with my free clothing downloads available here. Our free clothing downloads include a set of modern clothes and a set of super clothes.

The dolls and their clothes are $2.50 per page. This is a great deal, especially if you have lots of grandchildren or great-grandchildren to remember this year. To avoid rush shipping, be sure to place your order by December 12, 2014, for both Chanukah and Christmas delivery. If you don't mind higher shipping charges, you have until December 17, 2014 to get your order in to us.

These really do make fabulous gifts that allow for creative play and lots of storytelling opportunities at an extremely reasonable price. As you color and cut out the dolls, you can talk with your children or grandchildren about family stories of ancestors from each culture and particulars about their daily lives. It's a fun and positive way for you to share your family ancestry with the special young ones in your life. Not to mention bringing back memories of your own childhood activities too.

Order today to ensure Chanukah or Christmas delivery in time! It'll be sure to add a special dimension and bonding moment to your family holiday celebrations.

My Mormon Ancestor Activity Book

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 Activity Book

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 thechartchick.blogspot.com. I don't usually crosspost, but we are so excited about these new books!

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 thechartchick.com

Three New "My Ancestor Activity Books"

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.

Cast Your Bread Upon The Waters

For you will find it after many days.  Come and listen to my real life experience with this, because it is all kinds of crazy awesome!

First, some back story.  Hovorka is of Czech descent, this much I know.  However, as far as Czech customs, not so much.  I married into that name, Kim's Great Grandparents came to Chicago from Czechoslovakia and Kim's uncle has taken that part of the family to do research on.  Over this last year or so as more Czech records have become available, I've gotten curious but it is still Kim's uncle's domain so I'm a bit rusty on the ins and outs of the deep roots in my husband's Hovorka history.  I really don't know much about the history even though I carry that name.  To quote Dickens, "This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate."

I have spent a great deal of time in pulling together my Zap the Grandma Gap Children's Activity Books for  British, German, Swedish, and Civil War ancestry.  I am also working on some for Jewish, Mormon, Pioneer, and Danish ancestry right now that we hope to have ready for Christmas.  But, I know so little about Czech ancestry and knew that was an undertaking I could probably never get to, as much as my heartstrings pulled me in that direction.  So, how should my bread return to me after the work I have set out for others?  The answer comes in the form of Texas.  More specifically the Texas Czech Genealogical Society.  That's right folks, I went to a genealogical conference and found help with my family's genealogy.  Why am I even surprised?

I was walking through the vendor hall at FGS in San Antonio when I saw their booth and stopped to see some books like mine but for Czech ancestry!!  Can you believe it?  I'm telling you, doors open in the most unexpected ways and places when you reach out and help others with their genealogy.  Again, no surprise, right?  Look what I found:

I was so excited!  This is just what I have been doing and to see it for Czech culture was so exciting and crazy and thrilling and it seriously made my day.  Of course I had to purchase these.  The likelihood of me ever being able to make Czech ancestry activity books is pretty minimal at the moment but seeing as how it's already done, I thought I would share it with you.  No point in re-inventing the wheel, after all.  Their website is currently under construction but I wanted to pass along their contact info just in case any of you, like me, are looking for something to incorporate your Czech ancestry into your family or holiday traditions.  You can reach them at 979-848-6517.

The activity books were actually compiled and written by Daniela Mahoney, Catherine Macaro, and Mary Jo Macaro and can be ordered directly from Daniela's website.  She also has lots of great Czech related products and books and I actually just ordered some more things for some Christmas presents (Shhh...Don't tell my kids.  I'm really sure they aren't reading Mom's blog so if one of you squeal, I'm going to know).  I am so excited to see someone doing this for Czech traditions and I have been quite giddy this morning flipping through the books I already have.  I can't wait to get the new ones I just ordered.

So in the end, the wonder of this story is this: keep doing what you are doing, even if you feel like you are making little progress with your own family.  What you send out always returns in the most unexpected of ways.  This experience has been such a reminder of that for me. 

Zap the Grandma Gap Mother's Day Special--all 6 books for $60

Perfect for Mothers and Grandmothers. 

We have a great idea for the Mothers and Grandmothers in your life this Mother's Day. Help them teach their families about the family's history and pass down a strong legacy to their children.  These books are perfect for helping mothers strengthen their children with their family history.  And they are great for anyone who wants to help their family have stronger bonds to their past.    

So we've put together a special Mother's Day sale.  You can get all 6 books for only $60 + shipping.

Studies have proven that greater knowledge about family history strengthens and empowers youth. This knowledge creates self-esteem, resilience and a greater sense of control over their lives. Learning about the family's past also strengthens the relationships between living family members by creating a shared experience and core identity that no one else in the world can duplicate.  These activity books are designed to help you inspire and strengthen the children in your family and build your relationship with them.   Click here to order them now so they will arrive in time to wrap them up for Mother's Day.   

Great Ideas from our readers

Yikes.  Where did the month go?  Life seems to be speeding up faster than I can keep up.  But it is good to be busy.  And I've got lots of new ideas to share with you.  So slow as they might be, keep your eyes peeled and I'll keep them coming. 

RootsTech was wonderful.  I've got several things to share with you about that.  But to start with, it was so great to meet with people who have been using our Zap The Grandma Gap resources and hear about the successes they are having in their families.  Here are a couple of great ideas we heard in the vendors hall:

One lady talked to me about having a contest on facebook to garner interest for the upcoming family reunion.  She had created a family facebook page and was going to ask one question a week.  The person with the most answers would win a prize at the family reunion.  I think you could also do this with a small prize every week.  I know I've seen situations where it amazes me what people will do for a package of M&Ms or a candy bar.  And the price of candy bar and shipping would be much once a week or once a month. 

Someone else talked about how she was going to start telling family history stories at bed time to her 1 year old son.  I think that is a wonderful way to start them young.  Kudos!

And another lady came up and told us that her 11 year old had decided to form a family history club with her friends on Saturday mornings.  They get together and bring pictures, make family recipes and learn about their ancestors.  Brilliant!  She wouldn't let mom help either.  That is excellent ownership. 

We passed out copies of the paper dolls from our new activity books.  And as we were passing them out, we reminded everyone that paper dolls is not only a great way to tell stories about your family, but they needed to utilize the time while they are coloring and cutting them out to tell stories as well.  Drawing pictures, or any kind of creative activity together is great story telling time.

Hope some of these ideas provide inspiration to you about activities to do with your family.  They sure do to me.  

My Swedish Ancestor Activity Book

Download the first few pages at ZapTheGrandmaGap.com

 Pre-Order now to receive your Activity Books for Thanksgiving. 

My Civil War Ancestor Activity Book

Download the first few pages at ZapTheGrandmaGap.com

 Pre-Order now to receive your Activity Books for Thanksgiving.