BOOT CAMP Lesson 3

Summertime is always so busy but there are some things that you can do with your family to bring a little "Family History" into your home.  This bootcamp will focus on "the group" and things you can do for Family Home Evening, at a Family Reunion, or just to keep the kids busy. Use your imagination and pick some activities this month (and all summer) to help everyone do a little something in the Family History department.

1.  Journal writing - Using a loose leaf binder, as often as you wish (every day - once a week), you choose a topic and write about it.  Be sure to date your page and give it a title. I like to use the "Journal in a Jar" method.  It makes choosing a topic more fun.  

2.  Cemetery Scavenger Hunt - Take the family (or group) to a local cemetery and have them look for fun things - like someone who fought in the Civil War, or the Oldest person in the cemetery.  HERE are some more fun things to do at a cemetery.

3.  Online Detective - Another scavenger hunt type of thing but doing it online. Have everyone look for topics to do with your family tree - like find out how much a carpenter made in the 1700's, 1800's and today, type in the family last name to see what all comes up, find out what kinds of houses your ancestors may have lived in during the 1800's, etc.

4.  Food - have an Ancestral Meal where you cook only things from a time period and country of one of your ancestors.  Try to cook using only the utensils that they may have used.

5.  Family Game - Make a game using pictures of your ancestors (or your family now!).  Examples might be:  Bingo, Life, Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders, etc.  

6.  Recipe Book - When gathering everyone together this summer, have them bring their favorite recipes and family stories about food.  Put them together for a treasured memory.

Now, use your imagination and think of something YOUR family can do this summer to either make family history for future generations or bring the past to the present by learning about your ancestors.

***  Please let us know some of the fun things that you or your ward members have done.