The Impact of The Family History Guide on Family History

A short time ago, I became formally associated with The FamilyHistory Guide or TheFHGuide.com when my wife and I agreed to serve on their Advisory Board. We were motivated to help out this non-profit corporation due to our belief in the importance of the program in educating those who wish to participate in family history and increasing the numbers of people who are involved in family history worldwide.

The Family History Guide is a free, innovative educational website that is already beginning to have a profound effect on the genealogical community. The Family History Guide is also one of the programs featured on the FamilySearch.org Portal, used by all of the nearly 5000 Family Centers Worldwide.

The website has several different educational functions. First, it is a self-paced, structured and sequenced, individual learning program. You can start from any level, complete beginner, to more advanced topics and work your way through the subjects you choose to learn. There are several online videos that explain the entire program. Here is a list of some of the current video offerings on the BYU Family History Library YouTube Channel:

• The Family History Guide by James Tanner
• Introduction to The Family History Guide, Version 2 - Bob Taylor
• Training with The Family History Guide, Version 2 - Bob Taylor

Next, the website also provides a complete set of lesson outlines for teaching individuals, families, groups, and Family History Consultants the resources and methodology of family history. In addition, the website contains a fully developed tracking system to monitor your own progress or the progress of those you are teaching.

As a result of our involvement with The Family History Guide, I will be teaching quite a number of classes at RootsTech 2017 at The Family History Guide booth. I will also be teaching for some of the other vendors, but most of my teaching will be done for The Family History Guide. The schedule of the classes will be posted at The Family History Guide booth and also available on a handout. We will also have a volunteer staff there to help answer questions about the program.