The Family History Guide had some recent and significant additions: a newly updated “For Beginners” page, and the new Learning System page. Let’s take a look at each, and how they can help.

For Beginners

The previous Beginners page had an assortment of links, sorted by category, aimed at beginners in family history. The new “For Beginners” page focuses on these three areas:

1. Computer Basics
2. Terms to Know
3. The Family History Guide and Its Partners

Computer Basics

For those who need some refreshing with computer skills, the Computer Basics section is the answer. It covers topics from “understanding your computer” up to using apps and programs such as word processing, spreadsheets, social media, etc. The tutorials are free and easy to follow. 

Terms to Know

There are two links to click here: one opens a list of basic terms and definitions for anyone doing family history, and the other includes additional terms to understand.

The Family History Guide and Its Partners

This section explains the basic purposes of The Family History Guide and how it fits in with its Partner sites—FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Findmypast.

There are also links to the Get Started page and additional resources that may be helpful.

The Learning System

The Learning System is a new term we use for the concept of Projects, Goals, and Choices. This page takes the place of “About the Projects” and “Project Resources” and is available in the Intro menu.

The Building Blocks

Projects, Goals, and Choices are each described and illustrated with examples, as well as Steps and Resources (links to articles and videos). 

Tracking Progress

This section briefly explains the Word and Online Trackers and how they can be used to monitor learning progress in The Family History Guide.

Benefits

The page concludes with a section on how the Learning System helps accelerate and simplify family history learning.