July 2013

The Beauty of Trees

Trees are symbolic of many things: strength, life, growth, peace, patience, and so on. Some trees are beautiful and leafy in some seasons, and barren and eerie in the winter. They grow in many different shapes and sizes, and poets love to write about them.

Because I have been thinking about my family, this month I have made several family trees to share with you, and the color book page is the scene of a gnarled old tree. I’ve used traditional colors to color it here, but I can imagine it being lovely in nearly any color combination.

With this lesson, I’ll give you a tree tutorial, and two family tree charts: a flower chart, and a child’s chart. I’ll also give you a basic plan for a chart you can decorate however you’d like.

Later this month you’ll get a Scottish chart, an African chart, a Russian chart, a Celtic chart, and an English chart—just to give you an idea of how you can showcase your roots.

Notice the color and fun that come into your family genealogy when you make and use colorful family picture charts, as below. This is a fun way to help children appreciate their roots.

Week 1

This name tree can have as many branches as you want it to have. Or you could make a word tree using words on a different theme. You could use different types of writing or fill your whole tree with multiple types of writing and thicknesses of print. You could make circular or curling branches, or make real branches with the words inside the limbs. Use your

imagination and have fun!

(I have provided two colored and two uncolored charts you can copy and paste.)

(The above chart has too many Maternal Grandma's. The first picture after the Paternal Grandpa, should read "Paternal Grandma."  I noticed this mistake too late to fix it, but the picture pasted on top should cover it anyway.)

 Here is a tree for a child, or for an adult who prefers it.

 This is a skeleton picture chart you can decorate all by yourself. Have fun representing the nationality of your roots by drawing designs having to do with the country in which your family was born.