Genealogy is the study of family origins and history. Genealogists compile lists of ancestors, which they arrange in pedigree charts or other written forms. The word genealogy comes from two Greek words—one meaning “race” or “family” and the other “theory” or “science.” Thus is derived “to trace ancestry,” the science of studying family history. Genealogy has its own language, similar to other disciplines such as law, medicine or real estate. When tracing your family tree it is common to encounter records filled with archaic, obsolete or legal terms, acronyms and abbreviations that you aren't familiar with. This can make genealogy seem a lot like learning a foreign language to an overwhelmed "newbie." Misinterpreting these terms or applying present-day definitions to documents created in an earlier century can lead your research in the wrong direction. Taking the time to look up the appropriate meaning of a word or interpretation of an abbreviation is an important part of your family history search. Definition of history. Noah Webster, in his 1828 dictionary defined "history" as: An account of facts respecting nations or states; a narrative of events in the order in which they happened with their causes and effects. History differs from Annals. Notes: For a child to appreciate history, there must be told a story that relates the heart-felt beliefs that led those people to the actions they chose. Without such an understanding of their heart, there is no understanding of the history. To know history is to know what people did and why, that is to know their heart. Cold names without warm understanding of why they did the things they did is no more use to a child than learning the alphabet and not learning to form words. It takes stories from the time to be able to understand the time you are studying. It takes stories leading up to the time, as well as stories of that time. If your child isn't getting outside reading material, that is stories of history, then he is only passing exams on lists of historical names and dates, with little or no understanding of what happened. Look at the pitiful dearth of stories from 1st grade through high school on the American War for Independence. No wonder our children don't understand the thinking of the American War for Independence. Failure to understand the concepts of freedom as envisioned by those leaders is a primary assistance to the changing of America from a republic form of government to a socialistic democracy. Not knowing the background of the constitutional wording that was intended to guaranteed us a republican form of government, most students today would say we have a democracy. If you don't know the response of our founding fathers to that word, then you haven't read your history, you've been subjected to the rewriting of America's history. <A HREF="http://www.christianparents.com/bookstor">Buy some books </A>from this site to learn the lessons you need to know if you're to understand true American history as our Founding Fathers wanted us to know. Respectfully Yours, Chaps