Family Memories: Stories of Belonging

Registration opens: 03 February 2025

Start date: 03 March 2025

Duration: 8 weeks

Course fee: USD 179.00

Family stories are the most valuable gift we can give our children and grandchildren. The Family Memories online course will help you record your stories.

Everyone, both old and young, has a story – our first day of school; how we met our partner; the year we spent travelling Australia on a motorcycle; a family tragedy; the day our baby sister was born; or a family trip to the zoo. All stories, whether they are big life events or small everyday happenings, are important. Everyone’s story deserves to be told.

In the Family Memories online course, we provide prompts and activities to spark your imagination, uncover memories, and rediscover once-forgotten family stories. You can do the course on your own or involve other family members, including your kids. Telling family stories gives our children a sense of belonging and identity, and helps them to develop greater self-esteem and have more resilience.

“Knowing more about family history is the single biggest predictor of a child’s emotional wellbeing.” Bruce Feiler

Family stories also help us heal from grief, and provide a link with loved ones who are no longer here. Memory keeping increases gratitude and happiness, is grounding and calming, and gives us a sense of purpose.

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Involve your children, parents, and other family members in memory keeping. The Family Memories online course will show you how.

After completing the Family Memories online course you will have:

Gathered together a collection of family stories important to you and your loved ones.
Created a beautiful personal memento of your family stories that you can share.
Collected creative ideas about other ways you can preserve and share your family stories.
Emotionally engaged as a family as you recall and write the stories you all remember.
Learned techniques to get your parents and grandparents to share their memories.

This course is for you if:

You want to record and share your family stories.
You are interested in finding out more about your family stories, but don’t know where to start.
You would like to collect your parents’ or grandparents’ memories before it’s too late.
You want to create an album or keepsake of family memories.
You are looking for a way to provide your kids with a sense of belonging.
You want to foster heartfelt communication across generations.

Create your very own Family Memories memento to share with your loved ones.

Stories are powerful when they are shared. Stories have magic when they are held and savoured. Don’t leave your family story sitting unused on your hard drive – chances are you may forget about it or lose it.

In the Family Memories online course you will create a personalised memento of your family stories that you can share with your loved ones. We will explore ways of combining words, images, photos, and cherished memories into a personalised one-of-a-kind book. You will learn different book layouts and binding techniques to create a keepsake that you will love and treasure.

Contribute a story to the Family Memories ebook.

Shared stories show us that, underneath it all, we are not really that different. We all want to be loved and feel we belong. We want the best for our children. We all have joys and heartaches.

We invite you to connect with classmates by contributing one of your family stories to the Family Memories ebook.

This beautifully designed ebook will be available as a PDF for download to all class participants at the end of the course.

This course includes:

Inspiring exercises designed to help you record your family stories and bring your photos to life.

Guidance on transforming your story into a personalised memento to be held, savoured, and shared with your loved ones.

Activities that involve the whole family, which encourage sharing and foster belonging.

Connection with like-minded memory keepers from around the world via a private class forum.

A beautiful ebook of the entire course, which includes bonus material and submitted stories from class members, for you to download and keep forever.

Lifetime membership where you have unlimited access to course materials and can join the class each time it is offered for no extra cost.

FAQs:

What do I need?

You will need access to a computer and the internet, along with an email address (for registration and email updates). In the course, we will all create a Family Memories memento. Any craft or scrapbooking supplies that inspire you in this process would be helpful. These might include: coloured or patterned papers and other collage materials, such as magazines or old books; other ephemera; twine, ribbon, and beads; your favourite coloured pens and markers; a glue stick; and anything else that inspires you. Also collect together representations of your family memories, such as photos, children’s artwork, and letters.

I have never taken an online course before; how does it work?

The Family Memories online course will begin on 7 October 2019. You will be able to access this course from your Story Pieces account on this date. Lessons will be posted in the online classroom at the beginning of each week during the eight-week course. You can access the lessons at any time that best suits your schedule. In addition, you will have lifetime access to all course materials. This also allows you to join in the classroom each time the course is offered at no extra cost. Finally, you will receive an ebook of the entire course that you can download and keep forever.

Do I have to contribute a story to the ebook?

No. It is completely up to you whether or not to contribute a story to the Family Memories ebook. We just thought that this might be a fun way to make connections, and share the wealth of humour, inspiration, sadness, joy, and love that is part of all families. You could even get your kids involved, and submit their written and drawn stories for inclusion.

Will I be able to communicate with others during the course?

Yes, you will have access to the private Family Memories Community class forum through your Story Pieces login where you can connect with other memory keepers, support one another, and share your stories and ideas for collating memories. The community space is open to current members of the Family Memories online course (more students will continue to join the group with each new iteration of the course). This community will remain open indefinitely.

Can I ask questions directly to Sue?

You can ask questions directly to Sue in the private Family Memories Community class forum during the eight weeks of the course. Sue will check in with the community daily. Some questions may require simple responses and can be answered at that time; others may be more complex and have a wider relevance. These will be compiled into a written Q&A document that will be made available to all participants.

For any technical or logistical questions, the Story Pieces team will be available to help during working hours Monday to Friday (New Zealand time).

What is your refund policy?

If the course does not meet your expectations, we are happy to give you a full refund within one week of the course start date. After this time, there are no refunds or extensions for this course. Thank you for your understanding.