Every family looks a little messy up close. Divorce, remarriage, step and half siblings, people who passed away, people you don't talk to, and people you know nothing about are all normal parts of a family map.
In this quest you will map your family, research where it came from, collect one family story, and reflect on what you can and can't control.
🎯 You will…
Draw your family relationships
Research your family history
Interview a relative for a story
Pick one relationship to improve
🧭 Day 1 warm-up
One thing about your family you'd never change?
One thing you didn't choose and can't control?
Why does every family look messy up close?
2The 4-Day Plan
Each day has one main job. Homework sets up the next day.
Day
In class
Homework
Day 1 Map It
Warm-up, look at examples, learn the legend, start a rough draft drawing.
Ask a parent or relative for missing names, marriages, divorces, and cousins. Set up your interview.
Day 2 Dig In
FamilySearch lab or the paper chart. Finish 4 generations and find one fact about an ancestor.
Do your family story interview (15–20 min).
Day 3 Build It
Make your final drawing. Trade with a partner for a legend check. Write up your interview story.
Finish the drawing if needed.
Day 4 Reflect
Write your reflection. Optional share (you choose what to show). Snap a picture of your drawing and turn in all four parts on Schoology.
None. Due at the end of class.
3Part 1: Draw My Family Relationships · Required · 40 pts
Draw your family as a map of people and the lines that connect them. Start with you, go up to your grandparents on both sides, and out to aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, nieces, and nephews. Stick figures are fine. Clear beats pretty.
Your drawing must include:
You, labeled "ME"
Parents & siblings
Grandparents (both sides)
Aunts & uncles + spouses
Cousins
Nieces & nephews (if any)
Lines connecting everyone
A legend / key
Names or titles (your choice)
Legend symbols you need (use these or make your own, as long as your key explains them):
Relationship
Suggested symbol
Married
♥ heart or double line
Divorced
💔 broken heart or a line with two slashes //
Remarried / blended
Second heart with a number (1st, 2nd)
Step or half sibling
- - - dashed line
Adopted or foster
Line marked "A" or "F"
Passed away
✕ or ✝ by the name
Unknown
A box with "?"
Distant / no contact
· · · dotted line
Really close
Thick or double line
🌀 Messy is the point. If your family has divorces, remarriages, unknowns, or people you don't talk to, put them on the map. You never have to explain why. An honest map earns full credit.
4Example Maps (Made-Up Families)
This family is invented. Notice the divorce, the stepmom, the half-sister, a grandpa who passed away, and an uncle with no contact.
Real families can get wild. Every one of these is invented. Look at how each key explains every symbol on the map.
The Remarry-Go-Round: Mom married three times. Notice the half-sister from Mom's 2nd marriage, the half-brother from Dad's 2nd marriage, and a grandpa who passed away.Double Cousins: Two brothers married two sisters, so their kids share all four grandparents. Twins, an adopted cousin, and Grandma remarried after Grandpa died.My Uncle Is Younger Than Me: Grandpa remarried and had a son who is younger than his granddaughter. Parents never married, Dad's parents are unknown, and an uncle has no contact.
📱 On a phone, swipe sideways on a drawing to see all of it.
5Part 2: Family History Research · 20 pts
Everyone completes a 4-generation chart (you → parents → grandparents → great-grandparents) and one ancestor spotlight. Pick Path A or Path B. Both earn full credit.
🌳 Path A: FamilySearch (encouraged)
Make a free account at FamilySearch.org. Under 18? You may need a parent's help.
Add yourself, parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents to the Family Tree. Living people stay private, so you enter them.
Once you reach ancestors who have passed away, look for records about them.
Fill it in with a parent, grandparent, or other relative.
Use what your family already has: scrapbooks, obituaries, old photos with names on the back.
Ancestor spotlight (both paths): pick one grandparent or older ancestor and write one paragraph:
Name, about when they were born, and where they lived
Their work, and one hardship or big event they lived through
One fact you learned and one question you still have
6Printable 4-Generation Chart
Write "?" for anyone you don't know. Unknowns are allowed.
MENameBornPlace
ParentNameBornPlace
ParentNameBornPlace
GrandparentNameBorn
GrandparentNameBorn
GrandparentNameBorn
GrandparentNameBorn
Great-grandparentGreat-GPName
Great-grandparentGreat-GPName
Great-grandparentGreat-GPName
Great-grandparentGreat-GPName
Great-grandparentGreat-GPName
Great-grandparentGreat-GPName
Great-grandparentGreat-GPName
Great-grandparentGreat-GPName
7Part 3: Family Story Interview · 20 pts
Interview one relative for 15–20 minutes, ideally a grandparent or the oldest relative you can reach. In person, phone, or video all work. Ask at least 6 of these:
Where did you grow up, and what was a normal day like?
What did your parents do for work?
What family tradition started with you or someone before you?
What was the hardest thing our family went through, and how did you get through it?
Who were you closest to growing up, and why?
Was there a hard relationship in the family? What did you learn from it?
What's a funny story about someone in our family?
What do you wish more people in our family knew?
What's one piece of advice about family you'd give me?
Is there anything you'd go back and do differently with family?
✍ Write-up (1 page): retell the best story in your own words. End with 2–3 sentences on what it taught you about your family.
8Part 4: What I Can and Can't Control · 20 pts
Look at your finished map. Answer in full sentences (about 1 page).
⭕ Inside my circle (I can control)
List 3: my words, my effort, my attitude, my boundaries, whether I forgive.
🌫 Outside my circle (I can't)
List 3: other people's choices, divorces, moves, who is in my family.
The relationship I want to improve: pick one person on your map. What's it like now? What would "better" look like?
My next step: one specific thing you'll do in the next two weeks (a text, a visit, a thank-you, an apology, asking about their life).
A choice I didn't make: describe a decision someone in your family made that affects you. Leave out names or details if you want. What would accepting it look like? Accepting isn't the same as agreeing.
You can't pick your family: after making this map, what does that mean to you now?
Grateful for: one person or pattern on your map you're thankful for, and why.
9Grading (100 pts)
You're graded on complete and honest, not on how your family looks or how well you draw.
Part
Full credit looks like
Pts
Drawing: people
Grandparents (both sides) down to cousins, nieces, nephews; "ME" labeled; "?" for unknowns
15
Drawing: connections
Everyone connected; marriages, divorces, step and half shown
10
Drawing: legend
Every symbol you used is in your key
10
Drawing: readable
Someone else could follow it
5
Family history
4-generation chart (Path A or B) + ancestor paragraph
20
Story interview
6+ questions asked, story retold, lesson stated
20
Reflection
Circle of control + all 5 prompts with specific answers
20
Total
100
📸 How to turn it in: take a clear picture of your drawing with your Chromebook or phone and attach it to the Schoology assignment. Make sure the whole map and your key are in the picture. 💓 The drawing is yours to keep. Take it home and put it on your fridge!
10If This Is Hard for You
Some families carry hard stuff. The drawing is still required, and here's how it works for you:
Adopted or in foster care? Draw your birth family, your adoptive or foster family, or both. Any of them counts.
Don't know someone? A "?" box gets full credit.
No explaining. You never have to say why a divorce, a death, or a break in contact happened.
Sharing is your choice. On Day 4 you decide whether to show anything to classmates.
Names are optional. Titles like "Aunt" or "Grandpa" are fine.
Need to talk? Mr. Dopp and the school counselors are here for you.
You can't pick your family. You can pick how you show up for them.