SNGF: Your 2015 Genealogy Education Plans

It's time for some more Saturday Night Genealogy Fun! Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings hosts this weekly challenge. This week's challenge concerns our 2015 Genealogy Education Plans.

The "Fun" is in two parts this week:

Part 1: Describe your genealogy education plans for 2015

1. The Write Stuff: Build Your Family History Writing Skills with Lisa Alzo

I am currently participating in a 6 week online course called "The Write Stuff" coached by Lisa Alzo. This course is designed to help you write your family stories. I'm guessing it'll be offered several more times this year. We have weekly homework and meet once a week online for an hour.

2. Gen Proof Study Group 37

I am also currently participating in "Gen Proof Study Group 37" which studies Tom Jones' book, Mastering Genealogical Proof. We have weekly homework and meet weekly on Google+ hangouts for discussions besides having discussions throughout the week. I'm sure there will be other sessions offered this year.

3. GRIP - Law School for Genealogists with The Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell

I attended GRIP in Pennsylvania last summer for the first time. I am giving myself one week during the summer to travel and GRIP is my choice again this summer, though I'm starting to consider a week in Salt Lake City instead... I've never been! It's a hard choice!

4. Boston University Online Certificate Program

I plan on taking Boston University's 16 week program in the fall. I understand this program will take 20-30 hours of homework per week, so it will be intense!

5. Legacy Family Tree Webinars

I have a subscription and will watch some of the archived and new programs as they become available. These webinars are by many top genealogists and the new webinars are usually offered free for a week! There's a wide variety of topics and a large number of archived webinars avaiable.

6. Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS) Webinars

I live in Texas, but find a subscription to SCGS worth the free webinars. I first joined to watch the Jamboree videos!

7. NGS 2015 Family History Conference Live Streaming

With a daughter still at home, I have limited time to travel. So, I really enjoyed being able to watch some NGS lectures at home last year! This year, they are again offering two tracks to watch at home and I'll be buying them both: The Immigration & Naturalization Process and Methodology Techniques.

8. Extreme Genes and Genealogy Guys podcasts

I really enjoy both of these shows and have started downloading them so I can listen to them either while working around the house or while running errands. I gave some examples of things you can find on "Extreme Genes" on my blog recently.

9. Subscriptions to National Genealogical Society Quarterly magazine and Family Tree magazine

I need to read both of these more faithfully! I might see about switching to the paper edition of NGSQ as I don't really enjoy reading it electronically.

10. Various blogs

I spend several hours a week reading various genealogy blogs which I follow on Bloglovin'.

11. DearMyrtle's Videos

I have just recently watched several of Ol' Myrtle's videos and have found them very useful! One was about creating a graphic for your blog which I used for "Our Stories" and another was about AncestryDNA matches that don't have hints! I also viewed her "G+ - Tweak your profile" video today and updated my Google+ profile! I'm going to keep my eye on what she's doing as she has a lot she can teach me. You can find her videos on her YouTube channel. (P.S. I would LOVE to do her GenLaw Study Group! I hope she does it again maybe this summer... I'm just too busy with my other classes right now!)

Part 2: How much time do you spend on genealogy education? and why?

I spend 20-30 hours a week, perhaps half of my genealogy time, on education at this time. Although I've been doing genealogy for over 15 years, I've come to a new season in my life where I have a lot more time to pursue this passion. I want to do it 'right' and I still have a lot to learn. 

Why? I do hope to become certified within the next 3-5 years, but I don't think I'd do it to take on clients. I am a teacher and could see myself doing some kind of teaching. But, primarily I want to be certified to know I'm researching at a high standard of excellence.