Teach the Family

Making the family the classroom

You know things about your family now that many of your relatives don’t. Some of them know things you haven’t heard yet. A family game brings everyone to the same table, young and old, and turns the lore you gathered into something the whole family shares, laughs about, argues about, and remembers.

Games are call and response. Someone asks, everyone answers, and the elders become the experts in the room.

At the Araminta level, you build and host one family game, face to face or online, then lead a short discussion after it.

Block 1 of 4About 30 minutes

How-To Study: Teaching through play

Watch first: Family games that teachYour How-To video for this stage is in your GHL course page.

Ways to play

Family JeopardyCategories from your lore, clues worth points, two teams. You can build and host it on this page.
Who Said It?Read a family saying or proverb. Teams guess which elder says it, then the elder tells where it came from.
Timeline Line-UpHand out cards with family and Black history events. The family puts them in order, using your Place in Time timeline.
Act It OutTeams act out a family story without words. The others guess it, then the person who lived it tells the real version.

Keys to a good family game

Mix the ages on every team.Pair elders with children. The young read the clues; the elders know the answers.
Let elders be the answer-keepers.When a clue is about someone, ask them to tell the full story after it’s answered.
Include a healing story.Put at least one clue from your Stage V healing log in the game.
No shaming wrong answers.A wrong answer is a chance for someone to tell the story right.
Every story is not for every ear.Leave out anything an elder asked you to keep private, even in a family game.
End with talk.Save 10 minutes after the game to discuss what people learned.

Writing good clues

In Jeopardy, the clue is a statement and the answer is short. Make the clue specific enough that one answer fits, and interesting enough to start a story.

Weak: “Grandma’s nickname.”
Strong: “Grandma Hattie got this nickname for always being first to arrive at church.” Answer: Early Bird.

Online? Share your screen on Zoom or a similar video call, open this page, and switch to Play. Teams can answer aloud or in the chat.

Check yourself

Answer each in your head, then open it to compare. Your graded quiz is in GHL.

Why mix ages on each team?

So young and old learn from each other. Children read and play; elders hold the answers and the stories behind them.

What should happen after a clue about a living elder is answered?

Invite that elder to tell the full story behind it.

What do you do if someone gets an answer wrong?

No shaming. Use it as a chance for someone to tell the story right.

Which stories stay out of the game?

Anything an elder asked you to keep private, even within the family.

Block 2 of 4About 30 minutes, often more

Family Research: Build your game

Build a Family Jeopardy board from your interview logs, timeline, healing log, and performance. Or design one of the other games on paper.

Name four categories. The suggested ones follow your stages. Change them to fit your family.
Write four clues per category, easiest at 100 and hardest at 400.
Check your clues with an elder for accuracy and privacy. Ask: “Is this right? Is it okay to share at the table?”
Switch to Play to test your board before game day.

Block 3 of 4About 30 minutes

Host the game, then reflect

Game day

Gather at least four family members, in person or on a video call.
Make mixed-age teams and let each team pick a name.
Play. After each clue about a person, invite them, or someone who knew them, to tell the story behind it.
Talk for 10 minutes after:

What did you learn tonight that you didn’t know?
Which story surprised you most?
What should every child in this family know by heart?
What should we play or talk about at the next gathering?

Reflect

1. How did your family respond to the game? Who surprised you?

2. What did an elder add to a story that you hadn’t heard before?

3. What was it like to be the teacher in your own family? What feelings came up for you?

Block 4 of 4About 30 minutes

Demonstration: Game night report

First, respond to two tellings

Answer before you call. Respond to two posts from classmates or from the Ancestor Shelf, using the four moves:

Name itGive the story a temporary name.
Take itSay one thing it taught you.
Ask itAsk the teller one question.
Link itConnect it to your own family or adopted line.

Then, post your report

Record 2 to 3 minutes, or write about 300 words. Tell how game night went, what your family learned, and the story an elder told that you hadn’t heard. Add a short clip or photo if your family agrees.

This week, end your post with two clues that are safe to share with the Circle. Listeners add a fifth move: answer one of your clues. Post an answer back to close the circle.

Bring to your weekend session

Bring your board. The circle will play a round of each other’s boards and trade ideas for the other games.

For the family

Your Djeli-in-Training is hosting a family game night built from the stories you shared. Come ready to play, laugh, and tell the stories behind the answers.

“Will you play Family Jeopardy with me? The answers are all about us. And when a clue is about you, I’ll ask you to tell the whole story.”

Help by setting a date, inviting relatives near and far, and helping the student check that every clue is accurate and okay to share.

Stage VII checklist

0 of 8 done

Watched the How-To video and checked myself
Chose my game and named the categories
Wrote my clues, including a healing story
Checked my clues with an elder
Hosted game night
Led the after-game discussion
Wrote my three reflections
Responded to two posts and posted my report

Next stage: Return · Course home