I went on a trip to my grandmother’s hometown with her, even visited the house she grew up in and where she lived during the second world war. It was amazing to hear all the stories. If your grandmother is still able to travel (with your assistance) I recommend asking her if there is anywhere she really loves to visit, but cannot on her own.

Ask her about her past. There’s a good chance she’ll love telling you all her old stories, and that you’ll find some of them interesting.

Get some kind of a voice recorder; if it’s an app, set it for the highest quality recordings.

If you have any old family recordings - 8mm film, VHS/camcorder, whatever - gather then together. Whatever you or your family have is great, but check with your grandmother herself, any of her siblings that are still around, etc. Get the films converted if necessary.

Play them on the television for her, and record the session (if it’s silent just use the app; if the film has sound, use a microphone or something to isolate the sound, or even just play it muted). She’ll likely talk about the people on the screen, where they are, what her memories of them are, that kind of thing. Later on, you can overlay her voice onto the recording as a separate soundtrack. Make multiple copies and distribute to relatives.

If there are other older people who might also have memories of the people on the film, host a family reunion of those who can come, and record all their voices talking about it (soundtrack definitely off for this!). Later on, you can use voice-to-text to generate a transcript of the conversation and then add in who’s talking when; if you get ambitious, you can add those in as subtitles.

Actually, even if there aren’t other people who remember the people in the films, a family reunion would be an opportunity to share those images with the rest of the family. And if you don’t have old films, a family reunion would be lovely anyway. If she has a birthday during this period, throw her a party.

Sit down and go through all the family photos together. Not (necessarily) the ones of your family vacations, but the old black and white ones of all the people who have died. Voice record that as well; you’ll likely get a few stories there as well. Don’t slow things down by trying to label the backs of all the photos as you go, but maybe scribble post-it notes as you go, and then go back later on and write the details down on the back of the photos.

Make sure to go through all of HER photos as well - there will be people and events that don’t show up anywhere else. Sometimes they’ll just be random friends or co-workers; other times they’ll be relatives. Don’t forget to include any photos on the walls or on frames on the mantle, nightstand, etc!

While you’re going through the films and photos, see if there’s any odd-ish stuff that you might want to account for as well: slides, negatives, reel-to-reel or cassette recordings, whatever. Remember that you don’t have to do all of this yourself; there’s likely someone in your family or friends (or companies) that has the ability to convert a bunch of this stuff to a more usable (and standardized!) format for you.

Are there foods that she makes that are particularly good, or bring back memories, or are family recipes? Get and preserve the recipes, ask about the stories or people behind them, maybe make some of the dishes together.

A little bit grim, but ask her about the family health history for everyone she can remember; that gives you information for risk factors and potentially inheritable conditions and diseases. You can also use this to brush up on your genealogy.

Go through her address book together; there will be some relatives in there that you rarely or never heard of.

If she’s up for it, go over some of her jewelry, furniture and knickknacks together. You’re not looking for value, you’re looking for “oh, that’s great Uncle John’s desk, he got it when he was clearing out barns during the Great Depression and spent the winter refinishing it, he always loved that thing” and “oh, this watch was your great Aunt Marie’s, you pin it to your chest you see, it’s upside down because she was a nurse and that’s how they timed your pulse, great great Auntie Anne gave it to her when she graduated nursing school”, etc. If you can, maybe take a picture of the item while she’s talking (if you’re recording on your phone, maybe use a second phone for photos so you’re not disturbing the recording).

You said that she’s old. Remember that all of this may be very tiring for her, and that the effort will compound over the days. Don’t press for 3-hour sessions every day; maybe just do an hour or even a half-hour and see how her energy is. Note that old people tend to have their own times of day that they’re at their best, and that may be early morning or later at night; adjust to her “best hours” schedule as best you can.

[Continued in next comment]

It doesn’t matter. How you spend the time is not important, just that you spent it. That’s what you’ll be glad of, looking back.

Ask about what it was like to live through historically significant events. Even if she’s not directly connected to something like the Berlin Wall coming down, she still has memories and stories about it (and other events) that you might not have learned about otherwise. Write or record her responses, that kind of information is harder to get the further back you go.

One thing that might be great would be to gather any old stories she has, ideally with a voice recording.

However, I realise that doing that might seem a little like saying, “Well grandma, you probably don’t have long left…”, so it may not be appropriate, depending on her own view of her health/longevity.

Either way, I hope you enjoy the time with her, and I’m sure she’ll welcome spending time with you. Also, congrats on the degree! 👍

Talk to her about her life. Every aspect. Ask questions. There is so much that is lost when a generation dies and people don’t know the stories lost with them. My grandfather died suddenly when I was a child and it was years after he was gone that I found out that my parent, aunts, uncles didn’t know much about his younger life and now there was no one to ask.

If you are interested, collect some stories about her family, learn a little about your grandparent’s grandparents, could be information that is lost to time if you don’t take it. I only learned after they passed that it was my grandparents’ grandparents that immigrated to the New World and where exactly they came from. And that’s really cool to trace that information, but a shame I never asked directly.

Be there, help her out with chores she might need to have done, play card games.

It doesn’t really matter what you do, you’ll just be grateful that you spent the time with her.

I really wish I had more recordings of stories from my grandparents, either video or even just my notes. Sitting with her and getting her chatting would probably be good for you, can do it over some of her favourite meals

Ask her about what life was like when she was younger (like, before your parents were born). Shell enjoy reminiscing, and you’ll learn some interesting things.

Just get stories. About growing up. About her parents, siblings and children. Record her telling them if she won’t mind.

Extreme sports, bungee jumping, skydiving etc.

Ask her to tell you her favorite memories, and audio record the stories she tells you. The world has changed so much during her life, and it’ll continue to change. The memories she has are held be so few, maybe just her. Surely she has some wonderful tales to share.

Most people enjoy hearing their favorite music from their adolescence.

Honestly, spend much more time listening than talking. Ask questions. Learn her story.