Okay, after talking about how much I really liked have all my lessons picked out in the beginning of the month, life taught me a lesson. One I already know, but get re-taught all the time.
All the darn time.
There is no one right way. And even when there is ONE way I particularly like, that way still might not always match my life.
Which is why instead of one day (and one post) to figure out my month of FHE's, I've had three.
What I've learned along with the no one right way lesson is one of the most important lessons of my life and has been expressed by many people in many different ways.
Do it.
Just do it.
Keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Just keep swimming.
I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones that popped into my head. The point is to not stop trying. Even when things don't work out the way I want. Even when I fail miserably.
Okay, this has veered off my original topic, but I feel pretty strongly about it. You can do it. And so can I. WE CAN DO IT!
You know, whatever it is that we're trying to do.
Like family home evening. Yep, I'm finally back to my original topic.
This week has a strange holiday, Pioneer Day. I wasn't raised in Utah (although I live here now) and so I'd never heard of Pioneer Day until about seven years ago. Even if you don't reside in Utah, you can still celebrate it (you just won't get the day off work like we do, I know strange). It's also a great excuse to take some time out to talk about the sacrifices made by those who began our church.
And then you can talk about how we, today, can also be pioneers. Have you read the first article in July's Ensign? I hadn't until today. In Primary our fill-in chorister had the kids sing "To Be a Pioneer" and she talked to them about President Monson's article. It's great. You should take a few minutes and read it, it's not very long.
Then, while thinking this would be a great family night topic and wondering if the Ensign article would work as a family night, I found this lesson on Parenting in the Latter-days about the EXACT SAME TOPIC. Really. It's based off the song and is almost like she and President Monson got together (the Ensign has some great ideas how to adapt the article to teach older kids and you can use those to adapt the lesson).
Have a wonderful Pioneer day!
Leah
Showing posts with label Family Home Evening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family Home Evening. Show all posts
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
July Family Home Evening Plan - Week 3
Week 3
I love choosing a family night that goes along with either the monthly primary theme or youth theme.
For me, it's more fun to do one that goes along with the youth theme because I don't already know what it is (I'm in primary right now) and it helps me to talk more with my tweenager about the gospel and what she's learning in Young Womens.
But, I thought some of you might not have a youth aged child or you might be involved in the youth program and have more fun connecting with your primary aged kids, so I'll put an idea on here for both (although, if you want more FHE ideas that go along with primary, you can check out my Sharing Time posts, many of them center around fantastic FHE ideas I've found that you could use at home!).
PRIMARY
This month in primary we're learning about our families. We're learning about why it's important to have them, what kinds of things help them grow closer together and closer to Christ, how the priesthood blesses families and about how temples are so very central to the family. Do you look at that list and thing, holy cow, that's a lot of topics?! Yeah, me too.
So, let's go another direction (although if you feel your family needs one of those, please by all means, use one of those wonderful gospel topics as a base for your family night!), this month we are also studying the Family Proclamation and there is a wonderful family night about it on A Year of FHE. It is simple and has some very fun handouts. Fantastic!
YOUTH
The youth are spending the month talking about Ordinances and Covenants. I found an FHE on Parenting in the Latter days that would work fantastically for younger children and can be adapted easily to work better with older kids.
She has you tell about Captain Moroni and then fill in your own Title of Liberty. Instead of, or in addition to, using the standards she has listed, you could use the standards for From the Strength of Youth with your older children.
Good luck!
Leah
I love choosing a family night that goes along with either the monthly primary theme or youth theme.
For me, it's more fun to do one that goes along with the youth theme because I don't already know what it is (I'm in primary right now) and it helps me to talk more with my tweenager about the gospel and what she's learning in Young Womens.
But, I thought some of you might not have a youth aged child or you might be involved in the youth program and have more fun connecting with your primary aged kids, so I'll put an idea on here for both (although, if you want more FHE ideas that go along with primary, you can check out my Sharing Time posts, many of them center around fantastic FHE ideas I've found that you could use at home!).
PRIMARY
This month in primary we're learning about our families. We're learning about why it's important to have them, what kinds of things help them grow closer together and closer to Christ, how the priesthood blesses families and about how temples are so very central to the family. Do you look at that list and thing, holy cow, that's a lot of topics?! Yeah, me too.
So, let's go another direction (although if you feel your family needs one of those, please by all means, use one of those wonderful gospel topics as a base for your family night!), this month we are also studying the Family Proclamation and there is a wonderful family night about it on A Year of FHE. It is simple and has some very fun handouts. Fantastic!
YOUTH
The youth are spending the month talking about Ordinances and Covenants. I found an FHE on Parenting in the Latter days that would work fantastically for younger children and can be adapted easily to work better with older kids.
She has you tell about Captain Moroni and then fill in your own Title of Liberty. Instead of, or in addition to, using the standards she has listed, you could use the standards for From the Strength of Youth with your older children.
Good luck!
Leah
Monday, June 3, 2013
June Family Home Evening Plan
I love family home evening! They're not always easy and some nights as I'm trying to alternately shush and talk over my kids who sometimes struggle with sitting still for more than a few minutes together I wonder if I'm going to make it until they all move out. But, I know that through the struggles, we are helping to develop a pattern of righteousness in their lives.
I was recently perusing at a Deseret Book and read the jacket of President Henry B. Eyring's new book Choose Higher Ground. In it he shares a story where he's frustrated at how hard things (life) seems to be. His mother shares some wonderful advice with him when she tells him that if you're going the right direction, you're always going uphill. I LOVE IT! And it's applicable to so many of the seemingly simple (but not usually) counsel for our families, like family home evening.
Just a quick review of my family home evening purpose. First and foremost, our family home evenings are a place for us to be together, helping each other grow. To meet this purpose, I try to plan family home evening's that helps my daughter meet some of her Personal Progress requirements and my son pass off some of his Cub Scout achievements. In addition to this, we focus on teachings found in the most recent General Conference talks whenever possible.
Week 1
We always spend the first part of the first Monday talking about and checking progress on our 2013 goals. If you haven't made any yet, it's never too late! The kids love to set their own goals, see what everyone else chooses and seting a few for our family as a whole. It's a really great experience that we all love.
I was looking through some packets I've had for years, trying to find some inspiration for the month and two jumped out at me. Both have to do with the influence we have over those in our home. I don't know about your house, but we occasionally (or maybe not so occasionally) struggle with keeping a positive attitude and once one of us loses the battle, it's only a matter of time until it spreads.
I also really wanted to focus on a General Conference talk and as I was looking through my issue, I came across Elder Richard G. Scott's address and read, "It is important for parents to teach children to recognize how their actions affect each individual who lives in the home." Perfect.
The lesson is titled Put a Smile on Your Face and teaches about things that can cause happy and bad feelings in the home and what we can do about them.
It starts with a fun object lesson where you attached sad or smiley faces to either the bad or good feelings pictures with string (so the faces are dangling beneath), then you have a family member walk through the faces and ask them what happened. You get smacked in the face by feelings in our home everyday (just like the dangling faces) and wouldn't it be better to get hit with good feelings?
You also evaluate yourself to see how well you think you're doing on the positivity front, set goals to do better and set goals to track happy deeds you've done for others in the family in the upcoming weeks. Simple and exactly what our family needs!
Week 2
Wolf Scout Achievement 9 talks about being safe both at home and on the street. There's a little bit about sidewalk, crosswalk and bike safety that Ben and I have already read through, so we're going to focus on home hazards and having a family emergency plan. We made one years ago and never got around to making another one. Shame on me, I know.
We're going to slowly start to solve my lack of preparation with tonight's family night. We'll talk about dangers in our home, how to keep things clean and organized so we don't fall, label dangerous materials, and learn where the circuit breaker and water shutoff are.
Then we'll talk about what to do in an emergency AND make a plan. There are lots of great examples of emergency evacuation floor plans on google, but my favorite find is this emergency preparedness blog post. It's got EVERYTHING you could think of for a family night: 72 hour kits, emergency plans, earthquake and tornado, floods and tsunami, tornado and fire, plus some word searches, crosswords and a board game to really bring all the information home. We're going to follow the basic outline for the Make An Emergency Plan family home evening, but we're definitely going to work our way through more of these!
Week 3
This month, the youth are focusing on the priesthood and the priesthood keys, so I thought it'd be fun to do a lesson on it with our family. I found the perfect lesson on Parenting in the Latter-days that teaches about the restoration, organization, blessings and keys of the priesthood. This lesson is so BIG that if your kids are smaller (and have shorter attention spans) you could break it down into a few different family nights. She has pictures, puzzles and games to play to reinforce the concepts (and keep everyone paying attention).
Week 4
A few months ago while I was looking through a few different family home evening blogs, I came across several patriotic themed family nights on Chocolate on my Cranium. The 14th of this month is Flag Day and, of course, the 4th of July is just around the corner, so I thought it'd be perfect to fit a few of them in.
1. The Star Spangled Banner
2. Patriotism
3. Pledge of Allegiance
4. Preamble to the US Constitution
She made/adapted these from a pamphlet entitled Family Home Evening Lessons for the Bicentennial of the Constitution put out by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are other ideas there so if you want to check them out, you can download a pdf copy from the link above.
We're going to do the Star Spangled Banner in June and another one next month in July (I'm leaning toward the Patriotism one right now). Although, if you wanted, you could spend the month of June focused only on patriotic lessons, or maybe the week before the 4th, do a sort of walk through patriotic family nights to build up to it.
Hope you have a great month!!
I was recently perusing at a Deseret Book and read the jacket of President Henry B. Eyring's new book Choose Higher Ground. In it he shares a story where he's frustrated at how hard things (life) seems to be. His mother shares some wonderful advice with him when she tells him that if you're going the right direction, you're always going uphill. I LOVE IT! And it's applicable to so many of the seemingly simple (but not usually) counsel for our families, like family home evening.
Just a quick review of my family home evening purpose. First and foremost, our family home evenings are a place for us to be together, helping each other grow. To meet this purpose, I try to plan family home evening's that helps my daughter meet some of her Personal Progress requirements and my son pass off some of his Cub Scout achievements. In addition to this, we focus on teachings found in the most recent General Conference talks whenever possible.
Week 1
We always spend the first part of the first Monday talking about and checking progress on our 2013 goals. If you haven't made any yet, it's never too late! The kids love to set their own goals, see what everyone else chooses and seting a few for our family as a whole. It's a really great experience that we all love.
I was looking through some packets I've had for years, trying to find some inspiration for the month and two jumped out at me. Both have to do with the influence we have over those in our home. I don't know about your house, but we occasionally (or maybe not so occasionally) struggle with keeping a positive attitude and once one of us loses the battle, it's only a matter of time until it spreads.
I also really wanted to focus on a General Conference talk and as I was looking through my issue, I came across Elder Richard G. Scott's address and read, "It is important for parents to teach children to recognize how their actions affect each individual who lives in the home." Perfect.
The lesson is titled Put a Smile on Your Face and teaches about things that can cause happy and bad feelings in the home and what we can do about them.
It starts with a fun object lesson where you attached sad or smiley faces to either the bad or good feelings pictures with string (so the faces are dangling beneath), then you have a family member walk through the faces and ask them what happened. You get smacked in the face by feelings in our home everyday (just like the dangling faces) and wouldn't it be better to get hit with good feelings?
You also evaluate yourself to see how well you think you're doing on the positivity front, set goals to do better and set goals to track happy deeds you've done for others in the family in the upcoming weeks. Simple and exactly what our family needs!
Week 2
Wolf Scout Achievement 9 talks about being safe both at home and on the street. There's a little bit about sidewalk, crosswalk and bike safety that Ben and I have already read through, so we're going to focus on home hazards and having a family emergency plan. We made one years ago and never got around to making another one. Shame on me, I know.
We're going to slowly start to solve my lack of preparation with tonight's family night. We'll talk about dangers in our home, how to keep things clean and organized so we don't fall, label dangerous materials, and learn where the circuit breaker and water shutoff are.
Then we'll talk about what to do in an emergency AND make a plan. There are lots of great examples of emergency evacuation floor plans on google, but my favorite find is this emergency preparedness blog post. It's got EVERYTHING you could think of for a family night: 72 hour kits, emergency plans, earthquake and tornado, floods and tsunami, tornado and fire, plus some word searches, crosswords and a board game to really bring all the information home. We're going to follow the basic outline for the Make An Emergency Plan family home evening, but we're definitely going to work our way through more of these!
Week 3
This month, the youth are focusing on the priesthood and the priesthood keys, so I thought it'd be fun to do a lesson on it with our family. I found the perfect lesson on Parenting in the Latter-days that teaches about the restoration, organization, blessings and keys of the priesthood. This lesson is so BIG that if your kids are smaller (and have shorter attention spans) you could break it down into a few different family nights. She has pictures, puzzles and games to play to reinforce the concepts (and keep everyone paying attention).
Week 4
A few months ago while I was looking through a few different family home evening blogs, I came across several patriotic themed family nights on Chocolate on my Cranium. The 14th of this month is Flag Day and, of course, the 4th of July is just around the corner, so I thought it'd be perfect to fit a few of them in.
1. The Star Spangled Banner
2. Patriotism
3. Pledge of Allegiance
4. Preamble to the US Constitution
She made/adapted these from a pamphlet entitled Family Home Evening Lessons for the Bicentennial of the Constitution put out by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are other ideas there so if you want to check them out, you can download a pdf copy from the link above.
We're going to do the Star Spangled Banner in June and another one next month in July (I'm leaning toward the Patriotism one right now). Although, if you wanted, you could spend the month of June focused only on patriotic lessons, or maybe the week before the 4th, do a sort of walk through patriotic family nights to build up to it.
Hope you have a great month!!
Monday, May 6, 2013
May Family Home Evening Plan
My plans are still working great at keeping me on track. In fact, they're working so great, I wonder why I didn't try this before. It doesn't take too long and it's awesome!
I do have one small confession (which probably doesn't come as a surprise to anyone), I don't always exactly follow my plan. Sometimes life sort of gets in the way or takes us in another direction. And I've been going with the flow. Me. I know, maybe it should be surprising.
Anyway, my point is, make a plan, but be willing to change it if your kids ask you a good question or if you happen to get free tickets to go to a museum. Any plan should be there to support, not restrict. It's one of the many reasons I love them.
Just a quick review of my family home evening purpose. First and foremost, our family home evenings are a place for us to be together, helping each other grow. To meet this purpose, I try to plan family home evening's that helps my daughter meet some of her Personal Progress requirements and my son pass off some of his Cub Scout achievements. In addition to this, we focus on teachings found in the most recent General Conference talks whenever possible.
Now, onto May!
Week 1
We always spend the first part of the first Monday talking about and checking progress on our 2013 goals. If you haven't made any yet, it's never too late! The kids love to set their own goals, see what everyone else chooses and to set a few for our family as a whole. It's a really great experience that we all love.
With spring finally warming up (for us, sorry if you just experienced a blizzard, that's just rude), this is a great time to talk about our earth and how we can take care of it (this will almost pass off Achievement 7 for my Cub Scout aged son in Wolves).
This lesson is pretty short so you can get to the real fun,the activity. We'll talk about respect, what it means in reference to people, animals, and our planet. Next, we'll talk about how the earth gets dirty (I'm just talking litter here) and how we can help. Is there recycling in your area? What sorts of things are recyclable? Are there other things we can do aside from recycling? Things like turning the lights off or keeping your thermostat not too cold (or hot).
After our short discussion, we'll head out to pick up trash around our neighborhood. We'll just do a quick loop around our neighborhood, but you could go as long or far as you have energy for. We are also going to use thin plastic (or rubber?) gloves I've got in my school-room to use for various projects. Afterwards, my favorite thing to do is eat Popsicles outside (if it's warm enough) at the park, if you've got one close enough.
Week 2
I found a great website called FHE in 5 that has a very fun series talking about prophets. It uses the Primary song Follow The Prophet as it's spine (so there are 9 weeks to go along with the verses) and we're going to do the the first week for our family night.
This is going to be another very short lesson so we can get to the activity portion quickly. We will talk about prophets, sing the first verse of Follow the Prophet and then watch this short video from lds dot org about Adam and Eve.
Then we'll talk about how Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden and how we can make our home like the Garden of Eden. Which leads right into weeding our flower beds, vegetable garden and getting my kids started in planting their sections in the vegetable garden. If you don't have a vegetable garden begging to be planted, you could plant in a flower pot or a plastic cup or whatever you have lying around.
Week 3
Makenna is going to be working on another faith value experience for her Personal Progress. This time she's going to work on Faith #3 and before our family night she'll read about faith and how it leads to action. She's chosen to teach us about the principles found in the 10 commandments and how living them requires faith.
I found another amazing FHE on Parenting in the Latter-days that I'll print out for her to give to us. It's got a fun participation story where the kids get to hold up pictures whenever their word is said, some matching cards to translate the scriptural language of the 10 commandments into easier to understand kid language, a finger play to learn the story of Moses getting the 10 commandments and some more detailed information for older kids. It's very well put together (like all her lessons) and will be perfect!
I'm also excited Makenna chose this particular topic because it goes along with one of the most recent General Conference talks. I'll have her talk about that as she gets the lesson started to keep conference in my kids minds. President Monson said, "A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God." Now, he's not just talking about the 10 commandments, but we can talk about what truth we learn as we discuss each of the commandments and how we can be more obedient to them.
Week 4
For months (okay, years) I've been wanting to get involved in family history. I feel like this great pressure has been building up inside me and is finally getting to the point where it's just about ready to burst. And the pressure isn't really aimed at temple work (currently), I want to know about my family. I need to KNOW them. Where do I come from? What are the stories of these nameless people that helped to bring me here?
I feel more than slightly overwhelmed, which is probably why I haven't done anything yet. But I'm going to. I recently attended the General Primary Auxiliary Training and when a 12 year old boy was asked what advice he would give to someone who wanted to start family history he said, "Just get started." So I'm going to.
Step one: We're going to have a lesson on family history. We'll start with some super cute videos about family history (probably just one of them, but I can't decide yet, they're so darn cute..seriously, you should watch them).
After that, we'll talk about our family and use a cute object lesson I found at America Jane Speaks. We'll make a paper chain with every one's names. I'll have the kids pick a color for their section, Steve and I will be another and we'll add their grandparents in a third color. Then, I'll ask them if they know who their great-grandparents are. We'll see how far we can get on our chain (it probably won't get too far past grandparents without some help) and between now and the night we do this, I'm going to see how many stories I can rustle up about our closer ancestors. We can tell the stories as we add each link to our chain.
I've been wanting to start a family tree wall (since Memorial Day last year) and we'll start that also. I've been waiting to figure out how to arrange them, buy frames, and pre-gather all the stories. I'm just going to start, the organization can happen along the way, right? We'll laminate the pictures and stick them on the wall. I know, it's a little tacky, but it's better than that blank wall just staring at me (this way I can rearrange them until I find what I like best). Even if we just start with us, it will be worth it to get moving.
On Your LDS Blog I found another fun idea for making a file folder game of a family tree. This way, the kids get to know who their ancestors are as they place them on the family tree (over and over). I won't have each of my kids make one, but I think we'll do one for the family and as we "find" more ancestors, we'll print out pictures to add to our tree. Hopefully, it'll be overflowing in not too many months.
Good luck with your FHE plans for the month and remember, the most important (above ANYTHING else) is to have it. It's not what or how, it is that you DO. So, "just get started."
I do have one small confession (which probably doesn't come as a surprise to anyone), I don't always exactly follow my plan. Sometimes life sort of gets in the way or takes us in another direction. And I've been going with the flow. Me. I know, maybe it should be surprising.
Anyway, my point is, make a plan, but be willing to change it if your kids ask you a good question or if you happen to get free tickets to go to a museum. Any plan should be there to support, not restrict. It's one of the many reasons I love them.
Just a quick review of my family home evening purpose. First and foremost, our family home evenings are a place for us to be together, helping each other grow. To meet this purpose, I try to plan family home evening's that helps my daughter meet some of her Personal Progress requirements and my son pass off some of his Cub Scout achievements. In addition to this, we focus on teachings found in the most recent General Conference talks whenever possible.
Now, onto May!
Week 1
We always spend the first part of the first Monday talking about and checking progress on our 2013 goals. If you haven't made any yet, it's never too late! The kids love to set their own goals, see what everyone else chooses and to set a few for our family as a whole. It's a really great experience that we all love.
With spring finally warming up (for us, sorry if you just experienced a blizzard, that's just rude), this is a great time to talk about our earth and how we can take care of it (this will almost pass off Achievement 7 for my Cub Scout aged son in Wolves).
This lesson is pretty short so you can get to the real fun,the activity. We'll talk about respect, what it means in reference to people, animals, and our planet. Next, we'll talk about how the earth gets dirty (I'm just talking litter here) and how we can help. Is there recycling in your area? What sorts of things are recyclable? Are there other things we can do aside from recycling? Things like turning the lights off or keeping your thermostat not too cold (or hot).
After our short discussion, we'll head out to pick up trash around our neighborhood. We'll just do a quick loop around our neighborhood, but you could go as long or far as you have energy for. We are also going to use thin plastic (or rubber?) gloves I've got in my school-room to use for various projects. Afterwards, my favorite thing to do is eat Popsicles outside (if it's warm enough) at the park, if you've got one close enough.
Week 2
I found a great website called FHE in 5 that has a very fun series talking about prophets. It uses the Primary song Follow The Prophet as it's spine (so there are 9 weeks to go along with the verses) and we're going to do the the first week for our family night.
This is going to be another very short lesson so we can get to the activity portion quickly. We will talk about prophets, sing the first verse of Follow the Prophet and then watch this short video from lds dot org about Adam and Eve.
Then we'll talk about how Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden and how we can make our home like the Garden of Eden. Which leads right into weeding our flower beds, vegetable garden and getting my kids started in planting their sections in the vegetable garden. If you don't have a vegetable garden begging to be planted, you could plant in a flower pot or a plastic cup or whatever you have lying around.
Week 3
Makenna is going to be working on another faith value experience for her Personal Progress. This time she's going to work on Faith #3 and before our family night she'll read about faith and how it leads to action. She's chosen to teach us about the principles found in the 10 commandments and how living them requires faith.
I found another amazing FHE on Parenting in the Latter-days that I'll print out for her to give to us. It's got a fun participation story where the kids get to hold up pictures whenever their word is said, some matching cards to translate the scriptural language of the 10 commandments into easier to understand kid language, a finger play to learn the story of Moses getting the 10 commandments and some more detailed information for older kids. It's very well put together (like all her lessons) and will be perfect!
I'm also excited Makenna chose this particular topic because it goes along with one of the most recent General Conference talks. I'll have her talk about that as she gets the lesson started to keep conference in my kids minds. President Monson said, "A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God." Now, he's not just talking about the 10 commandments, but we can talk about what truth we learn as we discuss each of the commandments and how we can be more obedient to them.
Week 4
For months (okay, years) I've been wanting to get involved in family history. I feel like this great pressure has been building up inside me and is finally getting to the point where it's just about ready to burst. And the pressure isn't really aimed at temple work (currently), I want to know about my family. I need to KNOW them. Where do I come from? What are the stories of these nameless people that helped to bring me here?
I feel more than slightly overwhelmed, which is probably why I haven't done anything yet. But I'm going to. I recently attended the General Primary Auxiliary Training and when a 12 year old boy was asked what advice he would give to someone who wanted to start family history he said, "Just get started." So I'm going to.
Step one: We're going to have a lesson on family history. We'll start with some super cute videos about family history (probably just one of them, but I can't decide yet, they're so darn cute..seriously, you should watch them).
After that, we'll talk about our family and use a cute object lesson I found at America Jane Speaks. We'll make a paper chain with every one's names. I'll have the kids pick a color for their section, Steve and I will be another and we'll add their grandparents in a third color. Then, I'll ask them if they know who their great-grandparents are. We'll see how far we can get on our chain (it probably won't get too far past grandparents without some help) and between now and the night we do this, I'm going to see how many stories I can rustle up about our closer ancestors. We can tell the stories as we add each link to our chain.
I've been wanting to start a family tree wall (since Memorial Day last year) and we'll start that also. I've been waiting to figure out how to arrange them, buy frames, and pre-gather all the stories. I'm just going to start, the organization can happen along the way, right? We'll laminate the pictures and stick them on the wall. I know, it's a little tacky, but it's better than that blank wall just staring at me (this way I can rearrange them until I find what I like best). Even if we just start with us, it will be worth it to get moving.
On Your LDS Blog I found another fun idea for making a file folder game of a family tree. This way, the kids get to know who their ancestors are as they place them on the family tree (over and over). I won't have each of my kids make one, but I think we'll do one for the family and as we "find" more ancestors, we'll print out pictures to add to our tree. Hopefully, it'll be overflowing in not too many months.
Good luck with your FHE plans for the month and remember, the most important (above ANYTHING else) is to have it. It's not what or how, it is that you DO. So, "just get started."
Friday, March 29, 2013
April Family Home Evening Plan
My two favorite things about having a family home evening plan last month were:
1. Even though I still seem to wait until sometime Monday to get everything ready, because I've already put time and prayer into topics and finding lessons, I'm not sacrificing content due to my procrastination.
2. Because I've found cool lessons, I'm printing them out, laminating them and adding them to favorite lessons I already have floating around. That means after this year, I'll have so many awesome family tested lessons to choose from that are already READY!
Now, onto my April lessons...
Week 1
We'll review our goals again (I finally put them up on the wall next to our dining table so we can see them EVERYDAY) and see if there are smaller goals we can set to work towards our bigger goals during the month of April.
Seeing as this is the family night before General Conference, we're going to talk about and get ready for General Conference.
I love General Conference and I'm really excited to help my kids understand what a gift it is (or can be) in our lives.
I've found two different FHE's I like that are very, very similar. The first is from Chocolate on my Cranium and the second is from Parenting in the Latter-days.
They both use the theme of Watchmen on the Tower, which I LOVE! Chocolate on my Cranium is simpler and quicker while Parenting in the Latter-days has more options in the stories and activities department. I will probably do bits from both.
Sometime during family night we'll put up pictures of all our apostles. I don't have them yet, but I plan to run down to distribution (attached to the Deseret Book's around here) and pick up an 8.5x11 of each of them for only $.50 each. If you don't live near a distribution, you can order them online here (they probably won't be there in time for General Conference, but I think it's so important that our children recognize and know who they're prophets are). We'll leave the pictures up all week and then have the kids move the picture of the apostle speaking to the top of our tower during conference (I'll be posting about exactly what we're doing as a family for conference next week).
Week 2
Every month I try to do a lesson (or have my kids do one) on either Faith in God or, now that my daughter is going to be 12 next month, on Personal Progress. This week we're going to talk about Faith Experience #2.
We'll get it started as a family and then Makenna will work on finishing it throughout the week. We're going to talk about the story of Helaman and the stripling warriors and the faith they had. I'm not certain if we'll watch any of the video yet (my kids love the LDS Living Scriptures videos) because they've seen it a lot, but they do love it, so maybe I'll try and find a short clip we can watch to emphasize the principle of faith.
Then I'm going to use bits and pieces from this lesson I found at LDS Family Fun. We'll review the story and read some scriptures (the experience asks that you read Alma 56:45-48 and 57:21) then talk about how Helaman's Stripling Warriors' faith helped them. In primary this year we're talking about the armor of God and so we'll relate faith to a shield.
Quote: “We were dressed in our home each morning, not only with hats and raincoats and boots to protect us from physical storm, but even more carefully our parents dressed us each day in the armor of God. As we would kneel in family prayer and listen to our father, a bearer of the priesthood, pour out his soul to the Lord for the protection of his family against the fiery darts of the wicked, one more layer was added to our shield of faith. While our shield was being made strong, theirs was always available, for they were available and we knew it.” L. Tom Perry, Ensign, May 1974
I think we'll end with a treat (which I'm too lazy to do normally). During the day I'll make up some sugar cookie dough and we'll cook it after school. Then, it'll be ready to turn into shields after our lesson.
Short and sweet!
Week 3
Years ago I did a bunch of family home evening lessons for a church activity and since then they've spent more time sitting in a box than being used. I'm working on changing that.
I've been reading books on Christ off and on for the last several years and my love for Him has grown so much that I want to share it with everyone, especially my children. So, I've chosen one of those buried lessons titled Seeking Christ to do for this week.
It suggest using either "Seek the Lord Early" (pg 108) or "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" (pg177) for your opening song. I love Teach Me, it's been a favorite since I was in primary so I'll try to convince my kids we should go with that one (not that it really matters, they're both really great).
Read Proverbs 8:17, "I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me." A really great scripture. Does anyone else come across quotes and scriptures and have the urge to start sticking them all over the walls in their home? I think if I actually followed through, my walls would be coated...
The lesson starts out with all the lights off (or have a blindfold handy if you can't get your house dark enough). You need to ask a family member to do a simple task in the dark (write a sentence, put something away...) and then show the difference when the same task is done in the light.
Read John 8:12 and talk about how Jesus is the light of the world. How does He give us His light and how does it make it easier for us to make the right choices (or does it)?
Then you do a fun activity to show how we can find Christ in our lives. My kids love scavenger/clue hunts (I may have mentioned this before) and I love that this one involves reading scriptures (this make me think of KIX, kid tested and mother approved...). Each clue in the scavenger hunt has a tip or idea to be used in finding Christ in our lives based off a scripture, along with the clue to the location of your next tip and clue. I like that not only are the tips scripturally based, the clues are also scriptures. Getting my kids in the scriptures is always a good thing!
Week 4
Elder Bednar talked about testimony and how it relates to conversion in his Sunday afternoon General Conference address in October and we're going to use it for the inspiration for this week's family night. He said, "Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion." So good!!!!
We'll talk about Elder Bednar, share a quote from his talk and then we'll talk about which is the first step? I think they're very inter-related, perhaps more cyclical that actually one leading to the other, but I think it would make sure a great family discussion.
Then, I'll use a lot of the awesome testimony lesson found on Parenting in the Latter-days. We'll talk about how we can gain a testimony using the steps from their lesson. I'll also tell the story of the tomato seed. We use seeds a lot in teaching the gospel to children (and even sometimes to adults) and I was really excited to see that this story is a little bit different. It doesn't just talk about how we need to take care of our seeds (testimonies) to help them grow big and strong, it keeps the story going and says that when our plants are grown, we aren't done. We have to continue to help the plants, to work hard to keep them healthy and producing good fruit. I think we often focus so much on shorter term goals, we forget they are in fact short term. Gaining a testimony is great, but keeping it strong and growing it bigger is a lifetime goal.
We'll also talk about why we should have a testimony, expanding on our faith family night from two weeks ago, and how it can be a shield and protection to us. I love the testimony wheel in this lesson and we'll give that to our kids. We'll also go into when we should bear our testimonies because I think we often forget it can be in our hearts, journals, to our family and friends, and not just on Fast Sunday.
If I'm feeling extra ambitious, we'll end with the testimony cookies. I love how each ingredient helps to reinforce and reteach in a new way all the principles we've already talked about in the lesson. And I've never met a kid who didn't like to help cook in the kitchen.
Week 5
Yep, there are 5 Mondays in April. And we have a tradition for our 5th Mondays. They are officially family game nights. We have lots of board and card games, but maybe we'll celebrate spring by taking our game playing down to the park to play soccer, baseball or who can nap fastest under the tree (there's really no point, my husband wins every time).
Good luck with your month!
1. Even though I still seem to wait until sometime Monday to get everything ready, because I've already put time and prayer into topics and finding lessons, I'm not sacrificing content due to my procrastination.
2. Because I've found cool lessons, I'm printing them out, laminating them and adding them to favorite lessons I already have floating around. That means after this year, I'll have so many awesome family tested lessons to choose from that are already READY!
Now, onto my April lessons...
Week 1
We'll review our goals again (I finally put them up on the wall next to our dining table so we can see them EVERYDAY) and see if there are smaller goals we can set to work towards our bigger goals during the month of April.
Seeing as this is the family night before General Conference, we're going to talk about and get ready for General Conference.
I love General Conference and I'm really excited to help my kids understand what a gift it is (or can be) in our lives.
I've found two different FHE's I like that are very, very similar. The first is from Chocolate on my Cranium and the second is from Parenting in the Latter-days.
They both use the theme of Watchmen on the Tower, which I LOVE! Chocolate on my Cranium is simpler and quicker while Parenting in the Latter-days has more options in the stories and activities department. I will probably do bits from both.
Sometime during family night we'll put up pictures of all our apostles. I don't have them yet, but I plan to run down to distribution (attached to the Deseret Book's around here) and pick up an 8.5x11 of each of them for only $.50 each. If you don't live near a distribution, you can order them online here (they probably won't be there in time for General Conference, but I think it's so important that our children recognize and know who they're prophets are). We'll leave the pictures up all week and then have the kids move the picture of the apostle speaking to the top of our tower during conference (I'll be posting about exactly what we're doing as a family for conference next week).
Week 2
Every month I try to do a lesson (or have my kids do one) on either Faith in God or, now that my daughter is going to be 12 next month, on Personal Progress. This week we're going to talk about Faith Experience #2.
We'll get it started as a family and then Makenna will work on finishing it throughout the week. We're going to talk about the story of Helaman and the stripling warriors and the faith they had. I'm not certain if we'll watch any of the video yet (my kids love the LDS Living Scriptures videos) because they've seen it a lot, but they do love it, so maybe I'll try and find a short clip we can watch to emphasize the principle of faith.
Then I'm going to use bits and pieces from this lesson I found at LDS Family Fun. We'll review the story and read some scriptures (the experience asks that you read Alma 56:45-48 and 57:21) then talk about how Helaman's Stripling Warriors' faith helped them. In primary this year we're talking about the armor of God and so we'll relate faith to a shield.
Quote: “We were dressed in our home each morning, not only with hats and raincoats and boots to protect us from physical storm, but even more carefully our parents dressed us each day in the armor of God. As we would kneel in family prayer and listen to our father, a bearer of the priesthood, pour out his soul to the Lord for the protection of his family against the fiery darts of the wicked, one more layer was added to our shield of faith. While our shield was being made strong, theirs was always available, for they were available and we knew it.” L. Tom Perry, Ensign, May 1974
I think we'll end with a treat (which I'm too lazy to do normally). During the day I'll make up some sugar cookie dough and we'll cook it after school. Then, it'll be ready to turn into shields after our lesson.
Short and sweet!
Week 3
Years ago I did a bunch of family home evening lessons for a church activity and since then they've spent more time sitting in a box than being used. I'm working on changing that.
I've been reading books on Christ off and on for the last several years and my love for Him has grown so much that I want to share it with everyone, especially my children. So, I've chosen one of those buried lessons titled Seeking Christ to do for this week.
It suggest using either "Seek the Lord Early" (pg 108) or "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" (pg177) for your opening song. I love Teach Me, it's been a favorite since I was in primary so I'll try to convince my kids we should go with that one (not that it really matters, they're both really great).
Read Proverbs 8:17, "I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me." A really great scripture. Does anyone else come across quotes and scriptures and have the urge to start sticking them all over the walls in their home? I think if I actually followed through, my walls would be coated...
The lesson starts out with all the lights off (or have a blindfold handy if you can't get your house dark enough). You need to ask a family member to do a simple task in the dark (write a sentence, put something away...) and then show the difference when the same task is done in the light.
Read John 8:12 and talk about how Jesus is the light of the world. How does He give us His light and how does it make it easier for us to make the right choices (or does it)?
Then you do a fun activity to show how we can find Christ in our lives. My kids love scavenger/clue hunts (I may have mentioned this before) and I love that this one involves reading scriptures (this make me think of KIX, kid tested and mother approved...). Each clue in the scavenger hunt has a tip or idea to be used in finding Christ in our lives based off a scripture, along with the clue to the location of your next tip and clue. I like that not only are the tips scripturally based, the clues are also scriptures. Getting my kids in the scriptures is always a good thing!
Week 4
Elder Bednar talked about testimony and how it relates to conversion in his Sunday afternoon General Conference address in October and we're going to use it for the inspiration for this week's family night. He said, "Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion." So good!!!!
We'll talk about Elder Bednar, share a quote from his talk and then we'll talk about which is the first step? I think they're very inter-related, perhaps more cyclical that actually one leading to the other, but I think it would make sure a great family discussion.
Then, I'll use a lot of the awesome testimony lesson found on Parenting in the Latter-days. We'll talk about how we can gain a testimony using the steps from their lesson. I'll also tell the story of the tomato seed. We use seeds a lot in teaching the gospel to children (and even sometimes to adults) and I was really excited to see that this story is a little bit different. It doesn't just talk about how we need to take care of our seeds (testimonies) to help them grow big and strong, it keeps the story going and says that when our plants are grown, we aren't done. We have to continue to help the plants, to work hard to keep them healthy and producing good fruit. I think we often focus so much on shorter term goals, we forget they are in fact short term. Gaining a testimony is great, but keeping it strong and growing it bigger is a lifetime goal.
We'll also talk about why we should have a testimony, expanding on our faith family night from two weeks ago, and how it can be a shield and protection to us. I love the testimony wheel in this lesson and we'll give that to our kids. We'll also go into when we should bear our testimonies because I think we often forget it can be in our hearts, journals, to our family and friends, and not just on Fast Sunday.
If I'm feeling extra ambitious, we'll end with the testimony cookies. I love how each ingredient helps to reinforce and reteach in a new way all the principles we've already talked about in the lesson. And I've never met a kid who didn't like to help cook in the kitchen.
Week 5
Yep, there are 5 Mondays in April. And we have a tradition for our 5th Mondays. They are officially family game nights. We have lots of board and card games, but maybe we'll celebrate spring by taking our game playing down to the park to play soccer, baseball or who can nap fastest under the tree (there's really no point, my husband wins every time).
Good luck with your month!
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
March Family Home Evening Plan
One of my goals for the year is to have a plan for our FHE and I started off with a general outline of what I want to teach during our family nights.
I want to help my kids LIVE the basic principles of the gospel, to focus on the teachings of our current prophets and apostles from the previous General Conference and to provide a time for my kids to work on and pass off their Faith In God activities (soon to be Personal Progress also, I can't believe my oldest is almost TWELVE!).
I have to come clean here, I actually had this goal last year, too. And I didn't do it. For some reason I decided I had to have a specific plan for the whole year all at once. Specific like having every lesson planned out including having everything I needed for every single lesson. When you're starting from scratch, that's kind of overwhelming to put together.
So, I decided to start a little more slowly, just one month at a time. I can plan out 4 nights at once. And I did. Yesterday.
Week 1
The first week of the year, before our lesson, we review the goals we've set individually and as a family to see if we need to make any adjustments in our goals, ask for help if it's needed and to just make sure we're on track (or remind us to get back on track). Also, one of our family goals is to do one planned family activity a month so we talk about it and decide together what that'll be (my kids decided on a family game night for this Saturday).
As I mentioned above, my oldest is turning 12 next month and she's working on finishing up her Faith in God. In the Preparing For Young Women section is asks her to study the 13th Article of Faith and so that's what we did last night.
I found an awesome lesson on LDS Living's website.
First, I had one of the kids try and repeat the 13th Article of Faith from memory. Then I read the Elaine S. Dalton quote (although it was way above the heads of all three boys) and we discussed what virtuous meant.
We also watched the video, it's definitely geared towards little kids and mine loved it.
We finished up our discussion talking about how we can do good to all men and what sort of things are "virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy."
The ending was their favorite, in fact, my kids declared it the most fun family night EVER. I sent them on a scavenger hunt. I told them that when you seek after good things, you will most often find them and handed them the first clue. It only took a few minutes to walk around my house depositing clues and they had a blast.
Week 2
Last fall, we made a tree for our wall and I printed out apostle leaves for our kids to either color or write on during General Conference (we're doing flowers for this April, I'm pretty excited). They worked out really well and have kept conference in our minds as we see our tree in the hall all day. I'm explaining because we use those leaves for our family nights a few times a month. Next week we're going to talk about temples.
It's actually a little funny because what my kids wrote wasn't always exactly the main point, but we still try to focus on what they felt was the most important. I'm pretty sure the leaf for this week was made during President Monson's Saturday morning opening talk when he mentioned the new temples being built. So, it's not really the main topic, but that doesn't matter. Temples are a great topic anytime!
First, we read a quote from the actual conference talk and talk about who gave the talk (we've been memorizing the apostles) and then I'll use a lesson I have or one I've found that goes along with our topic. I found a great lesson at my new favorite family home evening blog, Parenting in the Latter-days.
Weeks 3 & 4
For the last two weeks of the month, we're going to focus on Easter and I'm sticking with Parenting in the Latter-days for both lessons. First, we'll do the Symbols of Easter and then we'll focus on the Atonement (I put parts of this lesson in my Sharing Time ideas for week 2).
I'm excited to try out some new lessons and to more purposefully hold our family nights. If you have any favorite lessons, websites or helps, I'd love to hear about them!!
I want to help my kids LIVE the basic principles of the gospel, to focus on the teachings of our current prophets and apostles from the previous General Conference and to provide a time for my kids to work on and pass off their Faith In God activities (soon to be Personal Progress also, I can't believe my oldest is almost TWELVE!).
I have to come clean here, I actually had this goal last year, too. And I didn't do it. For some reason I decided I had to have a specific plan for the whole year all at once. Specific like having every lesson planned out including having everything I needed for every single lesson. When you're starting from scratch, that's kind of overwhelming to put together.
So, I decided to start a little more slowly, just one month at a time. I can plan out 4 nights at once. And I did. Yesterday.
Week 1
The first week of the year, before our lesson, we review the goals we've set individually and as a family to see if we need to make any adjustments in our goals, ask for help if it's needed and to just make sure we're on track (or remind us to get back on track). Also, one of our family goals is to do one planned family activity a month so we talk about it and decide together what that'll be (my kids decided on a family game night for this Saturday).
As I mentioned above, my oldest is turning 12 next month and she's working on finishing up her Faith in God. In the Preparing For Young Women section is asks her to study the 13th Article of Faith and so that's what we did last night.
I found an awesome lesson on LDS Living's website.
First, I had one of the kids try and repeat the 13th Article of Faith from memory. Then I read the Elaine S. Dalton quote (although it was way above the heads of all three boys) and we discussed what virtuous meant.
We also watched the video, it's definitely geared towards little kids and mine loved it.
We finished up our discussion talking about how we can do good to all men and what sort of things are "virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy."
The ending was their favorite, in fact, my kids declared it the most fun family night EVER. I sent them on a scavenger hunt. I told them that when you seek after good things, you will most often find them and handed them the first clue. It only took a few minutes to walk around my house depositing clues and they had a blast.
Week 2
Last fall, we made a tree for our wall and I printed out apostle leaves for our kids to either color or write on during General Conference (we're doing flowers for this April, I'm pretty excited). They worked out really well and have kept conference in our minds as we see our tree in the hall all day. I'm explaining because we use those leaves for our family nights a few times a month. Next week we're going to talk about temples.
Here's a sideways picture of our tree (it's in a longer hallway, hard to get a straight on pic).
It's actually a little funny because what my kids wrote wasn't always exactly the main point, but we still try to focus on what they felt was the most important. I'm pretty sure the leaf for this week was made during President Monson's Saturday morning opening talk when he mentioned the new temples being built. So, it's not really the main topic, but that doesn't matter. Temples are a great topic anytime!
First, we read a quote from the actual conference talk and talk about who gave the talk (we've been memorizing the apostles) and then I'll use a lesson I have or one I've found that goes along with our topic. I found a great lesson at my new favorite family home evening blog, Parenting in the Latter-days.
Weeks 3 & 4
For the last two weeks of the month, we're going to focus on Easter and I'm sticking with Parenting in the Latter-days for both lessons. First, we'll do the Symbols of Easter and then we'll focus on the Atonement (I put parts of this lesson in my Sharing Time ideas for week 2).
I'm excited to try out some new lessons and to more purposefully hold our family nights. If you have any favorite lessons, websites or helps, I'd love to hear about them!!
Monday, March 4, 2013
Sharing Time - March Week 2
Several months ago we made a few new rules about what we read and watch on Sundays. I could take a while explaining all the different aspects of our rules, but it breaks down to one question, does what you're/we're doing bring us closer to Heavenly Father?
It works pretty well, although my kids can get pretty creative when coming up with their answers. I think I actually struggle more with it than they do. In an attempt to do better, I've been trying to use my Sunday time to study and plan for primary.
Yesterday, I read through next weeks lesson, the helps on Sugardoodle and then ended up thinking about family home evening (another good Sunday activity, YAY!). One of my goals for the year is to have a family home evening plan, which I haven't done yet. There are so many different things I want to accomplish through family home evening and flying by the seat of my pants hasn't been quite as effective as you might think. So while I was sitting there, I decided to search for family home evening's on both repentance and the atonement and I SCORED!
I found an awesome website with really fun family home evening ideas (I'm going to post about my March family home evening plan later) and I found several ideas that would work really well in next weeks Sharing Time.
Repentance
The first idea that I really liked I found on the Family Home Evening Planner blog. You'll need to get someone to help you (I might even get an adult, although some older kids would have a lot of fun with the acting) cut out something for the lesson (just for pretend, unless you actually have something). You start the lesson, perhaps even do a whole introductory segment (like one of the two I'm going to talk about next) and then when you get to a predetermined point, the volunteer will clutch their hand and cry out as if they've cut their finger.
You'll stop and run over, exclaiming about their finger and asking if you can help. Then you'll start pulling out all sorts of crazy stuff. Try to wrap it in some rope/yarn/string (wait for a response from the primary), some tape, Elmer's glue or anything else you can think of. At some point, stop and ask for help, what does your volunteer need to help their finger? A band-aid, of course.
We know what we need to do when we feel physical pain, imagine what would happen to us if we didn't. We'd hurt ourselves a lot pretty often. Compare this to spiritual pain, it's purposes and why we need to feel it just as much as physical pain. From here you can teach them the steps of repentance (there's a cute song on her blog).
Intro #1
The next idea I liked would be a great introduction and could be done while you're "helper" is busy cutting out things for you. I found it on lds (dot) org and it does take a little planning...you need some baby pictures (I would say 4-6 baby pictures from each primary). Have the kids come up to the front and let the rest of the primary try and guess which picture goes with which each child.
If you have access to a baby, you could bring one in and show him/her to the primary and talk about what babies are like, how they are perfect and don't sin. Unfortunately we're all tempted and we all sin or make mistakes. This would be a great time for your helper to yell or cry out.
Intro #2
This is part of the Visual of the Pits found in the Atonement FHE on Parenting in the Latter days. For this one, you have two plates up at the front of the room. Each plate is covered with a towel so no one can see what's underneath. Get two adult helpers to stand next to the plates and try to convince everyone to come and stand by their plate. Both adults should talk about how wonderful their plate is and how what's on their plate will bring joy and happiness. After everyone has chosen a side, remove the towels to show a plate of cookies on one side and a plate of rocks on the other.
Satan tries to make his way sound just as wonderful as Heavenly Fathers, he makes it sound wonderful enough that we will all make mistakes. We all choose the rocks sometimes, but thankfully, we can do what? Repent. This would be your helpers cue to "cut" his/her finger.
Atonement - Sharing Time Outline
I really like how the sharing time outline talks about Gethsemane and the Crucifixion so I would definitely do that as a transition to talking about how and why we can repent. I also love Jill's puzzle over at Hatch Patch which makes making it all cute that much easier.
Wrap Up
Go back to the Visual of the Pits (although I should say Pit, because I'd only talk about the spiritual side) and talk about how without the Atonement, we'd all be stuck over on the rock side, where no one wants to be. Thankfully, through Christ (get the helmet off your armor of god guy if you have one) we can all reach salvation. His Atonement fulfills our debt, as long as we repent, it acts as a bridge, giving us access to our Father in Heaven (and the yummy cookies!).
Testimony Challenge
I like to leave them with a challenge to work on their testimonies throughout the week and for this week it would be to remember to repent everyday during their personal prayers.
Good luck with your week!!
It works pretty well, although my kids can get pretty creative when coming up with their answers. I think I actually struggle more with it than they do. In an attempt to do better, I've been trying to use my Sunday time to study and plan for primary.
Yesterday, I read through next weeks lesson, the helps on Sugardoodle and then ended up thinking about family home evening (another good Sunday activity, YAY!). One of my goals for the year is to have a family home evening plan, which I haven't done yet. There are so many different things I want to accomplish through family home evening and flying by the seat of my pants hasn't been quite as effective as you might think. So while I was sitting there, I decided to search for family home evening's on both repentance and the atonement and I SCORED!
I found an awesome website with really fun family home evening ideas (I'm going to post about my March family home evening plan later) and I found several ideas that would work really well in next weeks Sharing Time.
Repentance
The first idea that I really liked I found on the Family Home Evening Planner blog. You'll need to get someone to help you (I might even get an adult, although some older kids would have a lot of fun with the acting) cut out something for the lesson (just for pretend, unless you actually have something). You start the lesson, perhaps even do a whole introductory segment (like one of the two I'm going to talk about next) and then when you get to a predetermined point, the volunteer will clutch their hand and cry out as if they've cut their finger.
You'll stop and run over, exclaiming about their finger and asking if you can help. Then you'll start pulling out all sorts of crazy stuff. Try to wrap it in some rope/yarn/string (wait for a response from the primary), some tape, Elmer's glue or anything else you can think of. At some point, stop and ask for help, what does your volunteer need to help their finger? A band-aid, of course.
We know what we need to do when we feel physical pain, imagine what would happen to us if we didn't. We'd hurt ourselves a lot pretty often. Compare this to spiritual pain, it's purposes and why we need to feel it just as much as physical pain. From here you can teach them the steps of repentance (there's a cute song on her blog).
Intro #1
The next idea I liked would be a great introduction and could be done while you're "helper" is busy cutting out things for you. I found it on lds (dot) org and it does take a little planning...you need some baby pictures (I would say 4-6 baby pictures from each primary). Have the kids come up to the front and let the rest of the primary try and guess which picture goes with which each child.
If you have access to a baby, you could bring one in and show him/her to the primary and talk about what babies are like, how they are perfect and don't sin. Unfortunately we're all tempted and we all sin or make mistakes. This would be a great time for your helper to yell or cry out.
Intro #2
This is part of the Visual of the Pits found in the Atonement FHE on Parenting in the Latter days. For this one, you have two plates up at the front of the room. Each plate is covered with a towel so no one can see what's underneath. Get two adult helpers to stand next to the plates and try to convince everyone to come and stand by their plate. Both adults should talk about how wonderful their plate is and how what's on their plate will bring joy and happiness. After everyone has chosen a side, remove the towels to show a plate of cookies on one side and a plate of rocks on the other.
Satan tries to make his way sound just as wonderful as Heavenly Fathers, he makes it sound wonderful enough that we will all make mistakes. We all choose the rocks sometimes, but thankfully, we can do what? Repent. This would be your helpers cue to "cut" his/her finger.
Atonement - Sharing Time Outline
I really like how the sharing time outline talks about Gethsemane and the Crucifixion so I would definitely do that as a transition to talking about how and why we can repent. I also love Jill's puzzle over at Hatch Patch which makes making it all cute that much easier.
Wrap Up
Go back to the Visual of the Pits (although I should say Pit, because I'd only talk about the spiritual side) and talk about how without the Atonement, we'd all be stuck over on the rock side, where no one wants to be. Thankfully, through Christ (get the helmet off your armor of god guy if you have one) we can all reach salvation. His Atonement fulfills our debt, as long as we repent, it acts as a bridge, giving us access to our Father in Heaven (and the yummy cookies!).
Testimony Challenge
I like to leave them with a challenge to work on their testimonies throughout the week and for this week it would be to remember to repent everyday during their personal prayers.
Good luck with your week!!
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