FHE 2009

A friend of mine sent me PDF file of 48 FHE lessons that coordinate with the 2009 primary theme “MY ETERNAL FAMILY”. It is a wonderful resource. If any of you would like me to email you the PDF file, please let me know. Even if you think your children are too young for these lessons now, you can always use them in the future. You can follow the schedule of the primary, or use them as you see fit. Email us at fun4mommies@gmail.com

Behold Your Little Ones

For Christmas, from my little brother, I got the LDS nursery manual "Behold Your Little Ones." I think it is a must have for any family trying to plan FHE with young children. Even if your kids are in nursery and will be learning from this manual, repetition in how the gospel is taught. You just need to switch up the order is all. The whole lesson is planned out for you. Even your children out of nursery will still enjoy these lessons. FHE made easy. And you can purchase it for only $5.50. Chick here for the link to purchase it. We are starting to use it for baby D this Monday. I know he's only 14 months, but I think it is a great idea to start a habit of FHE, more for me and my husband R than for D.


If anyone has any other FHE ideas, please email us at fun4mommies@gmail.com

Note: I just discovered that you can print them out for free at LDS.org. Click here for the link to that page. Now you have no excuse not to have an FHE this Monday. :)

White Stocking

It wasn't that anyone had really been forgotten, not children had been slighted or made unhappy and no adult had been forgotten. The presents had all be distributed and all the stockings were beautifully filled, all that is except one; It was the stocking intended for the child of Bethlehem. Of all the people belonging at that Christmas gathering, only he had been forgotten. Only he had been left out of the festivities. This didn't seem quite right, inasmuch as it was his birthday that was being celebrated. This year. The little white stocking will be hung in a special place in our home. On Christmas Eve, we will gather the family together and each of us will write on a piece of paper, a gift for Jesus to be placed in the stocking. It will remain in the stocking until next year's Christmas Eve, when we will pass out the papers from the year before. Then we will see how well we gave to the Savior through our gifts.

This is a new family tradition of ours. This story is placed in a white stocking and hung up.You don't have to share what you are giving the Savior, or tell everyone how you did on your gift last year. We don't. It's personal to us. Aand you don't have to use a stocking. Use a gift box and place the gift under the tree. Or, make a family gift, like more regular FHE or more reverence during church. What a great tradition to bring the Savior closer to your Christmas celebration.

Power Of Parents

I came across a website with tons of information to help keep your children safe from abduction. It's called PowerOfParentsOnline.com. It has tips on how to keep you kids safe, how to talk to your kids about how to keep themselves safe, and what information you should have available and updated if you child should ever be abducted. I know this topic isn't really Fun 4 Mommies, but it is Important 4 Mommies to know.

FHE Exchange Group

Just a quick post. I know when I was growing up, my mom always had lots of FHE lessons all ready. I asked her once how she got so many. Her answer: She belonged to a Family Home Evening Lesson Exchange Group (FHELEG for short. Ok, so that's really not so short.) The idea of and FHE exchange group is that everyone in the group chooses a topic, created a whole lesson (handouts, visual aid, everything) for each member in the group. Then you all exchange. That's the quick version. Click here to read all the details. LDSabout.com has more details. I would love to start a group, but I will admit I'm too shy to approach people and ask them if they are interested. (My husband doesn't believe me when I tell him I'm shy at heart.) So if anyone who lives in the Ogden area is interested let me know. If not I will just keep on keeping on with with I was doing before. If anyone is part of a group now or in the past, please let us know any suggestion a "pro- exchanger" might have for the rest of us.

ZELMGID

This one one of my favorite FHE lessons growing up. I loved it so much that I made laminated copies for myself and my sister. It's the story of ZELMGID. It's really a story about living the Golden Rule. Here is a picture of my ZELMGID. (Note: I don't have a flannel board or magnet board, so we use tape and a cookie sheet.)
The story came from the Friend in 1987. Click here to go to the link on LDS.org.

Since Baby D is still very young, for FHE my husband, D, and I just tell different stories from the Gospel Art Kit. But I am trying to plan ahead for when D, and future kids, are able to better understand the lessons. I have been trying to pick topics that I want to teach my children. I then search the archives at LDS.org or other sites for stories and clip art. I then write the lesson using the stories, scriptures, and other gospel resources. I include song suggestions and game ideas. I try and keep it under one page , front and back. Everything is copied on card stock, colored if needed, and laminated. I place them all in folders labeled with the topic. So when we are running late on Monday nights, FHE is all ready!
I would love to hear about FHE ideas from all of you. I know there are a lot of creative people out there.

What Is FHE?

I think that most of our regular readers know what FHE (Family Home Evening) is, but for those of you who don't, this post is for you.

LDS.org defines FHE as this, "[LDS] Church leaders have instructed members to set aside Monday night as "family home evening." This is a time for families to study the gospel together and to do other activities that strengthen the family spiritually, create family memories, and increase unity and love....A suggested outline for family home evening follows: opening song, opening prayer, scripture reading, lesson, activity, closing song, closing prayer, refreshments."

Monday night is the designated night, but any set night can work for your family. And FHE doesn't need to be gospel related if you are not religious. It is an opportunity to teach your children your family values and other important things (money, fire evacuation plan, stranger danger, etc.) It is an opportunity to grow closer as a family. As your have FHE regularly in your home, your family will become more united. It can be hard, but well worth the effort.

We are always looking for good FHE ideas here. Please email us with any ideas you may have.

Another Plug For Stephen

A while back I told you I had listened to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families. I have to share another audio book of Mr. Stephen R Covey that I love. It's called How To Develop A Family Mission Statement. I loved it! It teaches how to write a mission statement with your family, even young children. And how to use this mission statement to help keep your family focused on the family goal of becoming a happy and loving family. If you get a chance to listen to this I would highly recommend it. I was able to check it out at my local library. It only took me about and 1 1/2 hours to listen to it. I learned a lot and it got me really excited about writing a mission statement. Since baby D is only 9 months old, my husband and I have decided to write a marriage mission statement. This will help us be focused on the same goals for raising our children and strengthening our marriage.

If anyone else has any good book that can help in day to day life as a mother, please email us and let us know. I always a love good book recommendation.

Christmas In July

For a family home evening one time, my husband and I decided to have a Christmas in July. And I thought it would be a great FHE activity for children as well.

The lesson is about giving, and take the time to remember why we celebrate Christmas and remind your children that we need to have Christmas in their hearts all year.

You draw names. You head off to the dollar store and give each child a dollar and change for tax (or how ever much you want to spend). They get to buy a gift for the person who's name they picked. Once you get home, you have the lesson, then let the kids give the gifts to each other.

If anyone else has some good FHE ideas, please share them. It's hard to come up with ideas that are fun for the kids, but where they still learn something too.

"Thank You"

When talking to the girls at work about their kids and their kids' friends, one thing I worry about is how to teach my children to be grateful for what they have and thankful for what others do for them. In a world where people grow up feeling that the world owes them, how do you teach your children that they are not entitled to anything? How do you teach them to be thankful for all they do receive?

One thing I hope to be able to start with my kids is monthly (or weekly) "Thank You"s. Let your child think of someone who has done something nice for them. Help them to write a thank you card. If you have some craft time, make a thank you card. Allow them to mail the card. For some reason, sending and receive mail fascinated kids. As you create a habit of "Thank You"s, your children will start to see more and more things to be thankful for.

Incorporate this tradition into a Family Home Evening lesson. Please email us with any other good habits that can be taught to our children. We all need a little help from others in raising good kids.

The 7 Habits

I've been listening to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families at work. I really have enjoyed it. I've learned a lot. There are a couple of ideas I got from the book that I really thought were good.

1. Write a Family Mission Statement. This way the whole family is working towards a single goal. The book has some great ideas on how to do this. There are also a couple websites that can help you get started. I don't think the sites are as insightful, but a good starting point.

www.ehow.com
www.christian-parent.com

2. Have weekly family meetings. In my family we have Family Home Evening (FHE) on Monday nights. But you can even have a meeting over a family dinner. Make it a special occasion. Make it consistent. Make it a time to share your feelings with each other and also you plans for the week known.

3. Have a Compliment Night. You can do this during you weekly family meeting if you would like. You pick one person for each Complement Night. Then everyone else in the family shares a positive thing about that person. The home should be a place to build each other up, not to tear them down.

It you get a chance to read the book (or listen to it like I have) I would hope you do. The great thing about reading books like this is you can take from it what you want and leave the rest behind.

Schedules and Charts

The following came from The Lazy Organizer. She has some great idea on her blog on how to get your life oraganized.

"The kids have been taking piano lessons for about a month and their teacher has the most organized home I have ever seen. There is a place for everything and everything is in its place.




When we were there this afternoon she let me snap a few photos. I have to pace myself since I'm posting photos for thirty days but there are more to come.



I thought some of you might be interested in the lists she keeps on her fridge in case you want to make your own."


Some great ideas. Not only can you get organized in your family with these ideas, but it can save you time. Once your kids know the rules, they can know what to expect when they do not follow them. The schedule also help you save time. It's a good habit to teach your children at a young age. My husband is excellent at this. Hopefully Baby D learns from him.

You can use this idea as an FHE lesson. Teach the importance of obedience and rules. Have a little family council to discuss what rules you should have in you family and what the consequences are for breaking the rules. Children are much more likely to obey if they have a say in what is going on.

Gospel ABC's

At www.theideadoor.com they have a great idea for a gospel ABC book. You could either print the pages or just use the ideas for each letter to make your own. Have your children help. When my ward did if for a Super Saturday a few years ago, we used those cheap 4X6 photo albums. Click here for the PDF File.

What a great way to teach young children about the gospel.

ABC Book

Make an ABC book with your kids this summer. Pick a letter (or a couple of letters) with you kids and head out with your camera. Have your kids find things that start with your "letter of the day." Be creative. Some letters are going to be a lot harder than others. You can use a photoshop program to put all the same letters on the same page, or develop you pictures and make a collage. Once you get all your letters done, you can mod podge you finished pages on chipboard or heavy card stock to make a book.

If you are impatience, you can have a one day alphabet scavenger hunt. Go somewhere like the Zoo or downtown where there is a lot to see. Try to find something that starts with each letter.

Also, if you don't want to bother with the mod podge, buy a cheap photo book with at least 26 slots.

Or to make it an FHE activity, do your gospel ABC's. Cut pictures out of the Friend to make your book.

Make Gardening Fun

Family Fun has a neat article on how to make gardening a fun experience for your children. Click here to read it . Make it an FHE activity. Remember: The prophet said to plant a garden, so that's what I'll do... Have fun gardening!

Olympics

Since the Olympics are coming this summer, why not have a Family Olympics. There are activities you could use on the following links.

Family Super Star
Let's Go Fly A Kite
Family Olympics

You can google a lot of other ideas. These are just a few. If you get really ambitious, you have have an Olympics with will your kids and their cousins. Or if you are really ambitious, have a Neighborhood Olympics with all the neighbor kids. Or use it as a FHE activity and teach about good sportsmanship or the importance of exercise.

Family Vacations At Home

Summer is coming, which means family vacation time. But if you are poor like us, you have no money for a family vacation. Why not set dates on your calender to travel to different countries at home. Have your children pick different countries before hand. The day before (or week before if you are the plan ahead type) look up customs, culture and food from that country. On your "vacation day" have to kids decorate and dress up. Teach them about the country and how kids from that country live. Learn a few words in the native language. Cook a meal from that country. Play games from that country. With the internet you can learn all sorts of things. Have fun without leaving your home.

You could also make this a FHE activity. Teach your children that we are all God's children no matter where we live and what country we are from. If anyone from you family has served a mission in a foreign country, they could come and talk about what it was like. Have fun with the idea. There is no wrong way.

Family Jounal

LDS Living Magazine has a great article about keeping a family journal. It sounds like a great way to keep your family close to one another and also to work on your own family history. Read the article on the LDS Living Magazine link. Let me know what you guys think. I think it sounds like a great idea.

I also went to a RS enrichment activity were the lady who spoke talked about how her family does a similar thing. They call it a Blessings Journal. Anytime something happens in their lives that they can see the Lord's hand in, they write it in this journal. That way, as a family, they can all remember the many times the Lord has blessed them. When her children were little, there were many stories of praying to find a lost toy or something similar. As her kids got older, the stories were much more spiritual. What a great way to teach your children at a young age look for the Lord's hand in all thing.