Opening Song: Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam (Heidi can enthusiastically say “BEAM!” now, so we sing it a lot–”We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet” would be equally appropriate)

Opening Prayer

Lesson:

I had one of the kids hold up a picture of the First Presidency (Pres. Monson, Pres. Eyring, and Pres. Uchtdorf) and asked them to identify the Prophet and President of the Church.  They pointed him out and I asked one of them to tell us his name (“President Monson!”). One of the other kids was wiggling, so I gave her an old Conference issue of  the Ensign to hold and show everyone–President Monson was on the cover, smiling, and we talked about how he loves children and wants us to be happy.

I explained that the Prophet is the one who Jesus Christ has called to lead the Church, and that when he wants the whole Church to know or do something, he tells the prophet.  I asked Colin if he knew any scriptures about prophets, and he opened to Amos 3:7 and helped one of the kids read “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”  Colin explained the verse to everyone.

Then we read a scripture about prophets from  D&C 21:5 that says “For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith.”  Colin and I chatted a bit with each other about what “patience” means in that verse and the kids got bored.

I planned to have our family look at a talk from President Monson from the most recent General Conference and decide together what we could work on this month to do better at following the prophet, but the attention span had been exhausted and it was time to move on.  Maybe we’ll do that part this week instead.

Activity: Follow the leader around the house

Closing Song: Follow the Prophet (Children’s Songbook)

Closing Prayer

Treat: Oatmeal cookies Grandma baked earlier in the day

I’ll try to come back later and add links and pictures, but the Church web page is apparently having technical difficulties at the moment.  I can’t get to anything but the scriptures right now!  I guess if you can only get one thing, the scriptures are the thing to get.

Tell the children that you are going to pretend that a special visitor is coming to your house. His name is Jesus. Ask them to think how excited they would feel to have Jesus come to visit them.

• • What should we do to get ready? (Clean the house. Dress in nice clothes.)
• • How will we act when Jesus comes?

The children could act out the things they would do.

Explain to the children that if Jesus were here they would have a good feeling. They would know he loves them.

Tell the children that if Jesus were in your home they would want to try very hard to be good and to show their love for one another.

Explain that each day they can have that good feeling in their home by sharing, by not fighting, and by being kind to one another.

Sing “A Happy Family” (Children’s Songbook, p. 198).

• • What does the song say we all do in our family? (Love each other.)
• • How do you think mother knows you love her? (Help the children name some things they do that show love.)
• • How does father know you love him? How does sister? How does brother?

You might use pictures from books and magazines to illustrate some of the things you talk about that show love.

Explain that you always want to have love in your home so that a good spirit can be there.

Little children can also participate in helping with the chart entitled “Love One Another.” Explain that when they see someone who is showing love in the family they can come and tell you. You will write that person’s name on the chart for them. You could also help them color in a part of the chart.

Explain to the children that they can also be a good example in showing their love throughout the week.

Show your family the chart entitled “Love One Another.” Explain that each time they see a family member showing love to someone in the family, they are to color in one of the rays around the heart. They are also to write that person’s name down on the chart. Each family member could have his name on the chart several times.

Put the chart up in a place where all the family members can easily see, read, and color it, such as on the refrigerator or a bulletin board.

Challenge each family member to show love in your home throughout the coming week so that all the rays of the heart will be filled in before your next home evening. Challenge them to feel the spirit of love in your home.

For an activity we could play “spin the bottle,” only when the bottle lands on the person everyone says something they like about that person.

For dessert, I’m thinking it would be fun to make a heart-shaped cake, or maybe heart-shaped cookies like these.

So, we talked about families and how we’re related to people in our families.  Both kids were fascinated the entire time and that makes me think it was a great success.

Last night we didn’t do my Repentance lesson for FHE because I’d forgotten that we’d invited the missionaries over to teach the lesson!  They came over to teach us a lesson on the Preach My Gospel book that they use to help them learn to be better missionaries.  I’ve been trying to read through it a bit at a time for a couple of months, and discovered there’s a lot of helpful stuff in there for me, too, and not just as a “member missionary.”  There’s stuff on setting goals, time management, and basic gospel doctrine.  I’ve found that it’s really helpful when I’m preparing for a Primary sharing time–I like to check my facts about the basic doctrine in it sometimes just to make sure I don’t accidentally veer off into a “Bethany opinion” tangent with the kids.

Anyway, the kids really enjoyed having the missionaries over since they got to climb all over them and look at the pictures in their books.  We sang “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” as the opening and closing songs at Degen’s request, with a “The Wise Man Built His House Upon a Rock” and several “Popcorn Popping” songs sprinkled into the lesson.  The missionaries gave us a tour of the book and helped us practice with a role-play giving a pass-along card to a friend or stranger.  We had a great time and it was good to get to know our missionaries a little better.

So, if you’re out of Family Home Evening ideas or just need a change, call the missionaries in your ward and invite them to come give a lesson in your home.  They’re probably supposed to visit and teach members anyway and may not have gotten to you yet (or are too shy/busy to ask you).

Sharing Time ideas on Repentance

and more Sharing Time ideas on Repentance

Coloring picture Jonah Repents

Roller-box story about a boy repenting for taking some toys

Roll-play the following stories: GAK 309 (Alma Baptizes in the Waters of Mormon), GAK 310 (Ammon Defends the Flocks of King Lamoni), GAK 311 (The Anti-Nephi-Lehies Burying Their Swords). Each of these stories tells of people who lived lives of rebellion, repented, and turned to serve the Lord.

FHE Resource Book lesson on repentance.

Momorize Article of Faith #3 or #4

An online compilation of these and other Repentance lessons.

An object lesson using “sins be as scarlet” Isaiah scripture.

Watch the Book of Mormon Stories video segment on Alma the Younger.

Steps to repentance lesson with printable word strips.

Now, for our family, here’s the plan:

Song: Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

Prayer

Lesson: I think we’ll do the object lesson with the food coloring, then watch the segment on Alma the Younger.

Activity: Duck, duck, Goose

Song: I am a Child of God

Prayer

Treat: Strawberries, or maybe a piece of candy out of the Halloween candy stash in the cupboard

Adapting this to little ones is a bit challenging for me, but I have a couple of ideas.

1. Go on a treasure hunt where the three clues are the three pieces of the treasure map Pres. Monson mentions.  Have treats at the end of the treasure hunt.

2. Pres. Monson quotes The Music Man in his article saying “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.”  Read that, discuss goals we need to quit procrastinating, and then watch The Music Man as a family.

3. Pres. Monson quotes someone as saying “Don’t save something only for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion.”  Do something you would on a special occassion.  Have everyone tell everyone else they love them.  Have a treat on your best dishes/china.  Wear fancy clothes to FHE.  Make a cake with candles to show that today is special.  Make one goal as a family that helps you live in the present.

4. Pres. Monson talks about preparing for the future.  Talk about things like emergency preparedness (food storage, 72 hour kits), financial preparations (savings, missions, education, etc.), and/or education.  Use pictures representing each topic on a flannel board.

Sing “Keep the Commandments,” Hymn 303 and “I Hope They Call me on a Mission” CS 169.

Treat: chocolate gold coins would be an ideal “treasure” for this lesson, or a cake with candles to show it’s a special occassion

For example, last week we had a little tour of the house as we talked about taking care of our bodies and the kids were really tired.  So, I only said a couple of sentences in each spot and skipped any activity the kids weren’t immediately fascinated with.  I’d expected them to want to wash their hands for a half an hour (like they usually do), but both of them screamed when I turned on the water, so we just moved on with no hand washing or teeth brushing. 

Many weeks we put the kids to bed before we have our refreshments because they’re just too tired to enjoy them, so I give them treats in the morning or for a snack sometime the next day.  Or, we just skip them.  Hmmmm…there’s kind of a theme of “they were too tired to…” in this post.  I wonder if we should have FHE earlier.

I just wanted to make clear that I consider a Family Home Evening successful if we’re prepared, we have a song, prayer, and any kind of gospel-related lesson.  It doesn’t even have to be the lesson we prepared.  If we have fun it’s a huge plus.  If we have an activity and refreshments besides, we’re gold.  But it doesn’t have to be a huge production, and it doesn’t have to go according to plan.  Enjoy the family time and feel good about having prepared even if you don’t do what you prepared as you prepared it!

We’re not Catholic (obviously), but I think it’s fun to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  I was thinking about having a treasure hunt and explaining about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  Then I thought that’s not a great religious lesson for the kids, how do I tie it back into the gospel?  So, how about if we talk about Noah’s Ark and the rainbow at the end of the story?  My kids love talking about animals and boats and I think they’d love to talk about colors in the rainbow, and all that tied in to God showing his love for us with a rainbow works pretty well, I think.  So, here’s the plan:

Song: The Wise Man and the Foolish Man (CS, 281)

Prayer

Lesson: Noah’s Ark (Genesis 6-9)

Show a picture of Noah building the ark and talk about how the people were wicked and God told Noah to tell them to repent and to build an ark.  Talk about how Noah was obedient and built the ark, and put two of each animal on the ark.  God sent a flood and all the people died except those on the ark because they were obedient.  The earth dried up again and God made a covenant with Noah and the rainbow is a sign that God promises to never destroy the earth with a flood again.  God makes covenants with us because he loves us.

Activity: Treasure hunt for a treat at the end of the rainbow.  I think I’ll use different colored papers as clues–the kids look for the new color of paper.  At the end there’s a rainbow made out of all the colors and our treat.

Song: Love One Another (CS, 136)

Prayer

Treats: Green cupcakes, or green pudding, or something else… here are a bunch of ideas: www.perpetualpreschool.com/stpat_snack.html

We’re not Catholic (obviously), but I think it’s fun to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  I was thinking about having a treasure hunt and explaining about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  Then I thought that’s not a great religious lesson for the kids, how do I tie it back into the gospel?  So, how about if we talk about Noah’s Ark and the rainbow at the end of the story?  My kids love talking about animals and boats and I think they’d love to talk about colors in the rainbow, and all that tied in to God showing his love for us with a rainbow works pretty well, I think.  So, here’s the plan:

Song: The Wise Man and the Foolish Man (CS, 281)

Prayer

Lesson: Noah’s Ark (Genesis 6-9)

Show a picture of Noah building the ark and talk about how the people were wicked and God told Noah to tell them to repent and to build an ark.  Talk about how Noah was obedient and built the ark, and put two of each animal on the ark.  God sent a flood and all the people died except those on the ark because they were obedient.  The earth dried up again and God made a covenant with Noah and the rainbow is a sign that God promises to never destroy the earth with a flood again.  God makes covenants with us because he loves us.

Activity: Treasure hunt for a treat at the end of the rainbow.  I think I’ll use different colored papers as clues–the kids look for the new color of paper.  At the end there’s a rainbow made out of all the colors and our treat.

Song: Love One Another (CS, 136)

Prayer

Treats: Green cupcakes, or green pudding, or something else… here are a bunch of ideas: www.perpetualpreschool.com/stpat_snack.html