Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The New Year means...

The only reason why I make a post about family home evening is because it’s been a struggle for me. Jared works late this night and so I am pretty much responsible for having, planning and holding family home evening. Some weeks are awesome, fun and really enjoyable while other weeks are a literal nightmare. But I have found that if I am prepared it always goes better. I gained a testimony of this when Jake was born. I was blessed to have a very spiritual moment when I realized if I truly choose to follow the prophet then I need to obey this commandment, of having and holding regular family home evenings. So as the years have passed on I have tried to become more obedient and more prepared to make Monday nights more enjoyable and fun for all.

Since this past year was more successful as far as having regular family home evenings, I wanted to share a few things I did… I made a sign I just printed out that said, "Tonight is Family Home Evening!" I heard this idea from a friend and I knew this would help me remember and plan. So I would put this on the fridge and the kids were reminded all day that it was Monday Family Night.

Last year my sister helped me keep my goal in having regular family home evenings by preparing a few helpful handouts. She prepared the primary monthly theme and scripture on a sheet. We would hang it on the fridge all month and practice memorizing the scriptures each month. The kids loved it and I was surprised at how often we would reference the theme and scripture through the month. So this year I decided it was time to do this again. I decided I would share it with all of you who read my blog and need a little help in the family home evening department.

The only thing I have done differently this year is I have printed out the primary 2012 manual for sharing times. Go here to print out the primary 2012 manual....I printed out only the pages that related to each month. I keep these in a sheet protector also and keep them on the side of my fridge. The church is fabulous, because they have each month divided by weeks with simple lessons and activities. This makes my life easier because on the weeks I don't have something specific we need to talk about and discuss as a family I will have these planned activities right there. Honestly, it's been awesome the past two weeks. I figure that even though the topics and sharing time activities are going to be repeated in church, it won’t hurt my kids to have a reminder the next day. So far my kids have enjoyed knowing and sharing what they learned in primary.

I also on a quick night find a related Mormon message to have the kids watch and discuss the principle taught in the movie. The kids love the variety and I love how the spirit is truly present when we hear the voice of the living prophets.
Anyways, I wanted to make it available for each of you. So enjoy.

Then I keep the upcoming months handouts in a binder in my cabinet. Really, this is one area (and really the ONLY area) of my life I feel I am starting the year off right. So here is my good luck wishes to you. If any of you have any great family home evening suggestions or tips I would love to hear them!


Here are the 12 monthly theme scriptures you can print out...
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3 comments:

Ashley said...

I have the same handouts! Ok mine were given to me by Primary so I can help with sharing time, but still that is a great idea to use them for something other than that! Way to go with the FHE, ours was a disaster Monday night too- cranky baby up way past his bedtime, husband working late, no FHE.

The Airharts said...

Thanks Di, your the best:)

Emily said...

Awesome! Good Work Diana! Thanks for the extra help. Paul and I said this month that we are going to wait until the kids are a little older to give them more responsibility in FHE. Our family needs structure, and lessons given by an adult.