Week 5: Entertainment and Media (Monday April 29)

If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Articles of Faith 1:13

Click Here for this week's lesson from LDS.org

Lindsey's Ideas for the week:
Make a list of top ten television shows your family watches. Discuss if they are "virtuous, lovely, praisworthy, or of good report".

Couples with little itty bitty ones...Discuss as a couple what the media rules of the family will be. Rules on television, what will be watched on Sunday, where will the family computer be located, cell phones, etc.

Challenge for teens: Elder Scott talked in conference about technology and the importance of using it to further the work of the Lord. He suggested that teens use their phones to memorize scriptures, saying "imagine if you memorized as many scriptures as you send text messages!". Challenge your teen to use their phone to memorize a scripture this week.

Make a list of how your family can "unplug" from technology this week.

Share the following poem (author unknown)
Side By Side

On the table, side by side
The Book of Mormon and the TV Guide
One is well worn and cherished with pride;
Not the Book of Mormon, but the TV guide,
One is used daily to help folks decide,
No, not the Book of Mormon, but the TV Guide.
As the pages are turned, what shall they see?
Oh, what does it matter, turn on the TV!
So they opened the book from which they confide,
No, not the Book of Mormon, but the TV guide.
The word of God is seldom read
Maybe a verse or two before they fall to bed,
Exhausted and sleepy and tired as can be,
Not from reading the scriptures, but from watching TV.
So back to the table, side by side
The Book of Mormon, and the TV Guide
The Plan of Salvation is full and free
But is found in the Book of Mormon, not on the TV.


Featured Family: Kuehnl Family
They are enjoying a lesson about dress and appearance!

 

Next Week's Lesson: Family

Week 4: Education

Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.

Doctrine and Covenants 130:18

CLICK HERE for this week's lesson from LDS.org

*Just an idea*
Did you enjoy learning something new about the Prophet and Apostles during my talk on Sunday? Use this LINK to learn some more facts with your family. (It's also above in the list of links so you can refer back to it each week) Enjoy!

Ideas from Lindsey:
For all ages! Invite each member of the family to come prepared to teach the family how to do something. Have them choose something they love to do. For example, how to bake cookies, golf basics, how to play an instrument, a craft, colors of the rainbow, etc. It could be as simple as showing the steps to make chex mix puppy chow...or the basics of shooting free throws.

Write thank you cards to your teachers! (yes...your teachers do save them and appreciate them!)
Tip: If your professor writes you a letter of recommendation its polite to send them a thank you card.

Show your children pictures of you graduating, your diploma, and other important certificates you have earned from education. Consider also showing your CPR card, personal trainer certification, teacher license, white coat, etc. Teach children that education is a lifelong pursuit and there are hundreds of ways to continue learning and increasing your knowledge.

Do a sensory motor activity with your family:

• Write large letters/names on sheet of paper and place in a sheet protector. Spray sheet protector with shaving cream and trace letters with fingers.
• Fill a tub with water (add a couple drops of food coloring) and allow young kids to play in water. Add measuring cups, graduated cilanders, syringes (no needle), and water droppers.
• Fill a bucket with flour and hide small toys. Let kids dig through flour to find the toys. (rice, beans, sugar, dirt, and sand will work too)

Demonstrate your favorite science expiriment for your family:

• Egg that drops down in the bottle
• Vinegar volcano
• more ideas click here

Teach your family about the primary colors. Demonstrate how to create secondary colors...and tertiary colors. Fill 3 jars with colored water; red, yellow, blue. Then have kids help you combine colors in clean jar to create orange, green and purple. Continue with tertiary colors if you feel so inclined. Show the color wheel

Have each member of the family choose a career they would like to pursue. Research it and determine how much education is necessary for that chosen career.

CLICK HERE to see ideas from our wonderful Bishopric

CLICK HERE to see ideas for this week's lesson from the Relief Society

CLICK HERE to see ideas for this week's lesson from the Young Family
Featured FHE Photo...These families joined together to enjoy a lesson on being good friends! Thanks for submitting!

 

Next weeks Lesson: Entertainment and Media

Week 3: Dress and Appearance

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? … The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

1 Corinthians 3:16–17

CLICK HERE for this week's lesson from LDS.org
Check here FIRST for talks, videos, quotes, and ways to integrate Duty to God and Personal Progress into your Family Home Evening


Ideas from Lindsey:
Paper Dolls
Weather Bear-discuss what types of clothing are appropriate for specific days/occassions (draw a tie on the white shirt) CLICK HERE for my favorite printables
Read children's book: Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy Carlstrom
Sketch body outline of family members on butcher paper and let each family member draw on appropriate clothing
Fashion Show
Tie Tying competition
Teach family members how to iron their own clothing
Tie die shirts
Game show and/or skit: What not to wear
Relay races where teams are competing to put on an outfit. Run to the other end and selects item of clothing from box, runs back and tags teammate. For example, one member races down, puts on shirt, skips back. Next team member runs down, puts on boots, crab walks back, etc.
Flour bomb dodgeball with old nylons filled with flour.
Create sock puppets
Sing "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes". Remind family members to do the motions of this song in the dressing room trying on clothing! If it doesn't reveal...its a keeper.

CLICK HERE to view ideas from the Young Men's Organization

Ideas from the ward missionionary committee:
1) Body is a temple: Play a guessing game in which one family member looks secretly at a picture of the temple and tries to describe it to get the other family members to guess. Go through a series of temples (e.g. Salt Lake, Columbus, Kirtland, Nauvoo, etc.) Have the last "temple picture" be a mirror. After this activity is over, read 1 Corinthians 3:17.

2) What does it mean to be modest: Read the description of modest dress found in For the Strength of Youth. After this is read, cut out various pictures of people from magazines/advertisements/news papers/etc. Go through the pictures of people and decide as a family if they are modestly dressed. If the decision is that they are not modestly dressed, draw or cut and paste on clothes to paste on the pictures.

3) Look at your own life: Younger children could have a "dress up" and "fashion show." Older children/youth/adults could be encouraged to go through their own personal wardrobes and choose clothes that they want to get rid of.

Comments:
Ashley Hancock
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxaGNthpkBOXQ1hwaDZlM2xWRDg/edit?pli=1

We are going to use these cards in the link above to talk about how different clothes portray different messages. Then we are going to do Head shoulders knees and toes, and introduce it as a way to know if our clothing is appropriate.

 

Link to coloring page: Click Here
Regretfully, I am sad to announce that there were no submissions this week for the featured family of the week. Please submit a pic of your family at FHE. We want to hear how your FHE goes!


Next Weeks Lesson: EDUCATION

Please keep commenting with ideas or send them to me via email. Happy FHE

Week 2: Dating

Virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light.

Doctrine and Covenants 88:40

This Week's Lesson
Click to view ideas from LDS.org (including talks, videos, quotes, and ways to integrate Duty to God and Personal Progress into your Family Home Evening)
Daddy/Daughter Dates (or mommy/son)
Role Plays (Use "what would you do" scenarios)
Lesson on manners
Ettiquitte dinner
Write the top 10 ways you can be a good date (or play date)
Teenagers: invite everyone to come with their best pick up lines to kick off the discussion on dating!
For the little ones....use puppets to lead a discussion on proper relationships/ways to act around kids of the opposite sex (school, play dates, church, etc.)

Ideas from Elders Quorum- Brother Richards

•Parents share experiences of dating someone that made them a better person
or helped them keep the commandments, and someone who didn’t
• You tube video on For the Strength of Youth and Dating: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F98MyXeKvU
• New Era article with dating tips: http://www.lds.org/new-era/2000/11/
idea-list-the-dos-of-dating?lang=eng
• Story of how Candice and I got to know each other on a group date:
“Candice and I sort of knew each other, but we weren’t great friends. Candice
was dating one of my best friends (who ended up being Candice’s first kiss). We
started to get to know each a lot better because we spent a lot of time together
on group and double dates. Turns out that my friend wasn’t very good at
talking to Candice, so they stopped dating. But because of the time Candice and
I spent together on group dates (even though we were with different people)
we became really good friends. When we eventually started dating we had
already developed a strong friendship. If we hadn’t spent a lot of time together
on group dates we may never have developed a strong friendship which led to
us becoming eternal companions. Candice and I really knowing and caring about
each other as friends before dating helped us have an even stronger relationship
when we did start formally dating. ”
• Activity or challenge for the week: Practice using manners (please, thank you,
table manners, putting your phone down and looking them in the eye, etc.)
and chivalrous actions (opening doors, helping with chair, etc.)
• Lesson on dating from YW manual: http://www.lds.org/manual/young-
women-manual-1/lesson-31-group-activities-a-basis-for-wise-dating?
lang=eng
• Dating Advice from Prophets and Apostles: http://www.lds.org/new-era/
2010/04/dating-advice-from-prophets-and-apostles?lang=eng lots of short
quotes on different aspects of dating
• Ask your teenagers and kids what they feel would be important in a spouse
(it may be a good idea to record these in a journal in that it may be humorous
to look back at them one day)
• Mom and Dad could talk about what qualities their spouse had that made
them want to have them as an eternal companion

Ideas from the Primary Presidency

·          Here is a Mormon Channel video, probably better for teens: http://www.mormonchannel.org/we-will-stand/3-dating

·          A good direction for younger families is to talk about what we need to do to prepare to become good fathers and mothers.

·          This is taken from LDS.org website: Why are families important?

o    The family is ordained of God and is central to His plan for the eternal destiny of His children. This divine plan makes it possible for individuals to return to His presence and for families to be united eternally.

·          Show the video: Families can be together forever.

·          https://www.lds.org/youth/learn/yw/marriage-and-family/family?lang=eng#video=families-can-be-together-forever

·          Talk about the reasons Heavenly Father gave us families.

·      Ask why the roles of father and mother are important? Read from the Proclamation on the Family:

        “By divine design, Heavenly Father gave men and women different gifts and abilities to help them fulfill complementary roles as husband and wife. “Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose. … Fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign or Liahona,Nov. 2010, 129).

·          Have kids act out how mothers and fathers should treat one another (get out dress ups for this).

·          Ask how we find who we are going to marry. Talk about what dating is.

·          Ask what we can do now to prepare to become good parents (example: learn how to make friends with people of the opposite gender, learn how to compromise, learn how to show respect to the opposite gender, prepare spiritually...etc.)

PLEASE keep commenting with all your ideas for ALL ages! Enjoy!We enjoyed our first week of the challenge.

Featured Family:
This week's featured FHE family of the week...who could it be? The Wilkins! They enjoyed watching President Monson's mormon message "Dare to Stand Alone" and shared with each other times when they have had to choose to stand alone and be an example.

Your family could be our featured FHE family of the week! Submit a pic of your family enjoying an activity from our blog. Happy FHE

Next week's lesson: Dress and Appearance