Assignment Wheels

Memorable Monday Moments
Making Assignments Ahead of Time

Last week I left preparing a family night lesson until after dinner, so I just grabbed the Family Home Evening Resource Book and figured I'd flip through it until something caught my eye. Wayne (who loves to do things in order) suggested we just do whatever came next. Because we had done the section on participation most recently, the next idea was to make an assignment wheel. That seemed silly to me, because, #1, I thought we'd outgrown that and our current system seemed to be working, and #2, we'd already had that lesson years ago so why should we do it again. Boy, was I wrong!

We pulled out a couple of our last rotation schedules and had fun reminiscing. We recalled some of the assignments we had years ago. One of our favorites was the "talent" assignment, but that wasn't listed on our most recent one. In addition, we've had a few kids leave home, so their name tags had to be moved to the side! But then we decided we should make a new chart. After a great deal of discussion we came up with the five assignments: conduct the meeting (which includes reminding others of their assignments), lead the music, play the piano, give the lesson, and prepare refreshments. I had totally forgotten the value and importance of this initial statement: "Many home evening discussions must be prepared well before they are given. There is no substitute for good preparation, and home evenings are more effective and enjoyable if all family members participate in their preparation." All week long it was neat to see everyone reminding each other of their assignments. And last night we had "the best family night ever" which is high praise, because we've had some pretty good ones.

To top it off we actually had refreshments - Dump Cake.

Next week will be interesting - it'll be Dad's turn to play the piano!