Evolution of Family Home Evening
Memorable Monday Moments
Our first family nights
For the past little while, I've been thinking of how our routines have changed over the years, and thought that it might be a good idea to document some of them. So, here's how family home evenings have evolved in our house.
I can't even remember what we did before the kids arrived, but when they were teenagers I had a visiting teaching companion who was newly married. She said that she and her husband spent Monday nights planning (finding stories and quotes, coloring pictures, etc.) for future family home evenings. I thought that was a brilliant idea! I plan on using it on behalf of grandchildren when we become empty-nesters :)
Weston came home from the hospital on a Monday and I remember how excited we were to have a "real" family night! I have no idea what the lesson was, but I know we had it. The next week Wayne came home to find this:
I think I stayed in that position during our family night so we could have it without a crying baby. (Although is it really FHE with sleeping children? Now that I just asked that question, yes it is! Only a couple of weeks ago, the father in our house was so exhausted that he fell asleep during FHE. We let him sleep and woke him up for the closing prayer!)
Finding ideas for lessons is always a challenge, but with just a little thought and creativity it's not too bad. When this manual was published we started using it for our lesson ideas. First we went through using the tips under "adapting for young children." Later we did the same lessons using the "adapting for teenagers and adults" ideas. Often I would just flip through the section in the back - where there are kernels of ideas rather than full-scale lessons - until something caught my attention. (We've had this manual for over 20 years, and there are still lessons and suggestions we haven't tried yet.) We've also used the topics found in the Family Guidebook and just now I discovered a whole list of suggested topics on the church's website.
For a couple of years I was a part of a "family home evening group" (explained a little bit in the Gracious George post) and that provided a lot of resources to choose from on Monday nights. Once the children were old enough, it was time for them to start giving lessons. You can find the form they used here. (The form also came in handy for student-taught seminary lesson segments).
Well, that's it for now. It's time to finish up dinner and make sure we're ready for Steven's lesson tonight. But I imagine I'll come up with more "evolution" ideas for next week - here they are. Enjoy your FHE!
Our first family nights
For the past little while, I've been thinking of how our routines have changed over the years, and thought that it might be a good idea to document some of them. So, here's how family home evenings have evolved in our house.
I can't even remember what we did before the kids arrived, but when they were teenagers I had a visiting teaching companion who was newly married. She said that she and her husband spent Monday nights planning (finding stories and quotes, coloring pictures, etc.) for future family home evenings. I thought that was a brilliant idea! I plan on using it on behalf of grandchildren when we become empty-nesters :)
Weston came home from the hospital on a Monday and I remember how excited we were to have a "real" family night! I have no idea what the lesson was, but I know we had it. The next week Wayne came home to find this:
I think I stayed in that position during our family night so we could have it without a crying baby. (Although is it really FHE with sleeping children? Now that I just asked that question, yes it is! Only a couple of weeks ago, the father in our house was so exhausted that he fell asleep during FHE. We let him sleep and woke him up for the closing prayer!)Finding ideas for lessons is always a challenge, but with just a little thought and creativity it's not too bad. When this manual was published we started using it for our lesson ideas. First we went through using the tips under "adapting for young children." Later we did the same lessons using the "adapting for teenagers and adults" ideas. Often I would just flip through the section in the back - where there are kernels of ideas rather than full-scale lessons - until something caught my attention. (We've had this manual for over 20 years, and there are still lessons and suggestions we haven't tried yet.) We've also used the topics found in the Family Guidebook and just now I discovered a whole list of suggested topics on the church's website.For a couple of years I was a part of a "family home evening group" (explained a little bit in the Gracious George post) and that provided a lot of resources to choose from on Monday nights. Once the children were old enough, it was time for them to start giving lessons. You can find the form they used here. (The form also came in handy for student-taught seminary lesson segments).
Well, that's it for now. It's time to finish up dinner and make sure we're ready for Steven's lesson tonight. But I imagine I'll come up with more "evolution" ideas for next week - here they are. Enjoy your FHE!
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