I hope you are having a fabulous holiday weekend! August was a little crazy for us. Getting ready for school, back to school night, and starting school (and all that comes with that!) has been very busy. I hope you and your kids are back into the swing of things at your house. Now is a great time to start Family Council back up if you have let it go for the summer like we have. 
With hectic schedules starting back up it is important for everyone in the family to be on the same page. I’m finding with our sports, activities, school and homework we are needing to set some ground rules!
I am attaching Family Council Sheets for you to use as a reference for your family council meetings. Begin by setting rules for your family council. Let everyone know this is their BIG chance to participate in making decisions, setting the schedule and having a say in what your family does. Each family member should feel important and like they have a voice at family council. This is also a great time to set some goals for the month. I suggest having family council AT LEAST once a month. Having a calendar session every Monday before you begin family home evening could also be very helpful in keeping everyone on track. You can also hold family council on Sunday if that works better for your family.
Always begin and end family council with a prayer. The first Monday of every month could be designated Family Council night. You may want to add a spiritual thought or family activity as well. Even just having a game night following the meeting will bring your family closer together. When having family council take the opportunity to teach your children. Concerns may come up that will be a great teaching opportunity. Don’t miss out on these. Make sure you take the opportunity to praise your family for good things that have happened since the last family council. Give everyone the opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings on what is good about your family and what is working. Set goals and follow through. Family council can be a very powerful teaching tool. It is a great opportunity to share your testimonies, to be positive with your children (sometimes I feel like all I do is nag!), and to set some goals for improvement. Family Council is a great place for your family to reconnect. Life is so busy make the most out of Monday nights!
Here is a fabulous article from the church on Family Council: Family Council Article
Let me start by saying I’m so sorry that I haven’t posted for a few weeks! Our computer crashed so we got a new computer and it is a Mac. That meant that we had to oder it, transfer all of our documents and then I had to figure out how to use it! Anyway, I now have access to all my documents and I have sort of figured out how it works – definite progress!
This lesson is important for all ages. My 4 year old daughter is always asking why she can’t wear things that show her back or her whole arm. She is so funny that way. It is probably a good thing that I am starting young with her! This lesson will help your children understand why it is important to be modest and dress appropriately. I have included a couple of articles and stories for you to read and share according to the guidance of the Spirit. For some kids this is a no brainer and for others it may be a struggle. In our world today the lines don’t seem to be so black and white. I am loving the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet because it is very black and white. There is a definite right and wrong and it is very clearly laid out. In my day it wasn’t quite so clear – it didn’t need to be. In today’s world there is no question what the Lord is asking of us. It could not be put any clearer.
For the Strength of Youth – Dress and Appearance
http://lds.org/Static%20Files/PDF/Magazines/Friend/English/2010/FR_2010_05_06___09265_000_009.pdf
The older my kids get the more I discover how important this topic is. Friends can influence our children so much. If our children can make good friends it helps them make the right decisions. This Family Home Evening lesson can be given in several different ways. I have outlined several ideas to pick and choose from depending on the age of your children. I have attached the lesson as well as a matching game that you can use for younger children. There are a couple of good articles to read and opportunities to share some of your experiences. I think our own personal experiences in making the right choice can be a powerful lesson for our children. Sometimes they don’t realize that we know how they feel because a lot of the time we have been there. It does look long but it doesn’t have to be – just pick and choose. My children only have a short attention span so we tend to make it quick and to the point but if you have older children this may be a topic that you want to discuss in depth. Just pray about what you should share and let the spirit guide you.
For the Strength of Youth – Friends
http://www.mormonshare.com/lds-clipart/friendship-matching-game
For the matching game go to the above website and print out two copies to make it a game or just use the cute pictures when you discuss what qualities a good friend would have. Thanks to mormonshare.com for the cute graphics!
If you are anything like me, I hate starting conversations! I am so bad at it that I have my own conversation with myself in my head just trying to figure out what questions to ask. When Summer Driggs came out with her cards that she made for Young Women I loved the idea! In fact I loved it so much I wanted more. So naturally I took it the extra mile and came up with my own cards based on different categories.
I wanted my weakness to turn into a strength and knew the only way to do that was with practice. Here’s the concept. Each card is a 3×5 size. Perfect for putting in your purse. Keep them handy and review the questions often. I know that might sound geeky but it’s like scripture study. Sooner or later a question will pop in your mind when you are put in that awkward situation of “What do I say?” I like having the idea of keeping a few in my purse so I can pretend I am looking for something when really I am browsing my questions.
Imagine a lull and the awkward moment of silence. Suddenly, after searching for gum in your purse, you look up and say, “Soooo….. What do you think will be the next medical breakthrough in the coming decade?” People will think you are extremely social and intelligent. Well, it’s in MY dreams anyway. 
So far I have come up with 24 different categories. Each category is on it’s own uniquely designed card so you can easily identify the subject of Pets from the subject of Science & Medicine. I can’t wait to share them all with you. Each week I will post a new set for FREE. I know, don’t you just LOVE that word?!?! Come back and check often, you never know which day it will be on. Come to think of it, WE never know which day we are going to post either! (Just a little blog humor for Tracey!) Hee hee.
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Enjoy!
Adventure Conversation Cards
Have you survived the first few days of summer? I have a cute sign on my front door that says, “Relax!” I really want to slow down this summer, enjoy my kids, and also feel like I’ve had a break from the crazy routine. As I’ve thought about some goals for me and my kids this summer, I feel like we need to do a better job at our family scripture study.
The internet can be such a place for good! I have found some fun ideas to start a summer scripture program for my family. Let’s make the scriptures an exciting place to spend our time this summer!
*Family Tree Scripture Study Program
*Follow Christ Scripture Study Program
*Scripture Study Chart (My 12-13 yr. old sunday school class uses this chart!)
*How We Started Family Scripture Study (And Stopped Feeling Guilty) Great ideas from lds.org.
*scriptures4kids.com (So stinkin’ cute! I love this website! They have a fun scripture reading challenge sponsored by Deseret Book!)
Opening Song: Families Can be Together Forever
Opening Prayer
Scripture: Read from the Proclamation (the portion at the top of the Family section in For the Strength of Youth pamphlet) then read the Family section in For the Strength of Youth
Discussion: Talk about what makes a happy family. Ask: How can you do your part to build a happy home? Is our home happy? When is it happy? (when we are kind and considerate of others) When is it unhappy? (when we are selfish and unkind to others) Talk about what it means to respect your parents. Ask: How do you show respect? (help when you are asked, participate in family activities with a positive attitude)
Activity:
Principles to Make our Family Happy
Application: Talk about your summer schedule. Explain what your expectations are each day and have everyone agree to pitch in. Explain that if everyone helps out in the morning they will have all afternoon to play and have fun. Being part of family includes showing respect and helping out around the house. Have them sign the T.E.A.M. (Together Everyone Accomplishes More) committing to being a member of the Family Team!
TEAM
Closing Prayer
Treat : You can eat the treats you made during cooking time today if you used the job chart I created! If you didn’t have cooking time make a quick treat together before Family Home Evening so you can eat it when you are finished. My kids love to make chocolate chip cookies together!
In our area we have been encouraged to use the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet when we teach our children. I had always thought of this pamphlet as being just for the youth (ages 12-18). However, I think it is very beneficial to all ages. I have decided to take it and base my family home evening lessons on its contents for the next couple of months. This pamphlet is a very useful teaching tool and my kids are responding great to it! The first lesson is just to familiarize your children with what is in the pamphlet. I recommend that you read it from cover to cover yourself and pray about what you need to share with your children. My oldest kids are almost 10 but I have found plenty to share with them. It is both sad and scary that we have to cover some of the topics in this book at such a young age but unfortunately it is the way the world is today. I would rather be the teacher than have my children learning things from their friends and older kids in the neighborhood! I also feel like this is a great way to open the door to important conversations.
I started by getting a pamphlet for each of my children. I even gave one to my 4 year old. She thought she was very important! We read the message from the first presidency and talked about who they are and why this book would be so important that they would write their message on the first page. We talked about how important it is to be a good example and to keep the commandments. In order to keep the commandments and do what we have been asked, we need to understand what is expected of us. We then read the section on Agency and Accountability. We talked about what it means to be accountable. I found this FHE from Families in Zion and I thought it applied to what we were talking about. It is about being an example and why it is important to make good choices.
Be an example FHE
I plan on covering one section at a time and just covering the information on a level that will make sense to my children. If you have older kids, you will want to cover each section in detail. If you have both, you may want to cover the basics with all of them and then go into more detail with your older children later. If your children understand what is written in the pamphlet and if they know how important it is to live by these standards, it will make their choices and decisions so much easier as they grow in a world with such different morals and values than what we would want them to live by. Good luck!
Is today Tuesday? My husband decided to stay home from work yesterday and my whole day was thrown off as we worked on his projects. Unfortunately, that meant my Family Home Evening idea is, as they say, “a day late and a dollar short”! Hopefully, you can use this idea for a future Family Home Evening.
My husband has decided (and I totally agree) that we don’t say “Thank You” enough in our family. It’s easy to point out what others are doing wrong and of course, let them know! It’s hard as parents to look for the positive and appreciate what your children ARE doing and not getting after them for what they aren’t doing. My children are quick to “tattle” or easily ask for favors, but don’t always appreciate what they have and what others do for them.
Our recent Family Home Evening was about showing gratitude for others. We have a challenge this week to see how many times a person can say, “Thank You”! Hopefully, we are learning to have a new attitude in our home!
An Attitude of Gratitude
My youngest child just graduated from her preschool last night! It was so much fun and I have LOVED her teacher. She did simply amazing things with these preschoolers. She taught these 3 and 4 year olds all about art. They learned about 13 different artists. The kids can tell you the name of over 30 art pieces, the artist’s name, and whether the art piece is a portrait, landscape, still life or sculpture. WoW! It really made me want to be more educated about the field of arts.
With a little preparation on your part, you can bring more culture and refinement into your own home and have fun in the process. You may also be amazed with the masterpieces produced and surprised at the talents you didn’t even know you had!
Click here for fun art ideas to do as a family:
Art for the Family!
First I need to apologize for not posting a Family Home Evening idea yesterday. I have to confess that I have been reading “The Hunger Games” and I had a hard time tearing myself away in my free time (really – free time? – okay so not free time, but down time like waiting in carpool line and at night before I go to bed). I should warn you that it is a bit violent but I was glued to it nonetheless! It was a little like my Twilight experience. My husband also works at home on Mondays so getting computer time is quite a feat! Anyway, I hope you will all forgive me. I also hope that you planted a tree last night as a family. If that is the case, I have just the thing for you. I finished the scrapbook pages for Earth Day and they are attached below. I want to give credit to http://polkadotscraps.blogspot.com for the cute components of my scrapbook page. They are fabulous!
Earth Day 2010 Scrapbook page
Earth Day 2010 Scrapbook page2
The first page is for your first year and the second can be used in later years to keep the tradition going. Plant a tree, and plant some hope! Have a great week!
