Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Importance of Work

This lesson was inspired by Chapter 27 of the Gospel Principles manual entitled, "Work and Personal Responsibility."

We discussed how it was important to work and how Heavenly Father and Jesus worked to create the world. Then when Adam came to the earth and was sent out of the Garden of Eden, he and Eve were commanded to work. We talked about how if they didn't work, how would they get food for their children? or have clothes?

We talked about how as a family, mothers and fathers are commanded to take care of their children, and thus they need to work.

We also brought up a quote from the Gospel Principles manual about how "Children should do their part in the work of the family." We discussed how they needed to help with things that they are asked to do, and even things that they are not asked to do. We had this head into introducing our new job chart, but you could talk about anything.

Stories that you could use are Nephi and obtaining the brass plates, parable of the talents, stories about pioneer ancestors working hard, etc.

We also talked about how working brings us joy and helps make us happy because we are improving ourselves. We also talked about how working helps us to enjoy when we do not work.

Based on what you include you can tailor this to any age group.

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Thursday, March 24, 2011

General Conference Prep

General Conference is next weekend! We started a new tradition where we use FHE on the Monday before Conference to prepare our kids for it.

We bought 8x10's of the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 (less than $1 each through store.lds.org), put them in plastic sheet protectors, took some framed art off the wall, and as part of the lesson, we reviewed each person's name and taped them all on the wall.

During the week, we briefly reviewed their names here and there. When the weekend came, we had our daughter match the face of the person on the screen with their picture on the wall and reviewed his name again. The next Monday, we did a final review and took them down. Within that week period, our 2.5 year old could name all 15 men.

October 2010

We found this to be a fun way to help her learn the names of our prophets and apostles.

What ideas do you use to help your kids be engaged during General Conference?

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Monday, March 7, 2011

Great FHE Resource Online

I have found (been told about) this great resource for Family Home Evening ideas. It is here: http://familiesinzion.com/. On the left, you will see a link to FHE Lessons. They are grouped by topic and are a lot of fun! I think you will love it!
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Saturday, March 5, 2011

Prioritizing Things that Matter Most

This lesson stems from Elder Dallin H. Oaks conference address "Good, Better, Best," , October 7, 2007 found here.
Another good reference is Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk "Of Things That Matter Most," during the October 2, 2010 found here.


 Goal: To teach children the importance of doing the things that matter most first.
Things needed for object lesson:
-Jar or see-through container of some sort
-a few larger objects like pink pong balls, rocks, tennis balls -depending on the size of your container
-Lots of little items to fill space such as dry rice, dry beans ect.


There are so many things to do in our day to day that sometimes we forget to do the things that matter most. Discuss with your children the most important things we do each day. Some answers may include: pray, scriptures, journal, family time, family meals, ect.

Then you can discuss some other less important activities that can be done each day.

There is an "oldie but goodie" object lesson that works really well. Take your jar and list with the kids the non-important things we can do each day that fill our time. Pour the smaller objects into the jar. Then talk about the important things we should be doing each day and try to then put the larger objects in. They do not fit! Then do this activity the other way around. Putting in the most important things first, then the lesser important, and they all fit perfect!

Teach the children that when we do the things we should each day, our Heavenly Father will help us make time for everything else. If you want you can write on your golf balls (or other objects) what the most important things are, then leave the jar somewhere where people can see it throughout the week.

Quotes that go along with this from Elder Oaks talk are:
"We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives.

As we consider various choices, we should remember that it is not enough that something is good. Other choices are better, and still others are best. Even though a particular choice is more costly, its far greater value may make it the best choice of all."
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