Issue to be addressed:
Family Home Evenings at our house were going something like this: It's Monday night. We've just eaten dinner. Mommy remembers we need to have family home evening. She herds the family into the front room, dictates the song, calls on someone to say the prayer, teaches a lesson from the nursery manual, comes up with an activity, and scrounges up a treat. The children run around and squawk at each other.
And, you know-- at least we were having FHE, right? But I felt that a little more family participation would be warranted to make Family Home Evening more meaningful for everyone.
Activity:
I thought that a visual reminder of everyone's Family Home Evening responsibilities would help resolve the problem. I planned to make some sort of construction paper-and-crayons responsibility chart. If I was feeling really fancy, I might have even covered it all in contact paper.
Methodology:
Pam to the rescue! My friend Pam, who is all crafty-n-stuff, volunteered to make an FHE board for us (above). Isn't it adorable? It makes me feel like I have a grown-up house, with a real vinyl craft on the wall. Every Sunday night I make sure that everyone's clear on their responsibilities and we move forward from there.
Results:
I still have a tendency to sort of bulldoze my way through FHE, picking songs and treats and calling on people to pray without remembering to consult the board and let everyone follow through with their responsibilities. But I'm trying to remember. And this week, Briar was in charge of treats. She introduced me and the boys to Zebra Cakes. Can we say delicious? The Zebra Cakes alone might make the FHE QIA a rousing success.
6 comments:
I am so glad you like it.
I do this! (oh wait, it's not something to be excited about). But I really want to up our FHE's to a new level - which considering they're somewhere at the bottom, wouldn't be hard to do. I've thought of making some sort of chart as well - that this would help me (because I think it really would). Maybe I'll have to go start recruiting a really crafty friend...
The chart looks so pretty. I'm glad Briar introduced Zebra Cakes. I bet the boys loved them!
I felt the same way, and I finally decided to put my teaching degree to good use (i.e. class after class on effective planning). So now I take the first Sunday each month and plan the FHE lessons for the month. I don't necessarily have to gather all the materials, but I have to have a plan in place and a list of what I need. It's actually not that time-consuming, and now we have FHE every week. For the first time ever (that's really sad, I know). :D
WOW. That is the most beautifullest FHE chart I ever did see.
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