FHE using the Gospel Picture Kit

Thank you Michelle Vibert for the great resource...

Purchase the Gospel Picture Kit and any extra picture packets available.  Review each section and decide which area of the scriptures your family would like to discuss this year.  I chose the 100’s and 300’s which are the Old Testament and Book of Mormon.  The pictures are numbered in the corner.  Then you can put strips of paper with numbers correlating to the pictures in a cute box.  I do this at the beginning of each year and make 52, one for each week. 

The assignment wheel we have divides the FHE responsibilities into five.  They are Lesson/Song, Opening Prayer, Closing Prayer, Treat and Activity…one for each member of our family.  Paul and I are each assigned one of the younger kids to aid them with their lesson prep and treat.  Paul tape records the lesson so Melissa can say what she hears on the headset.  The larger outer wheel has our names spaced evenly around.  The small inner wheel is affixed to the larger with a brad in the center.  It has the assignments written on it.  I have seen many other cute devices for assigning FHE responsibilities.

On Sunday at 3:00pm everyone gathers to the living room.  (Jessica is napping!)

Song

Opening Prayer

Lesson

Closing Prayer

Activity

After dinner we have the treat

Some families like to have their lesson portion on Sunday and do a fun activity and treat on Mon. night when they can spend money or go out.  Others are strict to the Monday night rule and keep everybody’s schedule open for FHE on Monday. 

The lesson is easy to prepare because the picture has a summary and some scripture references on the back.  My instructions for preparing a lesson are as follows:

1.                  Summarize the story and show the picture

2.                  Use the scriptures given to tell the important parts

3.                  Explain how this can be used in our daily lives

4.                  Relate what you learned from the story

5.                  Tell what you think Jesus wants us to learn from the story

6.                  Challenge the family to apply the teachings for 1 week (I keep the picture up all week as a reminder)

7.                  Extras – Create an activity to help us understand the story (This could be drawing pictures or acting out parts of the story or using an object lesson.   This is optional at our house.)

8.                  Bear your testimony

I think this is a really easy way to have FHE and it has been successful in our house.

Quick Tips from Spring Fling

Thanks to all of the wonderful ladies in the Fontaine Claire Relief Society,

we got a great list of quick tips:

Budgeting:

*Favorite Deal Websites: Amazon, Woot.com, Pinchingyourpennies.com, groupon.com, socialliving.com, ksl.com deals, grocerysmarts.com

*Easy keep track of your bills on a hand drawn grid, keep them in open sight (front & center) until they are paid…don’t put them away or under anything!, make a spreadsheet with all your monthy expenses, including tithing, so you know exactly what you have, then total it all and put ½ away each pay day, then you have it set aside already.

Cleaning:

*Finding Time to Deap Clean: At the beginning of the year make a schedule of when you will deep clean what, when no one else is home but me J

*Family 10 minute room rescues: Set the timer for 10 minutes, everyone helps to clean the same room

Gardening:

*Easy gardening: Grow boxes, drip system works well and saves water (Habor Freight has a good one); live by the parks, plant marigolds, give kids an area to be responsible for, use ground cover.

*3 plants: asparagus (it comes back each year.  Plant in a grow box and it will spread); tomatoes, egg plant (use in place of meat), summer squash…use all 3 to make meatless spaghetti; red potatoes, yellow potatoes, tomatoes, peas, green beans, onions, broccoli; zuchinnis, tomatoes, cucumbers

Beauty:

*Favorite beauty products: lotion (Cetaphil, Kirkland, Vanacream), Burt’s Bees lip balm in guava, Purminerals, Aveeno Lotion, Chapstick, Garden Girl Face/Skin Products (They don’t contain sulphates), Mary Kay Pressed Powder, Mary Kay Eye Makeup Remover, Benefit Hoola Bronzer, lipgloss, bobby pins (simple hair do’s for both dressing up and casual)

*Quick tips: eye lash curler = fake awake; use lipstick on lips, cheeks, and sometimes a light touch on eyes (right below the brow)

Exercise:

*2-3 minute exercises: Throw your kids up, chase your kids, jump off a box or stairs…do each 12 times for 3 sets; jumping jacks, planks (stomach & side), body weight squats; punch the air like your boxing, turn on radio to fast song and dance, stretch; walk up and down the stairs, at the bottom alternate between 10 sets of squats or 10 sets of leg abductors (10 each leg)…gives both cardio and toning; do 50 crunches each day or every other day

*Fitting exercise in: Leave the car and walk, a good run only takes 20 minutes, wear ankle weights while you do housework…try to be “inefficient”, exercise in the morning, schedule your workout on your calendar

Spiritual Growth:

*When to read scriptures & talks: before church, before bed, when I am feeling sad or in a bad mood, read the ensign then read the scriptures that are related to or mentioned in the talk/story; order and extra copy of the Ensign conference issue, keep it in your car or purse and when you are waiting for the kids at car pool or lessons pull it out and read it, read it at appointments instead of gossip magazines

*Quick tips: wake up to church music, just pray, read scriptures and play as if talking to Heavenly Father, write in your journal what you learned in your scripture study, sing church songs around the house and in the car, listen to the Primary CD, set a goal of how much you will read each day and stick to it

Cooking:

*Quick Snacks: celery and peanut butter, hard boiled egg, yogurt, Kashi bar (Coconut Flavor), Raw large carrot, apples, mandarin oranges, cucumbers, dip strawberries in sour cream then roll in brown sugar, handful of almonds or apples with a small tablespoon of peanut butter, home made salsa and string cheese

*Must Haves: music, scissors, ninja, large cookie scoop, large cutting board, cheese slicer, knife, frying pan; olive oil, garlic, onions are great bases for just about everything.

*Quick tips: cook ground beef and store in freezer so you don’t have to brown hamburger at each meal; get a lot of meat and cook in all up, freeze into portions.  Cook chicken in the crock pot and beef in a big pot on the stove; keep it simple, ¼ carbs, ¼ protein, ½ fruits/vegetables, clean up as you go

Dates

*Easy Date: walk to Café Rio and walk home, biking, walking, make dinner together, art therapy, home movies, air hockey, temple square, hiking, go to the temple and get ice cream afterwards, rent a movie from redbox and cook a frozen pizza or get Little Ceasars, go on a walk or drive...allows you to relax together

*Tips: Plan a date and do not tell your spouse/date what you are doing, plan in advance,

Family Home Evening:

*Easy: scripture, treat, pictures; use the Behold Little Ones Manual and do the same lesson that they did in nursery; Use the Gospel Art Picture Kit

*Resource: mormon.org, strength of youth pamphlet, Ensign

Questions from Spring Fling 2012

Here is the list of quetions that were asked about each topic:

Exercise:

What is a 2-3 minute exercise you can do at home?

How do you fit exercise into a busy routine?

Spiritual Growth:

When do you find time to read scriptures/conference talks?

What is a quick tip to improve your spiritual growth each day?

Beauty:

What is a quick beauty tips?

What is your favorite beauty product?

Budgeting:

What is your favorite deal website?

What are fun activities to do on a tight budget?

How do you easily keep track of your bills?

Cleaning:

How do you keep the toys picked up?

How do you find time to deep clean?

Gardening:

What is 3 plants should you have in your garden?

How do you make gardening easy?

Cooking:

What is a favorite easy dinner with 5 ingredients or less?

What is a healthy quick snack?

What items are a must have in your kitchen?

Family Home Evening:

How do you make Family Home Evening Easy?

What is the best Family Home Evening Resource?

Dates:

What is an easy date idea?

What is a cheap date idea?

If you weren't able to share your tips, please add them below in the comments.

On May 22, we started to make a list of quick tips in the areas of:

Spiritual Growth

Exercise

Budgeting

Beauty

Family Home Evening

Gardening

Cleaning

Dates

and Cooking

at our Relief Society Spring Fling.