LDS Primary Sharing Time August 2014 Week 2: Family home evening strengthens my family.


August 2014 Sharing Time Topic: Participating in Wholesome Activities Will Strengthen My Family

August 2014 Scripture:  “Successful . . . families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repen- tance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World”). 

August 2014  Week 2 Topic:   Family home evening strengthens my family. 

Preparation:
Prayerfully study and think about what the specific needs of your primary are and how you can teach them this doctrine.  

Items to gather: Chalk and eraser, Printables, Scriptures, Picture of Joseph F. Smith, Picture of Thomas S. Monson

Prepare: Prepare to sing, "Families Can Be Together Forever" or "My Eternal Family".  Print printables

Free Printables: (Printing Tip: Click on image to open and then save image to your computer.  You can then print the image from your computer.










**NEW** PDF Printable DownloadAugust 2014 LDS Sharing Time Ideas Week 2


Sharing Time Instruction:

Begin sharing time by showing the primary children the poster, "Family home evening strengthens my family". Invite them to repeat the phrase with you. 

Show a picture of Joseph F. Smith, invite a primary child to hold the picture and another primary child to come and read the quote: (see printable above) “If the Saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influence and temptations which beset them” (in James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. [1965–75], 4:339).

Explain that the counsel that Joseph F. Smith is referring to is, in 1915, the First Presidency introduced Family Home Evening, instructed members to hold Family Home Evenings regularly and gave the promise if families followed the counsel, "...that great blessings will result.". 

Explain that our current prophet, President Monson still testifies that Family Home Evening will strengthen families. Have a primary child hold a picture of President Monson. Have a primary child read the quote: (see printable above) I begin with family home evening. We cannot afford to neglect this heaven-inspired program. It can bring spiritual growth to each member of the family, helping him or her to withstand the temptations which are everywhere. The lessons learned in the home are those that last the longest." (Constant Truths for Changing Times, by Thomas S. Monson, April 2005 General Conference).

Show the children the poster, "What Makes Family Home Evening Successful?" Explain to the primary children that these ideas came from the lds.org website. Explain that we are going to plan a Family Home Evening by following these steps.

Read #1: "Start and end with prayer."
Ask the primary children why it is important to start and end our Family Home Evenings with prayer?  Discuss with the children that when we pray it invites the spirit. Also, when we pray as a family it strengthens our family and family members, and helps family members learn how to pray.

Read #2: "Learn from the scriptures."
Have the primary children get their scriptures out. Explain that if we were having a Family Home Evening on, Family, we could look in the Topical Guide under the word family and find a scripture that could instruct our family about what Heavenly Father wants us to know about families.  Do this with the primary, find a scripture in the Topical Guide and invite a child to read the scripture. A good one to read would be 3 Nephi 18:21.

Read #3: "Add music."  Explain that music invites the spirit and helps us learn doctrine. Sing a song with the primary, such as "Families Can Be Together Forever" or "My Eternal Family"

Read #4: "Make it fun." Invite the children to come up with some ideas they could make Family Home Evening fun. Write the ideas on the board. Some ideas might include: play a game (charades, memory, pictionary, etc); Make a treat (invite the children to name some of their favorite home made treats); Act out scripture stories or family history stories.

Read #5:  "Be consistent." Explain that it is important to hold Family Home Evening each week. Find a day and time each week that works for your family. "Monday nights are set aside by the Church for family home evening. If that doesn’t work, find a night that does."(https://www.lds.org/topics/family-home-evening)

Read #6: "Add variety." Invite the children to share some ideas. Ideas might include: Provide a service for a neighbor; Go on a walk or hike as a family; Go on a ride into the mountains and have a lesson; Have a lesson at a park; Do a family home evening centered around a Faith in God or Cub scout requirement,  etc.

Invite 5 or so primary children up to the front of the room, ask them to link arms with each other.  Invite another primary child to try to come up and pull one of the primary children away. Explain that Family Home Evenings help to strengthen the family.

Encourage the primary children to help their parents plan Family Home Evenings and participate. 

Close by sharing your testimony on the weeks topic.

Click this link for past Sharing Time post: LDS Primary Sharing Time Ideas 

***Basic ideas for this sharing time came from the 2014 Sharing Time Outline, you can find a link here: 2014 Sharing Time Outline.

33 comments:

  1. Thank you, thank you! I love this lesson. ;)

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  2. This is perfect for my sharing time! Thank you!

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  3. Thank you! This is so helpful!

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  4. Thanks for the great ideas! I designed a recipe card with your six steps on one side and then sources for FHE ideas on the back of the recipe card so the children can take them home to their families.

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    1. I would be willing to share the recipe card with others, but I don't know how to do that. It's in PDF format.

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    2. Great idea! Could you e-mail me your pdf file? I had the thought to send the children home with the six steps but didn't know how to make them smaller. My e-mail is sara.bosler@gmail.com

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    3. I would love the pdf for the recipe card if you don't mind emailing it to me, as well! My email is samkennicott@gmail.com. Thanks so much!

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    4. I would love the pdf file too! nelson.cindi@gmail.com
      thank you!!!

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    5. What a fun idea :) An easy way to share the recipe card is if you have google docs/drive, you can upload your pdf file and then click share. Change the access to public, click save. Copy the share link, you are welcome to post it on here in the comment section or you can send me the link and I can post it in this post. Or if you do not have google docs, you are welcome to email me the pdf file, and I will post the link. Up to you :) My email is lifesjourneytoperfection@gmail.com. Thanks for sharing!

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    6. I would also like a copy, dalleys05@yahoo.com, thank you so much!

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    7. Me too! Me too! What a clever idea! I love that so many people are so kind and willing to share their ideas to help other Primary presidencies. Thank you!
      My email is amy@involuntarysmiles.com

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    8. Could I please get a copy even at this late hour - virtualmomof5@gmail.com. Thanks!

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    9. I would love this too, if it's not too late!! Beckystod @ gmail.com

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  5. Thank you for posting these lesson ideas!

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    1. Sara- Thanks so much for your comment! Hope your Sharing time goes well!

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  6. Thank you for this sharing time idea. My daughter just got married yesterday and I have sharing time tomorrow and needed a quick idea. You saved me. Thanks!!

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    1. Cindi- Congrats on your daughter getting married! Wow, busy time. I'm glad my ideas could help you out a little :)

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  7. Kim, you do an awesome job, I really appreciate your hard work and time. Thank you for sharing with us.
    p.s. thanks for adding the pdf files, you are always making our lives more simple.

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  8. Thank you so much for sharing your ideas with the rest of us that are not very creative, me, I know is hard work, so thanks for sharing it!!

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  9. Thank you! I am in the middle of moving and this will help me so much in this weeks lesson!

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    Replies
    1. Kristal- Good luck with the move! I am glad this could help out!

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  10. The printable download is excellent, makes it super easy!! Thanks for all your hard work, you're helping kids and leaders world wide! Thanks from Thailand!

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    1. Thanks Erin so much for your comment! It is humbling and exciting to know that these ideas are being used all around the world, wow!

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  11. If it's not too late, could you email me the PDF? Thanks! kncbills@gmail.com

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