Simple FHE Plan for 2012 and Some Additional Family Scripture Study Thoughts

So we have our new scripture plan rolling and so far so good, although I did change from making a poster to using a 3 ring binder for our characterisitics instead.  Right now it is filled with blank pages and we will add characterstics and our characteristic sentences as time goes on and we discover them.  I think it will work well but we are still in the new transitional period and I am sure things will be revamped as time goes on.  I also realized that we are going to bite off even smaller chunks of scripture each day.  More along the lines of somewhere between 2-8 verses rather than 5-15.  We just took about 6 days to get through the introduction to the Book of Mormon and the 3 and 8 witnesses and I also planned out our readings for the next month and by the 5th of February we are only going to be at 1 Nephi 6.  Nice and steady. I think it will work, I guess we shall see.  It may take us a year and a half to finish this scripture plan or maybe it'll go quicker than I think and we will head into the Bible after this.  :) Who knows.  If anyone wants more details I'd be happy to share if you have specific questions, that is if I have answers.  Hey, I'll take additional suggestions and thoughts too.   

Now onto our simple FHE plan for the year....Gospel Principles manual.  Yep, that's it.  Nothing fancy or over the top but something so perfectly simple and essential that I don't think we can go wrong.  There are 47 lessons total which gives us leeway on 5 weeks out of the year.  We plan to go in order cover to cover but that may change as we see the need for a specific chapter as we go along.   We'll each just take turns on our week to take care of the lesson and can do whatever we wish with our chapter.  The first week went well. Our almost 5 year old sat and listened intently about our Heavenly Father.  He asked good questions and I could tell that he got something out of it. When it is his turn I'll help him write a lesson, more like a talk to give. He always does a great job when we do this.  He actually loves to stand up on our step ladder as he presents his lesson like he is giving a talk in church.  Sometimes he even gets out his play microphone to add to the fun.  It is good fun.  I am excited to continue to learn from this great resource and to teach our children these simple, essential gospel truths. 

Do you have a plan for your family FHE and scripture study in 2012?  I feel like I am usually floating from week to week and haphazardly figuring things out so I hope that these plans stick it out for the whole year and we gain something from it all. Here's to a good year!

BINGO New Year's Resolutions and a New Family Scripture Study Plan

So with a strike of the clock at midnight and a change from December to January a new year has begun.  Time to transition from writing 2011 to writing 2012.  Time to check in with yourself and say out with the old and the ugly and in with the new and the more worthy.  I really enjoy this new period of freshness. Of course each day can be a day of resolving to be better or the change from each month or week can bring a newness that stirs up change but there is still something about a brand new year that is so liberating.  I am excited. 

How do you make resolutions at your house?  Do you think up one giant goal and go forth?  Do you write it down in your journal?  Do you list off so many that there is just no way you could ever complete it all?  Do you involve your family or is it totally individual? 

How do you keep yourself motivated?  Do you tell your spouse or child so that you have some accountability to someone? 

I'd love to hear your New Year traditions.  I'd love to hear how things roll at your house.

This year we decided to try something new and kind of fun. I read in a comment on a blog during the last week or so someone who puts their resolutions onto a BINGO card.  I am not sure of any details.  They mostly put on their board simple things that they wanted to do as a family that year like build a snowman, or go to the beach, etc.  It sounded like a fun idea and I thought I'd try our own version of their BINGO idea. 

I thought about doing a card together but my son really wanted to do individual ones, so today we are all thinking about what our 24 squares will contain.  They must be measurable.  Something we can put a sticker on to say we've completed it or vastly improved.  We are going to see who can get BINGO first and then who can get black out first. 

Now 24 resolutions could be quite unattainable if made too large so we plan to have our BINGO cards contain a few more difficult and needed resolutions and somethings we'd like to do this year just for fun. 

For example, I'd like to dejunk and organize our entire home but that is quite a lofty goal and thus I have turned it into 7 different squares on my BINGO card and mixed in there I'd like to read a parenting book or two, run a 5k this summer after baby arrives, etc. 

Among the list that is slowly developing is this very important resolution of a Revamped Family Scripture Study  - Yeah, so we have been in need of a change for a while.    In the past we have done topical scripture study, gospel art kit scripture studies with direction, and more, but things have become a little laxed.  We have been reading (mostly telling) the scriptures every day but for the past little while it has been without much thought or real investment or purpose and that is about to change.  Now I don't have all of the kinks worked out but our plan will go something like this:

We are going to READ from the Book of Mormon directly.  We will focus on a particular scripture story or block each week.  In the January Friend they have THIS weekly reading schedule but I am not sure it will fit what I am looking for.  I'd love a schedule that covers the main stories and characters of the Book of Mormon but that does not require a cover to cover read.  I'd love to read anywhere from 5-15 verses a day but still keep some continuity in story lines and such.  Does anyone have a family plan you've created or something you've seen online that would work? 

Unless one of you sends me a perfect schedule I plan to use the Book of Mormon Stories book to guide me in my verse selections for each week.  Then we will read from the pages of the actual Book of Mormon, 5-15 verses each day.  I will sometimes use pictures for the Gospel Art Kit or Book to give visuals.  At the end of each week we will review the story we have just learned from the scriptures by reading the story in the Book of Mormon Stories book. 

Now so far this sounds like a typical family scripture study regimen but here is the twist.  We are going to be focusing on CHARACTERISTICS of people in the Book of Mormon.  I am going to create a poster (yea still have some work to do :) and as we discover worthy characteristics then we will add them to the poster in this fashion:

OBEDIENT:
Nephi was obedient when he built the boat.

And as time goes on our list will expand and be added to.  We will also add how we have seen those characteristics in people in our family or people we know, for example the obedient characteristic may grow to look like this:

OBEDIENT:
Nephi was obedient when he built the boat.
Bob was obedient when he cleaned his room.

I am hoping that this will help our little family to see the things we can improve in, how we are like those in the scriptures, and motivate us to be better.

I am excited to try out this year long Book of Mormon reading feast and to put this promise to the test:

President Marion G. Romney said:
       
'I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness' (Ensign, May 1980, p. 67).
       
"These promises—increased love and harmony in the home, greater respect between parent and child, increased spirituality and righteousness—are not idle promises, but exactly what the Prophet Joseph Smith meant when he said the Book of Mormon will help us draw nearer to God."

  "The Book of Mormon - Keystone of our Religion" - President Benson - Oct. 1986 Gen. Conf.    

We could use that!

So there is a little bit of what is going on at our house, so what's happening out your house this year?

FHE in a Jar

So I came across this simple way of doing a quick FHE lesson when you've dropped the ball again and didn't think ahead ;). Or maybe this doesn't happen to you and in that case this could be a great morning devotional while your kids are eating breakfast or even a quick spiritual pick me up for you in the afternoon while kids are at school or taking naps.

Here is how it works:
Print out this page, cut each strip out, and drop them in a mason canning jar. Pull out a strip whenever you’re in need of a quick and easy lesson. Sing your song, say your opening prayer, and read each scripture. Then discuss the information under Topic.

Thanks JennySmith.net!

Q and A: How do you do daily scripture study with young children?

I think we are all looking for new ways to help us hold family scripture study with young ones. Let's get some ideas rolling.

*Thanks for another great question from Mrs. Mordecai over at "Be it Ever so Humble"

Here are a few links to posts I have written in the past. You'll see that our scripture study is an ever changing thing.

Family Scripture Study with Young Children

Family Scripture Study Ideas

Topical Family Scripture Study

Gospel Art Family Scripture Study

New Family Scripture Study Method

Is Your Family Floating?

Paddle, paddle, kick, kick, sink, sink, HELP!!!. Learning to swim can be tough. Do your kids know how to swim? Most of us can answer yes to this question (unless your children are too young). Did they take a class or did you teach them? Either way they had to learn certain techniques somehow to keep their head above water. But even when they finally can venture out and do a little paddling and kicking solo we like to send them on their way with some added protection - wonderful cute little floaties. Not to mention we don't mind when there is a pair of eyes perched up above watching just in case their life guard expertise is in need.

Recently I was talking with a mom who has a struggling teen and her words struck me, "I'm just holding my breath and hoping that everything turns out okay."

Because this post was already in the works I immediately pictured her holding her breath under water trying to keep her son afloat and I realized that they were taking quite a risk. She can only hold her breath for so long and he doesn't have any floaties.

Have you given your kids oodles of floaties...

...spiritual floaties?

They need them. And maybe we as parents should grasp the paranoia of this Dad and plaster our kids with their protective floaties even though our children at times may roll their eyes at us. We can't afford to have their heads sink below the water because they can only hold their breath for so long and eventually will gasp in some of the worldly waters.


But why do some of us not give our kids the floaties and if we did initially why don’t we continually pump them up?

The scriptures give us three reasons:

1. We are at “ease in Zion” and think “All is well” (2 Nephi 28:24-25). We think things like, “We are doing just fine. We go to church. We’ve got the basic techniques down.”

2. We are confused by our worldly wisdom. How will doing the small and simple things even make a difference or make great things come to pass (Alma 37:6-7)? We think things like, “It won’t make a difference if we miss FHE this week or don’t hold family scripture study. Floaties are so small they barely do anything.”

3. We are simply slothful (lazy) or forgetful (Alma 37-41-42). We think things like, “I don’t want to get the kids up for scripture study. Let’s just watch TV instead of FHE. We forgot family prayer AGAIN. Where did I put those “floaties”? I don’t feel like putting them on right now.”

When we choose not to pump up or use our floaties our children begin to sink and we do not progress in our journey. Our families experience afflictions (Alma 37:42) because of our contentment, or our worldly wisdom, or our laziness.

But if we realize the risks in not putting the floaties on and listen to the counsel we’ve been given we can prepare our families so that our heads will not sink even remotely close to the worldly waters.

In General Conference Elder Andersen said, “In our world today, each child, each young man and young woman needs his or her own conversion to the truth. Each needs his or her own light, his or her own “steadfast and immovable” faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, independent of parents, youth leaders, and supportive friends.

Like Elder Andersen said, our children need to have their own foundation, their own testimonies, their own techniques but as they learn they will also need protective floaties and they will continually need air pumped into them to keep their heads high above the worldly waters that may drown them spiritually. They will need the extra protection that comes from doing the Small and Simple things. Because by doing small and simple things great things are brought to pass (Alma 37:6-7).

Here are four small and simple floaties that will buoy our families high above the potential drowning effects of worldly waters (and that promised buoyancy is indeed a great thing that will come to pass):

Family Prayer - President Gordon B. Hinckley: “I submit that a return to the old pattern of prayer, family prayer in the homes of the people, is one of the basic medications that would check the dread disease that is eroding the character of our society. We could not expect a miracle in a day, but in a generation we would have a miracle” (Ensign, Feb 1991, 2).

Scripture Study - President Ezra Taft Benson: “The Book of Mormon will change your life. It will fortify you against the evils of our day. It will bring spirituality into your life that no other book will. It will be the most important book you will read in preparation for a mission and for life. A young [person] who knows and loves the Book of Mormon, who has read it several times, who has an abiding testimony of its truthfulness, and who applies its teachings will be able to stand against the wiles of the devil and will be a mighty tool in the hands of the Lord” (Ensign, May 1986, 43).

Family Home Evening - President James E. Faust:“’Regular participation in family home evening will develop increased personal worth, family unity, love for our fellow men, and trust in our Father in heaven. It is our promise that great blessings will come to all who conscientiously plan and hold weekly family home evenings.’ This is as true today as it was almost 30 years ago. If we go forward with our family home evenings, our homes will be enriched, our wards and branches will grow and prosper, our lives will be purified, and the gates of hell will not prevail against us” (Ensign, Jun ‘03, 2–6).

Temple Attendance - President Boyd K. Packer: "No work is more of a protection to this church than temple work and the genealogical research which supports it. No work is more spiritually refining. No work we do gives us more power. No work requires a higher standard of righteousness. Our labors in the temple cover us with a shield and a protection, both individually and as a people” (The Holy Temple, 265).

Let us recognize the need for our children to have their own techniques, their own testimonies, but also let us recognize that to keep their testimonies strong and to protect them from the raging waters of the world we must give them spiritual floaties and continually pump them up. We must strive to do the “small and simple” things and if we do we are promised great things.

How do you make the gospel a part of your everyday life?

I want the gospel to BE our life, not just a few things on our to-do list each day. So my question is: How do you make the gospel a part of your everyday life - besides FHE, family scripture study and family prayer?

*This question came from Laurie who has a wonderful blog called, "I Have a Testimony". Thanks for your question. You have me thinking...

Movie Monday: Scripture Power

As many of you know we love the song "Scripture Power" at our house and sing the chorus before we do family scripture study everyday so when I found this video I just had to share. Enjoy!



Video by Jenny Phillips

To read a few past posts that involve scripture power and scripture study click HERE.

A Two Year Olds Power Within

I think that I have mentioned before that each night as we begin our little family scripture time we sing the chorus of Scripture Power, which goes like this:


Scripture power keeps me safe from sin.
Scripture power is the power to win.
Scripture power! Ev’ry day I need
The power that I get each time I read.

I really like this song but for some reason I want to sing the second line of the song this way instead,

"Scripture power is the power within."

Scripture power is the power to win but I like the idea that the power that the scriptures bring to keep us safe from sin can be internalized. As we read the scriptures regularly the power that the scriptures contain can be contained within ourselves and then can be used whenever we might need it.

I have been discovering more and more lately how much the scriptures can truly sink into even young children. I truly hope that we can teach the scriptures to our children so that the power of the scriptures may be within them, always there, internalized--for their safety. I hope that I too can begin to more fully internalize the word of God and take hold of the power that can be within myself.

My little boy (just shy of 3 years old) is such a good example to me of keeping the scriptures in the front of his mind always. Enjoy his cute words (this was not all in one day but about a two week span):

Breakfast Time:
The morning after we talked about Christ visiting the Nephites after he was resurrected, he says, "I like resurrected. I like being alive."

Playtime (at the library):
He is playing with blocks next to a boy who is around 8 years old and says to him, "I'm building Jerusalem." The boy gives him a "your weird" kind of look and says, "I'm building a spaceship." I'm thinking...does he really know what Jerusalem is? He then says, "This is Nephi's house, the Nephites live here." He continues to tell each new child that arrives that he is building Jerusalem.

Lunch Time (this one is not scripture related, but super cute):
He says super slowly, "I'm Chris-toff-er-son." I don't think he knew what he was going to say before he said it.
I say in an astonished voice, "You're Christofferson?"
He giggles and says, "just pretend".
Then I say, "I'm Elder Bednar."
And we place an apostle with other family members and he thinks it is the funniest game, producing giggle after giggle. It was a fun lunch.

Dinner Time:
I ask, "Are you going to play any sports when you get older?"
He says, "I'm going to Bethlehem."
I say, "What's in Bethlehem?"
"Stars and shepherds."

If only I could be like my little boy and bring the scriptures into my everyday happenings so effortlessly. Just think...doing the dishes and turning a bowl into Nephi's ship sailing to the promised land or when asked what I am planning to do this weekend I respond "I'm going to Zarahemla." ;) You gotta love the imagination of little ones and their innocent and wonderful examples. I hope that I can follow the example of my little boy and truly apply and live and ponder the word of God each and everyday and thus carry it within myself.

New Family Scripture Study Method

Well we finished going through the Gospel Art Book for our family scripture study time a little while back and kind of got out of a good purposeful rhythm. My husband would just select something to read for the night; we didn't have a plan. At least we were still reading but now we are back on track with a plan. We did our Christmas readings and now we are on to using the scripture portion of each lesson in the nursery manual. It has been great . Often there are songs, simple activities, and pictures that require no previous planning time and our little boy seems to be more interested again.

We recently had three days that we were talking about Jesus' love for us all. One of the stories was of Christ visiting the Nephites after he was resurrected and blessing the children. We briefly explained what it means to be resurrected to our little boy (almost 3 years old). The next morning at breakfast he said, "I like resurrected. I like being alive." So cute. I love when there is evidence of scripture study.

Finding Hope After 9/11

Gospel Art Family Scripture Study

Well, those of you who have been following my blog for a while have seen the several ideas, thoughts, and directions I have gone in hopes to find the perfect scripture study method for our young family. Each of them stuck for a time but have since dwindled away. Our scripture studies have gradually changed and now we are on a whole new method - Gospel Art Family Scripture Study.

So far it has been wonderful (not always perfect but it works). I enjoyed doing some of our previous styles and we may go back to them later but for now this is what we are up to when it comes to family scripture study. It couldn't be much simpler. We are simply going through the entire Gospel Art Book, page by page. The front of the book has verses already selected to go along with each picture and we just narrow it down to a small selection and read straight from the scriptures. We often read only a few verses and just simply tell the rest of the story.

Our little boy is just about 2 1/2 now and it is so fun to see him come to know many of the great leaders and prophets of the scriptures. He can recognize so many of them now like Adam and Eve, Noah, Jonah, Daniel, David and Goliath, etc. The time spent doing our little scripture study is very little (1-5 minutes, depending on the day) but the pay off is great!

When we finish the whole book we may go back through again and reinforce the things we have learned and learn in greater detail about each picture and it's great message. The visual that each picture presents truly helps the scriptures to come alive.

You can read more about the Gospel Art book and how to get one as well as browse the pictures it contains by taking a peek at a previous post HERE.

Scripture Valentines Activity

I found this idea off of Sugardoodle.net by Linda Harper and thought it would be a fun Valentine's FHE idea or Scripture Study. It is simple but engaging. It sounds pretty fun.

"First I asked a trivia question: How many times does the word "heart" appear in all of our standard works. (1006 times) I had everyone make a guess and the one who came closest got a small bag of hearts. (By the way, the word "Love" appears 368 times).

Then I took several scriptures that had the word heart in them. I gave them the page numbers and told them to search that page for a scripture with the word heart. It was different chasing by page numbers. It really got them into the scriptures, reading to find "Heart." The first one that found it, read it and then I gave them a heart. Here are the scriptures I used, all from the New Testament:

Page 1227 - Matthew 22:37 - Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart.
Page 1192 - Matthew 5:8 - Pure in heart
Page 1201 - Matt 9:4 - evil in your heart
Page 1208 - Matthew 12:34 - abundance of the heart
Page 1196 - Matthew 6:21 - there will your heart be also
Page 1277 - Luke 2:51 - all things in her heart
Page 1285 - Luke 6:45 - treasure of his heart.
Page 1307 - Luke 16:15 - God knoweth your heart.
Page 1352 - John 14:1 - Let not your heart be troubled
Page 1356 - John 16:22 - your heart shall rejoice
Page 1372 - Acts 4:32 - of one heart
Page 1427 - Romans 8:27 - searcheth the hearts
Page 1483 - Eph 3:17 - Christ dwelling in your heart
Page 1440 - 1 Cor 2:9 - Heart of man
Page 1545 - 1 Pet. 1:22 - a pure heart

I mixed these all up as we chased them. It was a fun about 10-15 minute activity."

Topical Family Scripture Study

Well, I've decided to try something different for family scripture study. Originally we started out going through the Book of Mormon from the beginning and selecting small (2-4 verses) passages to read each day. It was nice that it was not a lengthy read (especially because we are trying to engage our toddler) but I felt like by the time we finished a story it had kind of fallen apart. The story wasn't cohesive and we lost the whole point and the application that could've been grasped. So now we are into our second week of topical family scripture study. We'll see how long this lasts. We are trying to find something that works for all of us and so far (although we haven't gone far yet) I am liking this new way and I think my husband and little boy are as well.

The first topic we did was PRAYER. I just used the Topical Guide and found scriptures that I thought would fit and this is what our scripture study looked like (some of links don't display the printable properly. I am still trying to figure out how to post things that I create myself. Any tips would be much appreciated.):

PRAY ALWAYS - 2 Nephi 32:8-9

We colored, cut, and taped our prayer puppet together. We talked about what he was doing: folding his arms, closing his eyes, and bowing his head.

GIVE THANKS - Alma 45:1

I printed off a thought bubble and we brainstormed things that we can thank our Heavenly Father for and then we taped it on the wall as if the prayer puppet was praying about these things.

PRAY FOR GUIDANCE AND COUNSEL - Alma 37:37

I printed off a question mark to represent us asking our Heavenly Father for things along with many things that we might ask for, e.g. peace, an answer, the Spirit, guidance, etc. and we taped them on the wall (I am sure you are noticing a trend with taping things on the wall but my little boy loves doing this).

PRAY FOR OTHERS - Alma 34:27

We got on the computer and looked at pictures of people we might pray for. We looked at anyone from grandparents, to President Monson, to President Obama.

PRAY WITH REAL INTENT, SINCERELY - Moroni 7:6,9

Here we didn't really have a fun activity but my husband and I had more of a discussion. This is something that I struggle with. I may post a more in depth post some other time in hopes to get some ideas and helps from all of you.

NO VAIN REPITITIONS - 3 Nephi 13:7-8

We gave our little boy a pat on the back this night. We talked about how he does a good job saying thank you for so many different things and different people. I think a lot of children are so much better at this and we adults could take a lesson or two from them.

FAMILY PRAYER - 3 Nephi 18:21

After we read this we had our family prayer.

PERSONAL PRAYERS - 3 Nephi 13:5-6

We used a picture from the Gospel Art Kit and talked about how we say our own personal prayers in private. Then we put together puzzles of all different types of prayers and talked about them.

SCRIPTURE STORY/MIGHT PRAYER - Enos 1:4

We read the one verse and then summarized the story while looking at a picture of Enos from the Gospel Art Kit.

There you have it...our first attempt at Topical Family Scripture Study. It was not flawless. It was not perfect. We are still figuring everything out. Some nights our toddler couldn't care less but I think that he grasps more about prayer now and so do I. I think that he actually gets what we were talking about at scripture time instead of us rambling off verses that had no connection to him yet. Prayer is something that he can relate to because it is concrete. It is something we do every day. So there is our start.

Here is our scripture poster and what it looked like throughout our prayer scripture block. To read my earlier posts on family scripture study click on this link - Family Scripture Study:

Do any of you have ideas for reading the scriptures topically or any scripture study ideas period? I'm sure we all can use some help in making our family scripture time more effective and enjoyable. Thanks!

Family Scripture Study Ideas

Getting Started

So recently I posted about my desire to do better at family scripture study especially in involving our toddler and making it more engaging for him. So we have started on our journey. Some of my ideas have changed since that last post but I am really liking it so far.

We decided to use the Book of Mormon Primary Manual as our reading guide, mostly just to get the main stories and suggested verses and chapters. However, one lesson from the manual could end up being anywhere from 1-7 days worth of family scripture study. We have determined to keep the number of verses small so we tend to read around 4-5 verses a day and do a small activity with it.

For example, this week although not from this manual, we have been talking about Joseph Smith, the Gold Plates, and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. This will end up taking us 7 days but has been really good. Today we are going to dig up the Golden Plates (felt tied together with yarn which only took about 10 minutes) in our backyard, underneath a rock. It should be fun. I hope I can stay this enthusiastic and excited about creating fun activities like this. I tend to jump on and then die down.

Here is a brief rundown of our week:

Sunday - The First Vision JSH 1:15-20 - used pictures from Gospel Art Kit and colored a picture of the first vision.

Monday - Angel Moroni JSH 1:30, 32-34 - we used a felt board set that we have.

Tuesday - The Gold Plates JSH 1:50-54 - we sang "The Golden Plates" 86b from the Children's Songbook and used the felt board again.

Wednesday - Getting the Plates and Translating them JSH 1:59, 66-67 - we are going to dig up the plates as I mentioned above

Thursday - Testimony of 3 & 8 witnesses then talk about how we are thankful that we have handled, seen, read, and know of the Book of Mormon.

Friday - Portion of the Intro the the Book of Mormon - Define testimony and write/color a one line testimony of the Book of Mormon on the gold plates we dug up on Wed. Testimony starter will be "I know the Book of Mormon...." and we will finish it in our personal plates.

Saturday - Book of Mormon teaches of Christ - I haven't determined exactly which verses we will read but they will be chosen from the selected verses on this page, we will use pictures from the Gospel Art Kit and then we will color the book provided.

You may think that this planning took a long time but I have switched my personal reading so that I can read a long with what we are doing as a family. I planned this whole week in probably a 20-30 minute personal scripture study.

Scripture Power Poster

I also made this poster that has our scripture reading chart in it and then we will rotate other things in and out as our scripture stories change. It is down on our sons level and I catch him pointing to things on it frequently. Here is what it looks like right now:

Planning Chart

Another help that I created was this little chart that has the scriptures for that story that I need to read and break down into smaller daily segments as well as the story chapter in the Book of Mormon Reader, song page numbers in the Children's Songbook, Scripture Mastery Scriptures, the number of the picture in the Gospel Art Kit, and if we have a felt set for it. This will make it easy to know what options I have to use for that story.

I hope that something in here will be helpful to some of you. I know that I am super excited to continue. It has been fun so far and very rewarding. If any of you have ideas, suggestions, or questions I'd love for you to leave a comment.

Scripture Power

Tonight I learned a little bit about SCRIPTURE POWER. So my husband has been gone most of the day excluding a brief sighting around dinner time and about that time I was at my wits end. My toddler was super grouchy and tantrumy and I started to turn in that direction myself.

Then as my husband is about to walk out the door again I realized that we didn't squeeze our scripture study in during his "visit", this meant that I was going to have to do scripture study, with my son, on my own, and I was sure with his mood and mine it was going to be an absolute disaster.

Well, to get us rolling I started to sing the chorus to Scripture Power (you can get MP3s and PDFs of the song here) and when I finished he said in his almost-two year old way, "scripture powers". This made me smile...we were off to a good start.

We continued on with me reading just 4 verses (well half reading, half story-telling) and my son sticking Joseph Smith and Angel Moroni and other pieces on our flannel board. When I finished reading he had put all of the pieces on and said "again". Again? Wow, it was going good. I then went back and told a more full account of what we have been talking about the last couple of days and he put the characters on again. And even after all of this he wanted to continue - he asked for Laman and Nephi.

I think I was a little off in thinking it would be an absolute disaster, it turned out to be a great success - he was happy for the rest of the night and I have been smiling myself. Who knew the Power Scriptures could have to turn our moods around and to make the rest of our night a happy one.

Scripture Mastery Songs

One of my friends posted a comment about how her family has been memorizing scripture mastery verses and I thought it was a great idea. It reminded me of these great scripture mastery songs that an LDS seminary teacher wrote especially for use in the seminary classroom. However, they can also be great tools for all of us and are free to download at this link - LDS Scripture Mastery Songs. A lot of them are really catchy and many are sung to common tunes. Hope you enjoy!

Family Scripture Study with Young Children

"May I suggest that in our family night gatherings we make it a project to memorize one scripture citation a week pertinent to this work. At the conclusion of a year our children will have on their lips a fund of scripture which will remain with them throughout their lives."(Conference Report, April 1959; Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p. 344; Gene R. Cook, Searching the Scriptures: Bringing Power to Your Personal and Family Study, p. 115).

What a CHALLENGE!!!

During the last few days I have been thinking about how it is about time to really start getting into Family Scripture Study. We read our scriptures every day as a couple, which used to be our whole family, but now we have a little boy (who is a few months shy of 2 years old) and we sometimes read with him but it has not become a consistent habit. He is definitely at an age where he can grasp a lot and I feel bad that this wasn't made a consistent habit earlier...but at least we are going to start now, right!?!

So with all of that said I have set out on journey to figure out just how we want to go about this and have come across things that I like and I have also created some things to help a long the way.

I really like this schedule (link below) because it allows you to adjust your reading to work for your family. There are chapters selected for younger families to read each month or you can read the entire Book of Mormon.

ALL OF THE BELOW LINKS DO NOT WORK IF YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO SEND THESE DOCUMENTS TO TOU PLEASE EMAIL ME AT becominglds@gmail.com AND I WILL SEND THEM TO YOU!!! Thanks!

I Will Read the Book of Mormon and Cutouts - A Yearly Book of Mormon Reading Schedule for Young Families

Next, I really want scripture time to be fun so I've create three lists to coordinate with songs from the Children's Songbook, pictures from the Gospel Art Kit, and the Book of Mormon Stories (you can download the video or text version of this online now). I hope that they will be helpful.

They should help in knowing when there are songs, pictures, or scripture stories to aid in your family scripture study. For example, when you hit 1 Nephi 3 you might look at the song list and know that you can use this song from the songbook - 1 Nephi 3:1-7 - Nephi's Courage - #120. The same thing goes for the two other lists. One day I may combine them into one document or grid to make planning easier until then the links to the current documents are below.

Children's Songbook Scripture Songs

Gospel Art Kit Scriptures

Book of Mormon Stories Scriptures by Chapter

ALL OF THE ABOVE LINKS DO NOT WORK IF YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO SEND THESE DOCUMENTS TO TOU PLEASE EMAIL ME AT becominglds@gmail.com AND I WILL SEND THEM TO YOU!!!  Thanks!

I haven't figured this all out yet but I plan to have certain days of the week be dedicated to certain things. For example, I may have a certain day of the week when we simply read, another day when we use a gospel art kit picture or if there isn't one we might draw a picture or color a picture printed off the the computer for that day, another day we might use the Book of Mormon Stories book or tell the story in more simple terms, ect. This way we really get to know the stories and have fun with it. I never want to use these activities to substitute for the actual words in the scriptures so each activity above will be used in conjunction with reading something from the scriptures for that day. If anyone already has a schedule that they have created or any fun ideas I would love to hear them.

I also found this link to a simple version of the Book of Mormon. It would be a great read for a young teen or anyone trying to understand the Book of Mormon better. http://www.plainbookofmormon.com/

Again, if anyone has any ideas on how to make Family Scripture Study with Young Children fun and understandable I would love to hear them. I hope the little bit that I have done might help some of you.