Works For Me: Family Night

Once again, it's Wednesday and time to participate in
Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer's Works for Me!


I definitely cannot take credit for this Wednesday's Works for Me. But, I can heartily endorse it. In fact, this is the most important Works for Me Wednesday I've shared so far. By far! This is something we do every Monday night called Family Home Evening. This is a program endorsed by my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is a night that is reserved for just family time.

Each family has their own way of doing things. Sometimes we just do something fun as a family like go out to eat, swim, go to a park or movie. But, most nights we follow the following agenda:

Welcome
Song
Opening Prayer
Scripture
Greeps, Gripes and Grumps
(This name is based on the book Cheaper by the Dozen. It is an opportunity to
praise and problem solve.)
Go over the weekly calendar
Lesson
Family activity (usually a game)
Treat
Closing Prayer

It takes us about an hour. Everyone takes turns doing everything. We use the above "assignment board" to keep track of who is in charge of doing what. Whoever is in charge of sharing a scripture also conducts.

The Benefits:
-Greater love in the family
-An organized time to teach spiritual principles to increase faith and gospel knowledge
-promoting family togetherness and unity
-The presence of the spirit in the home is increased
-Skill development for children: conducting a meeting, problem solving, gratitude for others, ability to speak in front of others, ability to prepare a lesson, cooking skills to prepare treats, good sportsmanship
-Increased family organization and planning
-Opportunity for one on one time as older family members help younger family members prepare for their parts.
-Greater Obedience of children to their parents
-Listening and Reverence
-A weekly date with my husband, because we take the time to plan for it

We usually do our preparations on Sunday, which is a great Sabbath Day activity as well.

Here are two great resources for planning your own Family Night:

Family Home Evenings at LDS.org. For more information on the program and its benefits, plus many resources for planning.

Deseret Book's FHE Lesson Archive. A source of close to 200 complete family home evening lesson plans including a quote, song, scripture, lesson, reinforcement activity and treat recipe.

Works For Me!

(Be sure to check out Shannon's link above for more great Works For Me Wednesday ideas!)