Title: “…They shall also Teach their Children” (D&C 68:28)
Exhibitor: Bonnie Blair
Description: Children come to understand and live the gospel best when
it is taught as a part of daily life, not something reserved for Sundays and Family Home Evenings. Rather than one-time big projects, these are concepts and approaches that can be incorporated each day in family life to create a gospel-learning environment.
How To’s: Making Your Home a Center for Gospel Learning
Games &Activities to Enhance Gospel Learning
Making
Your Home a Center for Gospel Learning:
- Prophets have asked us to have pictures of temples and gospel artwork in our homes. Add to these study materials that are easily accessible, in view, and simple to use. Start with personal copies of the scripture for each family member and teach them how to study them. Subscribe to the Church magazines appropriate to the ages of your family. Consider adding items such as the LDS Church News, the Church Almanac, computerized gospel reference materials, Institute manuals and other carefully selected gospel books. Create your own Family Gospel Library and then use it! Let your children see you use it and teach them to use it.
- Organize visual aids, lesson helps, thoughts, etc., in a Family Gospel File. This is the place for pictures, references for quotations, and copies of talks given, lessons taught, and notes jotted during an inspiring talk. Keep your system simple and easy to use. Help your children use the file until they are ready to access it themselves to prepare FHE lessons, talks, and Seminary devotionals. (One filing plan is available online and in the July 1976 Ensign: “How I Stopped Accumulating and Started Filing in Four Easy Steps,” by Daryl V. Hoole. For those more technologically inclined, a computerized file where documents are scanned and assigned a folder could be created.)
- Make music of the restored gospel a part of your home. If family members play musical instruments, help them learn hymns and other gospel-related songs. Start a collection of music and use it throughout the week, not just on Sunday. Ask other parents and ward music personnel for suggestions. There is music available that can appeal to all ages and stages – yes, even teenagers!
- Use Sunday dinner as a time to share information from each family member’s lessons that day. Go around the table and let each person tell a story, a scripture, or thought from their lessons. Even very young children can identify something they heard or did. As children reach their teens and the entire family has the same lesson, a discussion about a topic can ensue. Don’t’ be discouraged if all responses aren’t enthusiastic or even positive, and don’t expect a thoughtful gospel dialogue every time with older children. But do be consistent, ready with your scriptures and resource material for those occasional “ah ha!” moments!
- Help your family understand that gospel truths apply to all parts of our lives, not just when we are at church. After school discussions about disagreements at recess, classmates who are less than kind, or perceived unfairness of the same rules can all provide opportunities for discussions in which gospel principles can be explored and applied. There may not always be black and white answers, but help family members see things from an eternal, rather than a worldly perspective.
- Watch for current events that can be a springboard to gospel learning. Point out newspaper articles or stories from the evening news that demonstrate the truthfulness of a gospel principle or the consequences of sin. Stories of war and terror can be frightening and unsettling to children, but comfort can come when we focus on how world events relate to the eternal truths of the Plan of Salvation and the teachings of the prophets.
Games
and Activities to Enhance Gospel Learning:
1. Games can be used to learn facts that form the foundation of gospel understanding and testimony. They combine family fun and togetherness with learning. Many popular games can be adapted to gospel subjects. Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Pictionary, Bingo, Charades, Authors, Concentration, and the Match Game are a few examples. Try playing Pictionary using Book of Mormon stories or a Match Game of pictures of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve with their names. Make Bingo cards of gospel terms and names for use while listening to General Conference, or create a Jeopardy board to acquaint family members with information about their ancestors. Games do not have be elaborate. Chalk, white boards or butcher paper work fine. If it is something you think you will use often, use cardstock and laminate it. There are many commercial games available also.
2. When traveling, include temples and Church historical sites in your itinerary. Help family members keep a list of all the temples they have seen or a map to mark historical places they have visited. Encourage them to write their experiences in their journal and/or scrapbook, adding pictures and thoughts about their visits. If you know someone who is knowledgeable about places you plan to visit invite them to share information with your family at a Family Home Evening before you go.
3. Read some of the gospel-related historical novels aloud together as a family. (Vacation times often work best.) Have scriptures and Church History books close by and ask questions such as: “Is this a real or fictional character?” “Is this how this event really happened? What parts did the author add?” “How would you feel if you had been there?”