High Tech FHE

Last night was Family Home Evening. We love FHE but at the same time we struggle. We have two main problems. We 1) never plan anything in advance and 2) a certain 3 year old rarely cooperates. Getting Tanner to want to do FHE is do-able. We just have to ignore the whining and realize that there is going to be a lot of jumping around during the lesson. The first problem of lack of planning is an issue that we usually deal with by coming up with an incredibly short lesson. For example: we have a pack of pictures made by the church that has hundreds of pictures of Bible/ Book of Mormon pictures. A favorite lesson is to get those out and have everyone choose a picture and then we tell those stories. We also use the FHE manual (which is great by the way). That involves me reading it frantically right after dinner while Andre entertains the boys. I basically come up with a topic and a story that we can apply to their lives. This has been working just fine but I really need to get more organized and plan good lessons. Jaxon really has good questions and I need to be prepared to answer them.

An example of why we need good FHEs. On Sunday I was reading an article out of the Friend magazine to Jaxon. We are really trying to repent and not watch TV on Sundays anymore. It is a really long day. But it is something that we really want to do. Anyway. After reading this article that was about baptism, Jaxon said, “What is the big deal about baptism? It’s just a guy making you go under the water.” That lead to a great discussion about how baptism is a symbol. Jesus died and came to life. We go under the water symbolizing death and back up again symbolizing the resurrection. It is also a symbol of wanting to be like Jesus and wanting to follow him from then on. It was a fun conversation and I could see that he was getting it. (Retention? I don’t know).

Yesterday we were at the library. I love the library. I find great things there all the time. I found a “Choose your own Adventure” book two weeks ago and Jaxon has been obsessing about it ever since. Last week I found a computer game that teaches kids how to play chess. Guess what? Jaxon is loving that as well. (I can’t believe that he can actually play chess!) Anyway back to the point. At the library yesterday We were looking for a movie for Tanner to pick out and I saw some videos that said “FHE on DVD” (yes I live in Utah). I picked it up and read it. It said “just add refreshments”. Anything that takes the pressure off of me sounds great. I decided that it was worth checking it out for one week.

We were not sure whether to have a prayer first so we turned it on to see what it said. It came up and had a choice of 4 songs that fit the theme of the lesson (which was the first vision). While the songs were playing it had pictures that matched the words and had the words to the song on the screen. Then it said it was time for the prayer and was silent until you pushed continue. Then it had a lesson with cartoon characters who are doing something in their life and then learn from (in this case) a church history story. The kids sat still and stared at the TV. No jumping, bouncing, or arguing. It was short enough that it kept their attention plus it was very spiritual in some parts. I was impressed. Then it had scriptures to look up as a family that tied in to the lesson and then about 4-5 questions to discuss. (this was the part the kids rebelled and said, “no more questions!”) It had a part for someone to bear testimony of what they learned and a closing song and prayer.

I loved it. I won’t do it every week but it is a good option. The kids wanted to sing every song and they wanted to watch the movie part again. In case you are interested there is a web-site on the DVD case. It is www.fhedvd.com. I have not looked it up but I might. So sorry if that is a bad address. Right now I can just get on the library website and put a bunch of these on hold and use them for a while.

What ideas do you have for FHE?