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 Download: August 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.