a christmas f.h.e idea: Teaching our children how to give & sacrifice for others

our family experiment:

My husband and I really want to teach our children about the true meaning of Christmas--giving to others. Last year we picked a family in need to give a little Christmas to. We brought the kids to the store and let them pick out a gift for each of the children, then wrapped them and made a sneaky delivery. Although this was a memorable experience that the children really enjoyed I felt like something was missing.

I realized that my children were giving but they weren't learning to sacrifice. They weren't learning that Christmas is not really about the gifts.

We decided that in order to take it to the next level we would let the kids buy the gifts with their own money to give away to those in need. My kids are little and we don't give allowance so this was our idea. We would allow the kids to do jobs around the house to earn money that they could use to take to the store and buy gifts for their secret person for Christmas.

Tonight we sat down and talked about Christmas and shared some Christmas stories about giving. Then we told the kids our plan. They were so excited!

We sat and brainstormed a list of jobs with the kids that they could do to earn money. Then I wrote an amout of money next to each job that they would receive if they completed the job.
I read them a story in Dec. 2009 ensign called "dressed in love" about a family that sacrificed by not getting any presents to buy their father a new suit for work because his suits were quite tattered.
We told our children that they wouldn't always get money for doing chores but that this was a special reason to earn money. We also told them that they might have to sacrifice and not get as many presents so that we could give money and presents to other people that need it more.
They loved it. Children have such pure hearts and giving spirits that this stuff just comes naturally to them.

f.h.e. idea 2: Christmas tree angels

My daughter planned a really cute impromptu family activity which is also a great idea for f.h.e.



First - My daughter read this story in the friend magazine.



Then she drew and cut out some paper angels for each member of the family and instructed us to write down one nice thing we could do as a gift to Jesus for Christmas. She wanted us to draw a picture and write what we would do.



We are excited to hang them on our Christmas tree as a reminder!

f.h.e. idea 1 : conference ensigns & temples

We had stake conference yesterday. maybe some of you heard it as well. We heard from Elder Henry B. Eyring, Sister Lithereth(sp?) and from Elder Quentin L. Cook and a seventy (sadly we didn't catch his name...you know how sitting in the back of the gym with three climbing crazy kids can be). Well, this unnamed seventy told us to all to go out and buy conference ensigns for each member of the family to make their own, mark, read, discuss, etc. Curt went out to the distribution center today and picked up several copies of the Ensign....
The kids were surprisingly excited to have their own copy. We explained that it was everything the prophets told us at conference. Fhe was the perfect opportunity to start using our family copies..although we weren't exactly sure where to start with little people?? he never told us exactly what to do after we got the copies!:)
*We showed them the fold out pictures in the middle and said each of the apostle's names while pointing to the pictures.
*Then we started with the first talk by Pres. Monson where he announced the 5 new temples. We had them mark every time they saw the word temple and talked about how many temples there are and why. And did a short object lesson to illustrate how many temples there are in the world. Curt took a small replica of the temple we had and placed on the ground then we used our ensigns to make a wide circle around it representing the world. Then we took a large jar of coins and took turns tossing the coins while counting them into the circle. We told them that each coin represented a temple. We discussed that the first was St. George, then a few more were built then more and more and now there are over 130 completed. The end result looked very cool and the "temples" really dotted the earth!
*Then we saw that there was a second talk about temples that had a story about how they built the Manti temple like a boat. We told them that story and discussed how the early saints sacrificed to build temples for us.
To end we watched the mountain of the Lord (well parts of) and showed the kids how they built the old temples like the SLC and how hard it was.
I was skeptical about attempting to use the conference ensign to teach young children but I was pleasantly surprised at how well the lesson went and how good the kids reacted to it.
I'm excited to read and study my personal copy (I have already reread 3 talks and learned soo much) and creatively teach what I learn to my children.

Teaching your kids about Bullying

Since it is the beginning of the school year it is great time to talk to your kids about bullying. It is a very real issue and something that I know parents worry about.

There are a lot of great books out there that you can read with your kids and I recently discovered this great movie at the library: An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong.
The movie is about a new girl who becomes the victim of bullying. The movie has a great message about positive ways to deal with bullying and how to fix the problem.
Most kids think that telling someone about their bullying is going to get them into even more trouble. They are often afraid to tell anyone. The most important message in the movie was that you have tell them to stop and that telling others will help the bullies to stop.

I really reccomend watching the movie and discussing it with your kids. This movie teaches about why not to bully and how to avoid being bullied.


Go here to watch the trailer:
http://www.americangirl.com/movie/chrissa/

go here to read a review of the movie:
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/american-girl-chrissa-stands-strong

Something for moms & dads

You might remember last week I posted about April Perry's website "The Power of Moms". Well, I thought I'd better share about her husband's website,
"HUSBAND HERO."
Now, I thought this was pretty cute. If you go to their website you can sign up to get husband emails (as in emails for the husbands) that give romantic ideas/ suggestions of things for husbands do for their wives OR emails for the wives that give romantic ideas of things to do for their husbands.

Their slogan is "strengthening marriage one day at a time"

Try it out and tell me if you like it: www.husbandhero.com

My favorite beginning phonics books

I thought I'd share my favorite beginning phonic books with all you parents that have kindergarters/ preschoolers like I do.

#1 THE BOB BOOKS! By far my favorite because they are so easy for kids to read. Super short, very few words on a page and the first books all start with 2 or 3 letter words that are simple to sound out.
Here is an example page from the first book in the first box.

I'll be honest I only own the first boxed set but it was the stepping stone to other books. I'm sure the other boxed sets are probably great too. I think for my second child I will invest in the next set. Some libraries carry them in large print hardback books for you to check out.

Second: Dick and Jane or any of the old school early readers. I have some others from my childhood with Tom & Betty or Janet and Mark ("Under the Apple Tree", "Janet and Mark", "My little red book" --etc...but they are all pretty similar. The nice thing about Dick and Jane books is that they are still easy to find and you can check them out at the library.

As soon as my little girl graduated from the Bob books we went to Dick and Jane type books. I like that Dick and Jane uses a lot of repetition for the kids and includes fun pictures that don't give away the words--just to test them a little. Although pictures are very beneficial for beginning readers.

#3 And if I had to pick a third phonics set it would be Pup and Pop

My kids love these cute little books that are still pretty basic and each book adds a few new words. The new words belong to the same word families or rhyme which make learning them easier.

Do you have any favorites that you would like to reccomend??

Awful Waffles

So easy and makes breakfast (or in our case dinner) so much more fun.

Just make your favorite waffle recipe but after adding the batter to the waffle iron add drops of food coloring then swirl with a knife- careful, it's hot!

The Power of Moms

I attended a class by April Perry during Education Week at BYU-I and really enjoyed all of her great insights on being a mother. She helped create a great website with inspiring information to help mothers be better, cope with daily struggles and hear advice from other great moms.

Some things that I learned from her class that have helped me are:

*Don't make unrealistic expectations for your children or your life or you will constantly be disappointed. Make small reasonable goals for yourself and you will be happy if you can accomplish that and really happy if you can accomplish more than that.

*Take time every day to develop yourself spiritually: to help you be more patient, gain an eternal perspective and become more spiritually in tune. I was really impressed when she mentioned that after having three babies close together she felt like part of her had died. She had no time for anything and was discouraged (I think we can all relate to this). She made a goal to start reading her scriptures for an hour daily. She woke up at six in the morning and read in her small apartment bathroom so she didn't have to wake the kids. As she committed to do this she learned new things about being a mom and found that she was much happier. She has followed this pattern for several years now and said she feels truly happy and it is constant!

I loved her message and felt empowered to be a better mom. I can't wait to dig through her website in hopes of finding more good stuff.

On The Power Of Moms website you find lots of inspiring messages that celebrate motherhood and how to find that "joy in the journey" that we are all grasping for.

Check it out: www.powerofmoms.com