Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Fun Family Night Jobs
We save every Monday night for “Family Home Evening” -- a night to spend together as a family. We have assigned, rotating roles for each person so everyone can participate and contribute.
With 8 people in our family, I wanted to include everyone in a more meaningful way. Jon didn’t want to have the prayers assigned as part of the chart, so I came up with several great jobs that have helped to make Family Home Evening even more fun!
Job 3: Joke or Trick
Job 4: Talent
Job 5: Family History Moment
Job 6: Lesson
Job 1: Music
Job 7: Activity
Job 8: Dessert
When our boys kept telling Knock Knock jokes that didn’t make sense, I thought it would be nice for them to learn how to tell a good joke. We’ve had some great laughs from this new segment in Family Home Evening!
While our kids perform their regular instruments at times (piano, violin or cello), it has been fun to have them share other talents. When Amy sang a song and played the ukulele, Jon grabbed his guitar and joined in.
Since finishing my Family History Tree Wall, we made family history a regular part of FHE. We always start out by “taking a trip to the wall” where we find the person we will be learning about. When we have guests, we love to invite them to share the Family History moment!
Even young children can do a great job of teaching the lesson. They need practice, and FHE is a great time for that!
Sometimes it takes two to play a song - Sep 4, 2017
June 14, 2010 - flag retiring ceremony
March 12, 2018 - Mark loves to help make the dessert - or to clean it up!
April 17, 2017 - My dad did a great job teaching my kids about one of his ancestors. He used a lot of visuals, which was helpful. We try to keep it short and sweet. It doesn’t have to be their whole life story - just something interesting.
April 10, 2017 - Outdoor activities have been fun. Sometimes the umph of Family Home Evening gets us out for an activity like tennis (besides Jon, we are all terrible at tennis).
May 1, 2017 - Settlers of Catan
May 22, 2017 - Sometimes our special activity ends up being an event our kids are a part of like a choir concert or a soccer game. For this game, we got pizza on the way and the kids and I cheered on Amy from the sidelines while Jon coached.
Whatever it is that we do, it’s just important that we are together!
Magic tricks by Amy - June 19, 2017
July 10, 2017
October 30, 2017 - pumpkin buying and carving
November 6, 2017 - Often, the kids have requirements to teach a lesson for Faith in God, Duty to God or Personal Progress.
November 13, 2017 - gratitude lesson and activity-craft
Positive Beginnings: Applause and Announcements
Next, he asks, “Are there any announcements?” The kids’ hands shoot into the air. They love sharing announcements, which typically consist of upcoming or recent events, holidays, birthdays, accomplishments, etc. After each one, we all clap and cheer.
November 20, 2017
November 20, 2017
December 4, 2017 - musical activity with neighbors
I think it’s great for the kids to get praise for their variety of talents. Tyler was very excited to show a penguin drawing he had recently made for a school project.
Magic tricks by Andrew - January 22, 2018
January 29, 2018 - Sledding in the dark!
February 5, 2018 - As part of Tyler’s family history moment, he shared where the Lund name came from and what it means.
February 19, 2018 - Sledding in the light!
February 26, 2018 - I taught the kids my famous pulling off the finger trick and the rubber pencil trick.
March 5, 2018 - Tyler learning to conduct
The chorister conducts the song. This is great practice in leading music!
March 19, 2018 - Andrew
We’ve had a huge variety in jokes or tricks -- from unicycle riding to marshmallow catching. Here’s a taste. (The hand stand and Tyler’s roller blading were actually performed for talents rather than tricks.)
March 26, 2018 - Mark was so excited to be in charge of the activity! He created brackets for a ping pong tournament and then supervised the games. I love the “final battel” between Jon and Mark.
April 2, 2018 - The Animal Game is a classic.
April 2, 2018 - Andrew had the easiest family history moment since he asked my mom to share stories about herself when she was growing up. I learned things I had never heard before and she showed us several of her belongings from when she was little.
November 20, 2017
January 4, 2016
Early in our marriage, Jon and I decided that we wanted to make Family Home Evening enjoyable and something our kids looked forward to.
One of our favorite traditions is applause. Jon welcomes us all with an announcer-like voice: “Welcooooome to Family Home Evening!” Then everyone claps and cheers.
The person in charge of music gets to choose the opening song. They can either play it themselves on the piano or ask someone else to play it.
January 25, 2016
January 25, 2016
February 1, 2016 - Fox and Geese
February 8, 2016 - One of the boys requested a Nerf war
February 29, 2016 - Amy created a few visuals to help keep the kids’ attention as she shared stories about an ancestor.
March 7, 2016 - Adam and Jon
March 14, 2016 - Tyler drew pictures for a conference talk review about obedience to laws. I loved his drawings of the swimmers who ignored the warning signs for sharks and ended up in the ambulance with the caption, “Don’t you wish you had obeyed?”
April 11, 2016 - I believe that Jon had the treat, so we took the kids to the store where they each picked one out.
April 11, 2016 - family exercise and arm wrestling matches
April 25, 2016 - trampoline time is a popular choice
June 27, 2016
June 27, 2016 - We often give clues like which part of the family the ancestor comes from, what they look like, etc. so the kids have to work to figure out who it is.
July 11, 2016 Ooga Booga, Look!
July 18, 2016 - Nerts
July 18, 2016
August 8, 2016
December 12, 2016 - Jon taught the kids a rope trick he learned from his dad.
December 26, 2016
January 12, 2015: We also love “people games” like Duck, Duck Goose for little kids...
March 16, 2015
March 30, 2015
April 6, 2015 - Blockhead
May 4, 2015
May 11, 2015
June 8, 2015
July 27, 2015 - Marbles for the boys... ping pong for the olders.
August 3, 2015
September 7, 2015 - The kids get really creative sometimes with their lessons.
October 5, 2015
October 12, 2015
October 30, 2017 - Andrew’s favorite resource for interesting lessons is Why? Powerful Answers and Practical Reasons for Living LDS Standards
I love gathering around the piano to sing!
Oct 12, 2015
October 26, 2015 - music concert
November 16, 2015 - I loved the angel shutting the mouths of the lions for Daniel!
January 27, 2014
May 5, 2014 - scout requirements
May 12, 2014 - classic games like trying to get your opponent off balance...
We completed our epic ice bucket challenge for Family Night August 25, 2014.
September 29, 2014 - Studio C Show
September 29, 2014
November 3, 2014 - We enjoy watching Studio C together, although it’s harder to find funny sketches in their more recent episodes. We’ve also watched an episode of a favorite TV show as a family for FHE activities.
December 22, 2014
January 28, 2013
April 22, 2013 Soccer Game
May 6, 2013 - visiting Jon’s office
May 20, 2013 - family bike ride
July 15, 2013
August 12, 2013 - I am very anti-video games, but Jon convinced me to allow an Xbox 360 since the video games are interactive. It has made for some fun activities for sure, though the kids rarely get to play it because of my ultra-caution about it.
August 26, 2013 - timed soccer drills and races
September 16, 2013
September 23, 2013
October 14, 2013
December 9, 2013 - The Living Nativity in Alpine -- one of the coldest nights of our lives!
January 9, 2012
January 23, 2012 - Acting out scripture stories has always been a favorite.
April 16, 2012
Reviewing General Conference notes
May 14, 2012 - a hike and S’mores in the mountains
June 18, 2012
August 13, 2012 - I’m pretty sure Jon is the only one who chooses Family Work for the activity, ha ha, but it’s good for us all.
April 25, 2011
June 6, 2011
June 6, 2011
June 20, 2011 - There’s nothing like hearing the stories from the people on our tree! We have been lucky that the kids have gotten to know their great-grandparents!
August 9, 2010
August 30, 2010 - We have done so many awesome things in the name of Family Home Evening. Looking back, I’m so grateful that FHE is special because it helps us get out of our comfort zone or lazy zone and do memorable things as a family.
September 20, 2010
or keep away (bean bag) - December 20, 2010.
March 9, 2009 - leprechaun trap
March 9, 2009
April 6, 2009 - motorbike rides with Dad
May 25, 2009
February 4, 2008 - “engraving” our own metal plates
Sometimes lessons are short and sweet, other times more elaborate. The most meaningful times have been when we have simply discussed gospel or life questions together, even with no preparation at all.
June 25, 2007 - a walk to the park
November 5, 2007
December 3, 2007
February 13, 2006 - Valentine cookie decorating and delivering
August 7, 2006 - The tastiest job!
September 20, 2004 - Chutes and Ladders
October 25, 2004 - pumpkin carving
December 13, 2004 - FHE helped me get Jon willing enough to go pick out our Christmas tree, ha ha.
Job 2: Chorister
Do As I’m Doing is a very popular FHE song!
September 19, 2011
Mark had been learning to play I Am a Child of God, and insisted on playing it for Family Home Evening since he was in charge of the music. It was so funny for us to try to follow along during the more difficult parts! We were all so impressed, and Mark motivated his older brothers to learn to play Hymns.
January 22, 2018
Before the kids broke our microphone, it was fun for them to practice announcing themselves with it... and Tyler even braved singing a solo. It’s also great for the rest of us to practice being a good audience.
September 11, 2017
January 22, 2018 - This has been the most successful (as with the other jobs) when I remind the kids of their assignments on Sunday so they prepare it on the Sabbath. I encourage them to choose someone on the tree they are interested in, and then to search them on FamilySearch. If they can’t find something there (they usually can), I help to dig up something.
Recently, we’ve had several family history moments where we’ve learned about our living relatives. Last week, Tyler wanted to learn about my mom’s side of the family. I made a short quiz with questions like: How many brothers does GrandmAnita have? What are their names? Then we learned a little about them through pictures, etc.
I believe that knowing where you come from is really important to a child’s self-confidence and sense of belonging and worth.
It has been so fun to review our Monday night pictures and to watch the lesson evolve from parent-taught to child-taught.
August 3, 2015
We all take our turns, and it’s good for all of us to practice teaching.
October 12, 2015
Isn’t the activity the best part of Family Night? Rotating the activity assignment is great because each person gets to choose what they want to do, and it helps the rest of us to be willing to play their favorite game, etc. when we may not otherwise want to.
I had to divide the Activity job into sections because there is such a fantastic variety of options for the activity!
June 8, 2015 - Sorry with grown-up variation
February 8, 2016 - Just Dance!
Check out this clip from our recent Animal Game with my parents. Mark was so excited to get Grandpa out of the first chair!
Family Work
Games
Special Outings
Sports and Outdoor Time
April 10, 2017
We’ve had the new jobs for a few years now, but I wanted to spice up our display (which has been a boring spreadsheet), so Amy drew some graphics for me, and I made the magnets. I had a framed sheet of metal already, so slipped the new chart over it and... Voila!
The 8 jobs are: music, chorister, joke/trick, talent, family history moment, lesson, activity and dessert.
I went through all of our Monday night photos and selected some of my favorites to share with you.
I apologize for the length of this post... there are just too many fun photos!
These were all taken on Monday nights:
Holiday Fun
Especially when I’m feeling tired, Family Home Evening is a great push to kill two birds with one stone and do some holiday activities that take extra effort.
Videos and Video Games
The End
I’m so grateful for a designated, protected Family Night that gives us time to be together no matter how busy our lives are. I am so grateful for the memories we have made. Families really are where life’s greatest joys are experienced!
