Our Family Study Schedule for "Come, Follow Me"

"It's so open-ended! What do we do?"
Exasperated and bewildered, my husband and I were attempting to reach an agreement for how we would approach Sundays, Family Home Evening, and scripture study in 2019.
As we flipped through a copy of the New Testament manual for home, it felt like trying to draw a map through a cloud. We could do anything, anyway we wanted. What could be easier than knowing what we want? What could be harder?
It didn't help that the nebulous ideas forming in my head were at odds with those my wonderful husband came up with. With so few guidelines to default to, we had to have an actual discussion with listening, persuasion, and decision making.
As we looked through the manual, we realized there just weren't enough chapters and discussion points to play the one-a-day game like we've done through years of Book of Mormon study. What were we supposed to do? We didn't want to plow through it all on Sunday or Monday. How were they supposed to contribute to their Sunday school lessons six or seven days later?
We finally settled on a structured, yet flexible plan that covered Sundays, a Monday Family Home Evening, the assigned reading and discussions, and what to do on weeks where we finished the week's assignments before the week was done.

Our Family's "Come, Follow Me" Home Study Schedule

SUNDAY

• Share church discussions at home.
• Recognize and praise those who did personal study in the past week
• (Invite sharing from personal studies)
• Select what 4-year old Q will be taught this week, selecting junior resources as needed
• Select a scripture or song to practice daily this week
• Read aloud a story from The Friend
• Family Council
• (Some weeks we may play a game as a family)

MONDAY: FAMILY HOME EVENING

• Song
• Prayer
• Begin the week's reading and discussion
• Object Lesson or Special Activity
• Treat

TUESDAY AND ONWARD

• Read and discuss one section from the manual each day until the week's reading is complete
• Repeat the week's verse or sing the week's song

REMAINING DAYS

• Read aloud from any of the following:
• The Ensign
• General Conference talks
• Or study from
• Bible Dictionary or Topical Guide

What is your family's plan for the new year?

A Talk a Day . . .

Two weeks before General Conference, we went up to the temple. This is something we often do, but this time felt extra special. Maybe because it was the fifth consecutive month in a row, or maybe because of my determination to put more effort into it, but the week following felt amazingly peaceful. Then we had two weekends of General Conference, with a wonderful week between them, too.
Then things fell apart. I had expected that feeling of peace to go with me the week following Conference, but it wasn't there. Toward the end of the week, I looked back in frustration and wondered, "What went wrong?"

The answer: I got casual in my prayers and scriptures. I thought (without admitting I thought it) that I could keep that feeling by resting on my laurels and giving a skim effort to prayers and scriptures.
Well, that was an easy fix. I began to listen to General Conference talks every morning in the kitchen. I would get through at least one, sometimes two. At first, I had to push myself a bit. I've kept it up, and it has been well worth the resulting peace I have felt.

A Chapter a Day: 5 Ways to Read Scriptures as a Family

December 31st, 2016, at around 10pm our family finished reading the Book of Mormon for the third year in a row. Four years ago I wouldn't have thought it possible.
We had been reading a few verses a night to the children for years, but had never made it even halfway into the book. I was talking with my mom one day and she pointed out that all four of my children could read, and that it might be time to change how we were doing family scriptures.
It was almost the New Year (2014), so we planned to delay our start until then, with the goal of reading a chapter a day until we finished the book. Our first year we finished in late October, then started over again in January each year since.
With a little trial and error, we decided it works best for us when we start 1 Nephi chapter 1 on January 1. This does skip over the title page and various testimonies, but it makes it easier to build the every day habit, as the chapter we are on corresponds with the day of the month for the first three weeks of reading. By then it's a habit, and success encourages more success, so we can complete 2 Nephi chapter 9 on the last day of January.

Five Ways to Read Scriptures as a Family

• In a circle. One verse per person at a time, passing to the next person after one verse, going around in a circle as many times as it takes to get through the chapter. This can happen at the dinner table, sitting in the living room, or kneeling around the parents' bed.
• Divide and Conquer. Divide the number of verses (or columns) by the number of readers. Each person reads their set amount before passing off to the next person. Sometimes we divide unevenly, so the youngest reader gets the shortest set, and the parents each read the most. One way to do that is to count the adults as two people before you divide. For example, if there are 2 children and 2 adults to read 24 verses, you would divide 24 by six. Each child would read 4 verses, and each adult would read that amount twice (8 verses each). Also, if you divide and there is a remainder, the adults or stronger readers can read that portion as well.
• Lights out. If a busy evening brings lights out before the whole family is home and ready, we might have one adult read aloud in the hallway while the children stay in bed.
• Audio. We play this through the LDS Gospel Library app on our phones or tablet. The audio doesn't download to your device when you download the text, so this will use cell data if you're away from wifi. We sometimes use audio in the car when we are driving home late from an activity or at home after lights out. It has been a lifesaver on tired nights when no one is up to reading that chapter.
• From the TV. My husband air played the scriptures on his cell phone to our big tv. Everyone was able to read their assigned verses from there. This is great for the novelty of it, but it also keeps everyone on the same page. Depending on the tv size, this might help emerging readers follow along better.

Our family isn't perfect. Any of our neighbors or acquaintances can tell you that. Our scripture study isn't perfect either. Sometimes a child wanders off in the middle of it. Other times people are talking over and around the reader. Yet there are those shining moments when they exclaim, "I know this story! Isn't this the one where . . . " or when something catches their attention and they make an informed observation or even question. Those shining moments are what we are working for--the hope that somewhere along the way, even if we our way is bumpy and covered with weeds, the children are building strong testimonies they will need to become the strong leaders God sent them here to be.

If we can do it, you can too.

Sweetening Jacob 5

My children are gathered around the kitchen table, taking turns spinning plastic Easter eggs.
We just finished reading Jacob chapter 5 in one sitting, and had a surprisingly lovely time. So here I am sharing what we did, in the hopes that our experiences will be of use to someone else.
Before I begin, I would like to point out that my (reading) children range in age from 8 to (nearly) 13, and we came to this chapter on a leisurely Sunday afternoon. If you have younger children, children who can't really read yet, or approach this an hour after bedtime on a school night . . . you may need a miracle.

So, what did we do that worked?

• I pep-talked the kids into getting this done in one sitting
• We made it a special occasion with treats
• We discussed symbolism

Do it in one sitting
Now, the kids did groan a bit when they heard we were doing all 77 verses of Jacob 5 today.
"Do we have to do it all in one day?"
Now, there's a lot to be said for slow-and-steady. But there's also a lot to be said for weekend warriors and doing big projects in a concentrated burst of determination.
There's a lot to be said to breaking the scriptures into a certain number of pages per day, so each day the family spends an equal amount of time reading. I, however, hate to have my storyline interrupted mid-chapter. Nope. For me, it's a chapter a day. Even when that chapter is Jacob 5.
(In case you're wondering, it took us 40 minutes, including discussion time).

Make it a special occasion with treats
Now, to help this work, we make it a special occasion. I don't frequently mix scriptures and treats, but that's what really sells this chapter to my kids.
The first year we read Jacob 5, we had an unexpected box of cookies in the cupboard. I usually avoid pre-packaged cookies, so there was some novelty there. At each page turn, I walked around the table and set one small cookie next to each child.
Today, it was Easter candy.
Now, I feel a little guilty admitting that. Somehow, cookies seem less sugary than candy. Healthier. But it's that time of year, and I was surprised to receive several extra bags of candy after I had already purchased our family's Easter candy. And the kids were excited about it, which was more to the point.
Each child read a column. After they finished their column, M rolled an Easter egg with a few sweets in it to them. We went around the table counterclockwise several times. The last time around, I skipped my turn so each of the kids got an equal amount of sweets (at their request).

Discuss symbolism
After the first time around the table, when it was my turn, I paused and asked if anyone thought they knew what the vineyard represented.
"The Earth?" guessed S.
"Yes, the Earth, or the world."
Then I asked, "Who do you think is the Lord of the Vineyard?" We decided it was probably Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ. Then we went back to reading.
A few columns later, I asked who could guess what the olive tree represented. When I said it was the House of Israel, there was a loud, "Oh!" from one end of the table.
The kids started breaking in with their thoughts: could the servant of the vineyard be missionaries? Does this represent the Dark Ages? and so forth.

If you want help understanding the symbolism, the Book of Mormon Student Study Guide has a chart of suggestions. If you scroll to the bottom, there's a visual timeline of Jacob 5, that could be really useful, especially for visual learners.

General Conference Prep

Okay, so now that FHE is done and the kids are in bed, I know our scripture study for the week. We'll use a picture of President Monson from the Gospel Art Book to memorize Amos 3:7 ("Surely the Lord God will do nothing save he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.")
I downloaded a free pdf workbook on the life of Thomas S. Monson from Book of Mormon Discovery. I might work on that with the oldest boys during their personal scripture time this week--or try to do it during family scripture time. And now, I might encourage them to learn the names of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve with this somewhat amusing video clip.
Now all I need is to figure out what to do with the kids during conference.

Memorization with the Friend

We've been memorizing scriptures this year with a little help from a friend: The Friend, to be exact.  For the last couple years, the Friend, a children's magazine published by the LDS Church, has included a "Bright Idea" page every month. Each month has a full page illustration to accompany a quote from the Bible, Book of Mormon, or church leaders, such as President Monson.

Unfortuantely, by the end of the month, our used and abused Friend is often only good for the recycling bin (we should get one of those). So . . . we were a little lacking in back-issues when I decided to use these "posters" for family scripture memorization. That's okay. You can print them for free straight from the Friend web-site. I suggest a heavy-weight paper . . . and expect this to take a bit of ink if you want to print them all at once.

We introduce the scriptures during Family Home Evening (Monday nights), then tuck it in our oversized family scriptures, where it gets reviewed every night when we go to read family scriptures. This week I want to use the one from the September Friend, "You are never lost when you can see the temple." from Elder Stevenson of the Seventy.

Personal Scripture Study

It makes sense for personal scripture study to be, well, personal. I got Super K into marking his scriptures a few weeks ago by telling him which verses he would read, and how I thought he should mark them. It was a great start, but as a parent, a little high maintenance.


Super K chose to "illustrate" Moses 2:28 with a
hand-drawn black widow and a buffalo.

 Now he gets out his scriptures and I hand him the pouch of colored pencils. I tell him what to read, then he lets loose with his imagination in deciding what to highlight. On the sixth day of creation, I might have drawn a stick figure to emphasize the creation of man--he skipped that minor detail, and chose to illustrate a couple of the animals he was proud to have "dominion" over.

Scripture Marking: Moses Chapter 1

I wish I could remember which LDS blog I recently stumbled across that had a post on how her children marked their scriptures. I can't. Sorry. But it's been a great inspiration in doing scripture-time with Super K, age 8.
I looked ahead at the scriptures, and broke things down into pieces of the story that he can easily read in one sitting. I tell him how far to read. He does so. Then I open my scriptures to the same place and show him how I marked my scriptures. We keep colored pencils in a pencil pouch, and he spends more time marking some days than he does reading. Now that we're a few pages into this, he's getting excited, and I admit, so am I.

Read Moses 1:1-11;
on vs. 1 draw mountains (i.e.-two inverted "v"s),
on vs. 4, underline "thou art my son"
Read Moses 1:12-23
on vs. 13, underline "I am a son of God . . . Only Begotten,"
on vs. 22, use red to draw a simple angry face (to show Satan's tantrum)
Read Moses 1: 24-35
on verse 33, draw a planet with rings
Read Moses 1:36-42
draw a red box around vs. 39 (scripture mastery);
vs. 41, draw an open book

This took us four sittings to get through, although I must say I think he could read more in one sitting than I've asked of him so far.
Oh, and the Book of Moses we're using is in "The Pearl of Great Price." To read it online, click here.

Charlotte Mason Scripture Study

I recently read (most of) Home Education by Charlotte Mason.  On children's scripture study she states, "By nine they should have read the simple (and suitable) narrative portions of the Old Testament, and, say, two of the gospels," (page 165, kindle edition). Lightbulb!
Super K is 8 years old, and can read a couple grades above his own--if he's interested. I felt he was ready to move beyond the LDS scripture readers that he's gone through time and again, I just wasn't sure how.
Charlotte Mason Scripture Study:
We opened up to Genesis chapter 1. I did a quick skim to decide how many verses made up the first complete thought. That was easy for the first week: one day of creation at a time. I would skim for vocabulary words (like firmament) to explain before he read. Then he would read the assigned verses. To finish, I coaxed him to narrate the story back to me. This is what he struggles with the most. The next day, I first asked him to tell me what we had read about yesterday. Then we repeated the cycle.

Notes: It took us 7 days to get through the first chapter, but that was a great warm-up exercise. I hope to soon get to the point where he can read a full story episode in one sitting.

My mom (a seminary teacher for the LDS Church) just showed me a link:
LDS Old Testament Reading Chart (seminary version)
It skips so me of the naughty chapters (like Lot's daughters and Song of Solomon) that don't really aid spiritual growth. Also, it begins with chapters from the Pearl of Great Price. Wish I'd known that a week ago.