The beginning of the school year is a great time to sit down as a family to make goals and organize the family for the upcoming school year. This week’s family home evening topic is going to focus on the importance of doing well in school, as well as organizing your family at home. In some ways this is more of a family council with scriptures and stories added. You will know what works best for your family. Be sure to keep in mind the ages of your children as you plan what activities work best for them. If children have a say in what jobs they need to complete at home, they are more likely to complete the work.
Open the lesson by reading Doctrine and Covenants 88:119, 127-128 as a family. Discuss what the scripture means. It is important to point out that the spiritual part is just as important as the temporal needs of the family. Discuss the expectations that you have for your children for the upcoming school year. You may want to ask your children what they hope to accomplish in the next year and write down specific goals for each of them. This is a goal chart, which can be adapted for each family member. You may want to talk about why it is important to do well in school, and that you are willing to help your children take the steps they need in order to achieve. Depending on the ages of your children you may want to set up a homework/free time schedule. If you have several children that will need your help with homework you may want to divide the time up so there are specific slots to practice spelling words and work on special projects. If you do this you may want to create a chart on a piece of poster board. You will also want to make sure that you include down time for each child every day. “Handling Stuff” is an excellent story for Primary children about school and time management. If you have teenagers you may want to use “Idea List: Doing Time,” “I Want My Life Back,” “Idea List: How to Be a Better Student,” and “Be Smart” as additional resources.
The new school year is a great time to change the assignment of chores or jobs that each child needs to complete. You can assign each child a certain job to be completed every week for the entire year or you can rotate the children through all the different jobs. You may want to assign a dishes night to every child once a week. You can also assign out a night for each child to cook dinner for the family. You can make a chart of assigned jobs and the expectations for the jobs to be done correctly. It is important to take into consideration the age of the child when assigning jobs. It is also important to consider the schedules of your children as you assign jobs. Teenagers often become busy with school activities, and jobs outside the home, and so you may want flexibility in your schedule.
If you are teaching primarily adults you may want to change the focus to continuing education and time management. Everyone can feel overwhelmed at times. “Where Is Wisdom?” by Elder Russell M Nelson and “Education for Real Life” by Henry B Eyring are both excellent talks that address both of these issues.
You can choose your favorite primary songs or hymns for this lesson. You may want to consider “Family Night” on p 195 of “The Children’s Songbook.” Remember to close and open with a prayer, have a fun activity and some refreshments.