Book of Mormon Stories FHEs

When I was growing up, my family moved around a lot which means that we wandered from state to state, from house to house (with some apartments, a basement, and a trailer thrown in there), and from ward to ward. That means that a lot of things changed over the years with very few things remaining the same. I never had the same friends, school, or surroundings for longer than 18 months or so.

There were a few important elements, however, that did stay the same. One was that my mother, no matter where we were, always got called as the Primary pianist within a few MINUTES of moving into each new ward. No joke. It was hilarious, but comforting for me to always have my mother there smiling (or shaking her head and scowling depending on my behavior) from over the top of the piano.

Another element of life that always stayed the same is tightly related to my mother's perpetual primary pianist calling. Because she always had to play at least 1.5 hours of music on Sunday, she would practice during the week. I loved this. When she started playing Primary songs, my sisters and I would all gather around and sing along.

Side Note: It turns out that this week-day playing had far less to do with a need for practice than for a need to cut down on all the inevitable bickering that happens in a house with 3 girls close in age. I didn't know that until a couple of days ago. My mom is sneaky and smart!

Anyway, despite my lack of piano skills, I have been trying to learn the Primary songs that Emma is learning so that I can have that same Spirit in my home, and can establish some of those same childhood memories I am so fond of.

Lately, Emma has been requesting that I play Book of Mormon Stories. That is when I was reminded of all the great verses to this song that don't get sung nearly enough because they are so fun. We decided to base our next 6 Family Home Evenings around these verses.

We show a picture of the prophet and one of us tells the story or reads it from the Scriptures and then explains it, and then we learn the new verse about that prophet. Then, every night that week as part of our bedtime ritual, we sing Book of Mormon Stories going all the way to the most recent verse we learned. By the next week, we have it down pat and are ready to add on.

It has been a lot of fun, and I like seeing the girls internalize these stories by attaching not only a visual cue to them (the picture) but a musical one as well (the song). It is also an added bonus that I don't have to plan extensive Family Home Evening lessons for the next however long. It is all planned out, and the kids love it! Emma plans to teach next week's lesson about Abinadi, so I don't even have to do that part. Win, win, WIN!! :)

We have loved this new family activity and I wanted to record it here and also let others know how much fun it has been for us. When we have the Book of Mormon Stories down, we plan to tackle all the verses to Follow the Prophet in the same manner.