The Family Proclamation, Paragraph One
I mentioned, I think, in an earlier post that we were going to be memorizing The Family: A Proclamation to the World this year. We just finished memorizing the first paragraph, which states:
We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.
It has become increasingly important to us that our children understand the Lord’s definition of marriage. As well as why the family unit is so important to His Plan of Salvation. We want our kids to know that our family is important and that it matters to Heavenly Father.
Object Lesson
We spent some time discussing the gospel principles related to the family. Including why it is important that marriage be between a man and a woman. I used a knife and a fork as an object lesson to help explain why marriage is best between a man and a woman and why Heavenly Father wants children to be born into families with both parents.
Apparently, RJ had given a similar impromptu lesson on this topic at dinner using the same objects. Kids started to tease me about it and Raena says in a sing-song voice, “It’s because they work in unity!” I know she was teasing, but it made me glad to know that our children see that RJ and I are united.
We also included a talk from the Women’s Conference by Bonnie Oscarson entitled, Defenders of the Family Proclamation in our study. I hope my children will grow up to be defenders.
Hands-On Learning
Another day we used play dough to depict our family. I find adding a hands-on element to our learning helps to cement what we are learning about. And also, it’s fun! Who doesn’t like playing with play dough?
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| Raena’s |
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| Olivia made “pickles” |
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| Allie’s |
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| Ellawyn’s |
I enjoyed seeing the different creative ways our children depicted our family.
(Haydn chose to not make one and just played with the dough.)
Memorization Help
Memorization is such a great skill for kids to learn. Memorizing favorite scriptures or passages can not only serve as a comfort, but also as a help against temptation.
To help the younger kids learn we made a word puzzle and had them assemble it in the correct order. My kids enjoyed working together to figure out the paragraph.
Throughout the week they would get it out to assemble it. They had fun seeing who could get the farthest before getting stuck and needing help.
We are now moving on the to second paragraph! May I encourage you to join us in memorizing this inspired document.
