Category Archives: Family Home Evening

MeckMom’s Teaching Tips: Easy Adversity Object Lesson

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All of us deal with adversity. Often we struggle to understand why a loving Heavenly Father would cause us such grief and why his timing is often so unfortunate. Teaching youth and adults the benefits of adversity can really help strengthen their testimonies and teach them to see the good in the struggle. I use this simple object lesson to help my classes understand the purposes of adversity in our daily life.

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For a few more perfectly-simple adversity object lessons, check out the links below…

Cranial Hiccups uses a delicious and bitter chocolate analogy to teach about adversity here.

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The Hills House narrows in on how the Holy Ghost can help us manage adversity with her great soda can analogy. She also includes this fabulous FREE printable.

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MeckMom’s Teaching Tip: FREE Gospel Art Kit Scripture Stickers

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The scriptures are always the best tool to teach kids the gospel – but they can be intimidating for kids to use. When my kids were little I really wanted to help them connect with their scriptures (without spending a ton) so I created these cool, transparent scripture stickers based on the Gospel Art Kit found on LDS.org.

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Here’s a quick video explaining why I created them and how they’ve made a difference in my family’s scripture study.

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You can add them to your kids scriptures by following these four easy steps – I made it Pinterest friendly so go ahead, pin your heart out! 🙂

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This year, I completely revamped the original stickers I created back in 2008. I included tons of new pictures from each of the four books of scripture (140 stickers total) and added all the the references and page numbers right on the sheet. I also formatted them to fit perfectly on my favorite peel-n-stick sticker paper so you could skip all the cropping time. They’re so much easier to use now. Here’s a pic of me putting the new set on my son’s scrips while I was waiting to pickup kids in my car. Multi-tasking moms unite. 😉

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You can find all the free downloads and links to purchase my very favorite sticker paper in the scripture study section of my site, MeckMom.com.

I hope you enjoy using them in your family and your classes…and share them with other free-printable-loving-moms around the world! – Maria

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MeckMom’s Teaching Tip: Easy Object Lesson on Prayer and Obedience

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I’m a big believer in object lessons. They help settle the class, catch their interest and reinforce the idea that the gospel principles are woven into the world around us. This week, I’m sharing one of my favorite quick and easy object lessons on looking for help in the right places.

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For more object lessons about obedience and finding help through the right sources, check out these great posts.

Sodas, Slushies, and Spiritual Consequences from LDS.org

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Is Your Faith as Tough as Nails from EntitledtoRevelation.com

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Table Talk

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Dinner time is a great way to let time stand still for a bit and really connect with your family. Yes… that means no phones at the table. I know we are all at different stages in life. Some of us are cutting dinner into bite size pieces for our little ones and others are parents of teenagers with crazy schedules, or are empty nesters and may be sharing a meal with friends. How do we make dinnertime special and fun? It is easy to get lost in the repetition of life and not take advantage of these special everyday moments. BTW – Did you know that most of our fondest memories are centered around the home?

I found this gem of an idea on Joel & Kitty’s Blog here  and thought I would give it a try with my family. My head is filling up with random comments already… I’m thinking about shaving my head bald. I’m starting to itch so bad. Potatoes smell like flowers. Pigs can fly if they want to. I ate so much peanut butter, my mouth wouldn’t open. My life starts today. Only two people are going to heaven (me and___). I stole a cookie from the cookie jar. (Google Random Sayings for help)

It can be tweaked for most age groups and would be a good way to add some fun and socializing to our dinner tables.

Simply tape or use a Post It Note to place comment securely on the bottom of each plate and that is the comment they have to incorporate into dinnertime talk. Keep the notes private. If no one catches it 5 pts. Then for every other comment you catch you win 1pt. The winner of the Table Talk conversation takes home a treat or a round of applause or a family song, sung in their behalf, etc… you get the idea.  Fun! Fun! Meal time may never be the same!

Have a wonderful day…  Brenda

General Conference Ideas: Family Fun Round-Up

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After working on the #Hallelujah, Christ-centered Easter campaign I decided to change things up at our house this year. We skipped baskets and bunnies and enjoyed a mellow, scripture-filled holiday (thanks to all the hard work and printables from our #hallelujah kit makers). I can’t believe it took me 16 years of motherhood and 6 kids to figure out what a real Easter feels like.

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It wasn’t perfect. My kids missed the candy and there was some definite whining when they heard what all their friends got in their baskets. But there were also sweet moments, like hearing my 7 year old tell me he knew all the answers in Sunday School because we had just talked about the Easter story at breakfast. It felt sweet and simple and right for us.

All that being said, I’m a fun mom at heart. I still love the crazy Easter traditions and games we used to do. Luckily General Conference is coming up next so I’ve decided to shift some of the family fun over. That way we get a nice, sacred Easter and the kids will have even more reason to look forward to conference weekend…as if staying in your PJs all day and jumbo cinnamon rolls weren’t enough.

I jumped on Pinterest today to try to gather up some fun mom inspiration for conference weekend and I found tons of great ideas. For example, I thought this idea of pitching a tent in the living room (King Benjamin-style) would be awesome for my little kids.

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My teenagers are a little harder to impress but I thought this final-four-style bracket idea would really win them over…especially if the prize involves extra treats and bragging rights.

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There were so many great ideas and printable activity sheets out there in the blogosphere. If you’re looking to add a little fun to you family’s conference you should click over and start pinning away. You can find (and follow) the board by following this link.

Have a wonderful week everyone. I hope your conference weekend is full of fun, learning and a heaping helping of delicious food!

MeckMom HeadshotThis guest post was submitted by Maria Eckersley. Maria is a stay-at-home mom of six by day and a sleep-deprived graphic designer by night. You can find more of her ideas and printables on her new site MeckMom.com or in her Etsy shop .