Women’s History Month Family Home Evening Lessons
By Julie M. Smith, a T&S Supablogga
Note: If you want to show the video for the last lesson, order it now!
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March 5th
Today is Purim, a Jewish holiday that celebrates Esther’s saving the Jews. This is a fun holiday for little kids: traditionally, the story is recounted and at every mention of the name ‘Haman,’ the kids boo, hiss, stomp their feet, or rattle noisemakers (some beans or pebbles in a baby food jar would work really well). You can either read the story from the KJV (you could skip chapters 1,7, 8, and 9) or from a child’s version (two levels of difficulty, available in two parts first and second).
Another traditional part of this celebration is Hamentaschen, a cookie that is supposed to look like Haman’s hat.
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March 12th
Everyone is probably familiar with President Hinckley’s famous “be” talk to the youth.
Here’s how to use it to celebrate women in the scriptures:
(1) Make six bees out of construction paper. (Don’t worry, you can do this.)
Cut out six yellow ovals.
Cut out 18 black stripes and glue three across each oval, leaving small in between so there are yellow stripes in between.
Cut out six small black triangles and glue them on as tails.
Cut out six circles to be heads.
Cut out 12 antenna-shaped thingies and glue those on. Across each bee, write one word: grateful, clean, prayerful, humble, smart, and true. (This would be a good Sabbath project to do with the kids the day before.)
(2) You need twelve pictures of women from the scriptures. (Hint: cheat! No one knows what they looked like!) If you want clip-art ones that you (or the kids) can color, go here:
http://lds.about.com/library/gallery/clipart/blw.htm and scroll down to “women.”
(3) On the back of your pictures, put the following:
be prayerful: 1 Nephi 18:11, 19
be prayerful: Moses 5:16
be true: Ruth 1:16-17
be true: Alma 19:16-17
be humble: Mark 5:25-28
be humble: John 4:7-9
be grateful: John 20:15-16
be grateful: 1 Samuel 2:1
be clean: Genesis 24:15-18
be clean: Luke 1:27-28
be smart: D & C 25:8
be smart: Luke 10:38-42
(4) Here are quotes from President Hinckley’s talk for each ‘be.’ (I’ve also listed a song for each one.) You may want to print each quote and paste each one to a notecard.
Be grateful Scriptures: John 20:15-16 and 1 Samuel 2:1
Song: A Song of Thanks
“Walk with gratitude in your hearts, my dear friends.
Be thankful for the wonderful blessings which are
yours. Be grateful for the tremendous opportunities
that you have. Be thankful to your parents, who care
so very much about you and who have worked so very
hard to provide for you. Let them know that you are
grateful. Say thank you to your mother and your
father. Say thank you to your friends. Say thank you
to your teachers. Express appreciation to everyone who
does you a favor or assists you in any way. Thank the
Lord for His goodness to you. Thank the Almighty for
His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who has done for you
what none other in all this world could do. Thank Him
for His great example, for His tremendous teachings,
for His outreaching hand to lift and help.”—President
Gordon B. Hinckley
Be smart Scriptures: D & C 25:8 and Luke 10:38-42
Song: All Things Bright and Beautiful
“You belong to a church that teaches the importance of
education. You have a mandate from the Lord to educate
your minds and your hearts and your hands. The Lord
has said, ‘Teach ye diligently … of things both in
heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things
which have been, things which are, things which must
shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things
which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the
nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and
a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms—that ye
may be prepared in all things’ (D&C
88:78-80).”—President Gordon B. Hinckley
Be clean Scriptures: Genesis 24:15-18 and Luke 1:27-28
Song: Dare to Do Right
“What creation is more magnificent than the human
body? What a wondrous thing it is as the crowning work
of the Almighty. Paul, in writing to the Corinthians,
said: ‘Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man
defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for
the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are’ (1
Cor. 3:16-17). Did you ever think that your body is
holy? You are a child of God.” — President Gordon B.
Hinckley
Be true Scriptures: Alma 19:16-17 and Ruth 1:16-17
Song: I Believe in Being Honest
“Walk in faith before Him with your heads high, proud
of your membership in this great cause and kingdom
which He has restored to the earth in this, the last
dispensation of the fulness of times. Why? To bring
you happiness. Be true to your own convictions. You
know what is right, and you know what is wrong. You
know when you are doing the proper thing. You know
when you are giving strength to the right cause. Be
loyal. Be faithful. Be true, my beloved associates in
this great kingdom.”—President Gordon B. Hinckley
Be humble Scriptures: John 4:7-9 and Mark 5:25-28
Song: I Will Follow God’s Plan
“The Lord has said, ‘Be thou humble; and the Lord thy
God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer
to thy prayers’ (D&C 112:10). What a tremendous
promise is given in this statement. If we are without
conceit and pride and arrogance, if we are humble and
obedient, then the Lord will lead us by the hand and
answer our prayers. What greater thing could we ask
for? There is nothing to compare with this.” –
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Be prayerful Scriptures: 1 Nephi 18:11, 19 and Moses 5:16
Song: I Feel My Savior’s Love
“You need His help, and you know that you need His
help. You cannot do it alone. You will come to realize
that and recognize that more and more as the years
pass. So live that in good conscience you can speak
with the Lord. Get on your knees and thank Him for His
goodness to you and express to Him the righteous
desires of your hearts. The miracle of it all is that
He hears. He responds. He answers—not always as we
might wish He would answer, but there is no question
in my mind that He answers.” – President Gordon B.
Hinckley
(5) You can use this stuff in a variety of ways. One fun thing would be to hide all the bees and pictures and quote-cards, have a scavenger hunt, and then try to match the picture and statement with the correct ‘bee.’ You could also play a matching game, or just read each part and then tape it up on a door when you finish. If you have tiny kids, you would be negligent if you concluded the lesson without flying around the room like bees.
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March 19th
This lesson is based on this post. Tell the story in your own words. I used this as a Sharing Time with a lot of visual aids. I began with a world map and showed the kids where we lived and then showed them The Netherlands. I then put up pictures of a man, woman, and child and then took away the picture of the boy when he dies. I had a library book of WWII pictures to show them the bombing of Rotterdam, but you could use this.
Here’s a picture of a bicycle and a garden hose. I also had a real potato. Conclude with your testimony of the courage that living the gospel can bring us and our ability to help others.
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March 26th
This lesson is about Mary Whitmer, who was a witness to the Book of Mormon. There is an excellent little movie about this. If you don’t have access to the video, you could tell the story while your family pantomimes simple actions to go along with it. (Have Mary work hard around the house, milk the cow, see the angel, see the plates, etc.)
Conclude with your testimony of the Book of Mormon.
I just want to gush thanks at Julie for this. First time I read through them they gave me chills. I’m so excited to teach them to the kids, much higher quality than my usual FHE fare.
Julie, you a treasure. A generous, super smart, treasure.
Comment by fMhLisa — March 3, 2007 @ 12:41 pm
WOW!!! You are too cool! These ideas are great! Thank you so much for posting these!
Comment by janescott — March 3, 2007 @ 12:43 pm
Wonderful ideas! Can’t wait for FHE (not sure I’ve said that before).
Comment by Lucy — March 3, 2007 @ 1:27 pm
Wonderful Julie - thanks!
Comment by Rebecca — March 3, 2007 @ 1:29 pm
Great ideas and resources; thank you!
Comment by Proud Daughter of Eve — March 3, 2007 @ 1:50 pm
Woman, you manage to outdo yourself at every turn. I am delighted to have this resource for the next month. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your gift as a natural-born teacher.
Comment by Idahospud — March 3, 2007 @ 4:34 pm
These would make good Relief Society lessons, with little modification. Heck, they would make good ELDERS’ Quorum lessons. Brava, Julie!
Comment by Ardis Parshall — March 3, 2007 @ 6:25 pm
These are great ideas. Thank you.
Question: is there a website or book that anybody would recommend that provides creative FHE/sacrament meeting activities for young (ie under 5) children? Have browsed the LDS bookstores and found a lotta fluff (cute fluff, but fluff, nonetheless.)
Comment by Sare — March 3, 2007 @ 9:16 pm
with all due respect– Unless there’s some date-shifting principle involved in LDS appropriation of our holidays, you simply have the date of Purim wrong. It began at sunset this evening (March 3).
Comment by anon — March 3, 2007 @ 10:40 pm
haha. Anon #9, not being LDS, doesn’t realize that we get to celebrate all holidays not only on the day of, but also on the Monday evening before or after!
Comment by Bored in Vernal — March 3, 2007 @ 11:00 pm
Well, I think I like Bored’s answer better than mine, but I used a google calculator and got the 5th. A little more research (the National Jewish Outreach Program) shows the 5th for cities without walls and 4th otherwise. That must be the date google used. My apologies to purists.
Comment by Julie M. Smith — March 3, 2007 @ 11:03 pm
Julie, this is fantastic! Much enthused thanks!
Comment by Janet — March 4, 2007 @ 9:47 pm
Just fantastic. Thank you.
Comment by Julie P — March 4, 2007 @ 10:31 pm
Say, Julie, do you think you could do this every month?
(What can I say, I’m lazy.)
Comment by Quimby — March 4, 2007 @ 10:32 pm
These are great suggestions… We just introduced the B’s again last week in FHE, so this wil be perfect. I also think these ideas would be great for YW.
BTW, I just GOOGLED “The Fourth Witness” to see if I could get it on DVD. I found this collection of three videos about early church women at ldsvideo.com.
http://www.ldsvideo.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=416
I don’t know anything about the company or any of the movies, but I thought I’d pass this along.
Comment by Anna — March 5, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
Hi, usually I spend my Sundays reading blogs and I do enjoy FMH (I have LDS family members). Well, with the merryment this weekend, I didn’t see this post until now when I could catch up my bloglines. Anyway, just for clarity, since a few commentators seem divided about it, this year our community celebrated Purim beginning at the end of Shabbat (Saturday evening) March 3rd and concluded on Sunday evening March 4th. (The date on the Jewish calendar was Adar 14th.) Consider this link and this one (both from an Orthodox perspective). A word for anon #9, I don’t think that just because an LDS blog is discussing a traditionally Jewish holiday that it is necessarily cultural appropriation. If the theology around it begins to take on specifically LDS ideas then that would be another discussion. What Smith posted above is not nearly as problematic as Christian seders. Esther is part of their holy scriptures (though correct me if I’m wrong but Shir HaSirim is not, um… Song of Solomon).
I see that this post was geared towards lessons with a women’s history emphasis, and I’d just like to add regarding Purim that there is a fast called the fast of Esther, normally on Adar 13 (but this year observed last Thursday because Jews do not fast on Shabbat unless it is Yom Kippur). It is considered a half day fast (from sun up to sun down) as opposed to Yom Kippur, which is a full day fast (from sun down to sun down). Next year the fast will be the daytime of Thursday, March 20th, with Purim being from sun down the 20th to sun down, Friday March 21st (which ends when Shabbat begins).
This fast is normally observed among more observant Jews in memory of Esther’s fast (chapter 4 of Esther) as she prayed before going before the King without a request. Since the mid-sixties or so, this fast has been growing in popularity among Jewish women of more progressive persuasions as we seek to remember the sacrifices and deeds of our forebears. Especially in Jewish feminist groups where we have monthly Rosh Chodesh activities and gather for women’s havurot (prayer groups) it took a long time for this fast to really gain steam but this year one online Jewish Feminist group I’m part of dedicated the fast and tzedakah (charity) to a shelter we all support. The Esther story really underscores the power of women’s fasting and prayer and the great things that can happen as a result.
Lastly, not detracting from Smith’s good mention of hamentaschen, I’d also like to mention the emphasis of the holiday on the giving of charity in two ways. One (or one’s family) should give gifts to at least two poor persons (or mostly we do charities in my liberal community) and gifts of food to at least two friends. In many neighborhoods where there are lots of Jewish families, people will send plates of cookies and cheese and things to their neighbors by sending the kids out (often in the costumes they wore to synagogue to hear the book of Esther read). It’s a fun kind of reverse halloween, but the emphasis is on the giving. Once we have fasted and prayed for God’s blessings, we share the goodness we’ve been blessed with. It’s a wonderful custom I think enriches one’s understanding of the story.
Anyway, thanks for letting me share on your blog.
Comment by Jewish Reader of FMH — March 7, 2007 @ 2:27 pm
Thanks so much for that, Jewish reader! I love learning more about Jewish holidays. Can I ask you a question? You say, “What Smith posted above is not nearly as problematic as Christian seders.” I’ve participated before in Jewish-led Passover seders; would you consider this disrespectful? I honestly never thought of it that way - I just love Passover. (Although I can never manage to keep Kosher for Passover for more than a day. Inevitably I forget and make myself toast for breakfast.) Now I’m worried it’s offensive.
Comment by Quimby — March 7, 2007 @ 5:30 pm
I think it is unreasonable to assume that Passover does, or even should, only belong to the Jews. Any people who accept the Old Testament as scripture have a claim on this tradition. it is also interesting that when I was first considering doing a Passover, I got an armful of books from the library. There was a wide variety of ways that Jews were celebrating this event. There were of course some similarities also, such as the questions and the symbolic foods. As I set out to create a ceremony for our family I tried to follow as closely as possible the Old Testament account. (Of course neither we, nor anyone else I know, Jewish or not, personally kills a lamb and puts its blood on their door. That is our major departure from the scriptural account.) Conversely, the “real” Jewish Passovers we have attended seem to have taken more liberties with the actual scriptural account than we do. For example, Moses said participants were to be fully dressed with their shoes on ready to leave and they were also to eat in haste (thus the unleavened bread.) Also, our Jewish friends had a very fancy meal and basically lounged around, to symbolically prove they were no longer slaves. The other major change in the Jewish Passovers we have experienced is that turkey, not lamb was served. That frankly seemed odd. So given all that I have had no problems with writing my own Passover ceremony which has evolved into a frankly Latter-day Saint event–with no apologies to those whose traditions have evolved differently.
Comment by Marjorie Conder — March 7, 2007 @ 11:55 pm
“Of course neither we, nor anyone else I know, Jewish or not, personally kills a lamb and puts its blood on their door. That is our major departure from the scriptural account.”
Oh yeah? You apparently haven’t heard about the time when, because we were starving students, I bought ground lamb for Passover in one of those plastic tubes (think Jimmy Dean sausage) and microwaved it still in the package (young and dumb) and then pierced the package open. Blood on the doorposts indeed. (Everywhere else in the kitchen, too.)
Comment by Julie M. Smith — March 8, 2007 @ 2:01 am
Julie, funny. However unless you do this from year to year it doesn’t count!
Comment by Marjorie Conder — March 8, 2007 @ 9:45 pm
wonderful post, Julie. Thank you
Comment by chads — March 12, 2007 @ 10:48 am
I realize this is an old post, but it’s fantastic!!! Thanks for sharing your well thought out family home evening lessons!
Comment by Jenny — June 18, 2010 @ 10:07 am