Mormon Bloggers

Remember a while ago I told you that I couldn’t think of anything to write about so I had Teach throw in some pics and then I had to write something about them? Just for fun, we decided to try it again. She chose some of my favorite pictures, but the story isn’t all that great, so I apologize if I’m a bit lame today. You all know that Teach is trying really hard to be a teacher. She has  Read More →

Thank you so much for all of your kind comments on yesterday’s post! My writer’s block seems to have disappeared and I want to apologize to Teach. She felt bad yesterday about the off-hand comment she made about nobody caring if I posted or not. She just meant that maybe no one would notice if I took a day off here and there, not that I should quit writing because no one was listening. My  Read More →

When we think of the Fourth of July, images of fireworks, flags and barbecues come to mind. It’s also a great time to talk to our children about the founding of our country and why we celebrate Independence Day. As we teach our children about America’s independence, we can help foster an attitude of gratitude for those who have sacrificed for our freedom.  Visit the Library  Your local library has many picture books about the Fourth of July and the Founding Fathers. Listen to Patriotic Music Together Visit a Historical Site, if Possible Start a Conversation With little children, explain that we celebrate America’s birthday on Independence Day. As children grow older, talk to them about what independence means. Read and Discuss the Declaration of Independence Together Rent a Movie about an American Heroine or Hero Find Fun Fourth of July Activities Help children make a flag out of construction paper or felt while talking... Read the rest of this entry »

 Growing Up and Growing Together With Spring in the air and the warmer weather slowly rolling in, I am reminded of my childhood and my family‘s gardening adventures. I lived on a small farm so every Spring we would pull out the gardening gloves and shovels and start prepping for planting. It was so much a part of our bonding time that we have home videos of my sister and I stomping around in the dirt, trying to help mix the soil. I remember those memories fondly and am very grateful for the things that I learned each Spring. I learned hard work from tending the garden and I also learned about eating healthy. But I think that the most important aspect of our time together was how much we grew as a family. Yes, it was hard work, but our love for each other grew through the work. Benefits of Gardening as a Family Building Family Unity-As mentioned above, working together on any project will help promote love, patience and unity within a family. Teaches Work Ethic-In today’s... Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been doing some critical thinking about a couple of recent statements made by J. Michael Bailey. He is the Northwestern psychology professor who has been the subject of so much media attention due to the live sex demonstration in his human sexuality classroom last month. You can Google the story if you want the details. What intrigued me was the challenging nature of the defensive statements he offered when the story became public knowledge. He said that he didn’t expect everyone to agree with his decision to allow the demonstration to take place and that “thoughtful discussion of controversial topics is a cornerstone of learning.” I happen to be enrolled in a critical thinking class right now so this idea caught my attention. While I don’t agree with his decision, I do agree with his statement. So I expected someone to take him up on his challenge, because he offered it as such. Maybe it is too soon but I have yet to see a serious response to his justification. An Argument... Read the rest of this entry »

I had a conversation with a reader on another blog post a couple of weeks ago. He asked about my thoughts on how to prepare our kids for “surprises” in church history. His question caused me to think about how I teach my kids the gospel and how I teach others (for instance now I teach occasionally in the High Priests group, and I share teaching of the Gospel Essentials class; in the past I’ve taught seminary and institute). When it comes to exposing students (or our kids) to apparent inconsistencies in church history, here are some thoughts: 1. The setting matters. I would deal with this completely differently in an institute class or a High Priests group (where I’m more likely to be open) than in a Gospel Essentials class (where my charge is to teach basic doctrines). That said, I still accept the mandate to “teach from the manual” so I’m not interested in declaring whatever arcane historical things I’ve learned at the expense of the scheduled lesson. (I’ve blogged... Read the rest of this entry »

It is difficult, I find, to get kids excited about a book written in archaic English about people who lived thousands of years ago. Exciting things happen in the scriptures (wars, triumph over evil, a savior appearing to the people, etc.) but the events and excitement can be lost in the language for our kids, and sometimes even for us…The good news is there are a lot of resources, if you just dig a little, to help you help your children learn to love and understand the scriptures. Some fun products I have found include:Action figures of scripture heroes Posters about the scriptures and scripture heroes Removable stickers for scriptures Scripture stories for kids by David Bowman Illustrated scripture stories Animated scripture stories DVDs Other things you can do include: ·         Try dramatizing your scripture reading. ·         Read with your children so you can explain what is happening. ·        ... Read the rest of this entry »

Women (in general) learn differently than men.  Women learn best when it involves the heart and soul.  Men like facts. I really wonder why they have the same lesson manual for Relief Society and Priesthood when both groups are so differently oriented?  Whose idea was that?  We used to have our own manual. Have you noticed how dry the current Relief Society / Priesthood manual is?  And how dry they’ve been for a couple years running now?  It is because they are a list of facts, very few lessons having to do with the heart and soul.  General Conference is heart and soul.  The scriptures are heart and soul.  The Ensign is heart and soul.  What happened??!! And what happens if you have teachers that don’t translate particularly well from facts to heart/soul speak?  You get an imitation of Elder’s Quorum. Heaven help us.  Read More →

I came across a fantastic story about a high school senior who takes time out of his schedule everyday to help a family who is in need. Watching the video and reading about this story made me think about how important it is for us to teach our children to look towards others and do what we can to make a difference in the lives of others. Raising a generation of kids like the high school senior, Rudy, in this story will make for a very different world! Check out the story at the following link: http://abcnews.go.com/US/massachusetts-high-school-football-player-rudy-favard-big/story?id=12557335 and let us know what you think about this story? What do you think about Rudy and how can we help our kids have a similar attitude as they grow up? *****************************************************Enjoy what you just read? Subscribe to our posts or become a follower.  Read More →

What a wonderful day it is to consider together our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  I’m grateful to partake of the sacrament with you and to renew my covenant to remember him and to follow him.  I’m not sure that I really understood the significance of that covenant when I first took it upon myself at age eight. I’m still trying to understand what it means to really keep that covenant each day.  Some days I do better than others.  Sundays are a joy to me because I spend them in activities that are centered on the mission of the church – to invite all to come unto Christ.  It’s during the week that I sometimes struggle to remember Him. I suppose it’s a life-long pursuit, isn’t it? – To figure out how to really come unto Christ as we have been commanded to do. As Moroni taught, “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness … love God with all your might, mind and strength …” – Moroni 10:32 Another Book of... Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes, I am really bad at getting these blog posts done each day, but thankfully, I can still write about the ideas I had.  I hope that you will still find this post just as interesting with my talking about two things I’m grateful for instead of just one since yesterday was busy.  So for the fifth day of my countdown, I am very grateful for music.  This particular topic that I am grateful for is kind of funny because I am grateful for music every single day of my life.  Not a single day goes by without me thinking about how much more wonderful life is because we have music in it.  I can think of many experiences throughout my life where music really helped me, but I will share just a couple of them with you. Growing up, I gained a love for music since the majority of my family is quite musical.  My mom has always sung and played the piano and violin for as long as I can remember, and then my three older sisters all play musical instruments (violin,... Read the rest of this entry »

I wanted to continue my posts today by looking at and commenting on another talk from General Conference.  This talk actually comes from the last session of Conference, and it wasn’t one talk that I was originally planning to talk about.  But after seeing this short video about a talk that Elder Robert D. Hales gave in a General Conference this past April, I felt that I needed to comment on both of these things.  Here is the Mormon Messages video of Elder Hales’ talk, and I think that this introduces the subject matter of this blog post quite nicely. Elder Hales’ talk ties in perfectly with Elder Larry R. Lawrence’s talk from the most recent General Conference where he talks about parenting as well.  His talk is entitled “Courageous Parenting,” and he focuses on the idea of parents being their children’s parents and not their children’s friends as I like to put it.  He says, “What the world really needs is courageous parenting from mothers and... Read the rest of this entry »