2019 is going to be an AWESOME year to study the gospel! As I've prayed and pondered on how I should approach the new Come Follow Me for Families New Testament Curriculum personally and with my family - I've felt a surge of inspiration and ideas to design and share! I hope one or more of them might help you implement this in your life as well - or will lead you to your own ideas!
One aspect of the new program that is particularly important to me is keeping the family on the same page... not just with the reading assignment, but with what we need to be working on throughout the week. In an effort to make it more visual than a small chart on the fridge AND more interactive... after reading (and re-reading) the intro pages to the new manual - I found three simple "to do's" we can build our efforts around each week: Reading, Discussing & Recording. I represented these with the bottle cap pins (which I know my younger kids will love moving around)! They are 1" circles that can either be laminated OR mounted on bottle caps; then I glued a flat tack to the back with E6000 glue. Another suggestion in the Intro of the manual suggested looking for words or phrases that pop out to you as you read/study. I thought putting up word strips on the board each week would remind and inspire everyone in the family to choose, record and share a word that popped out to them and why! The scripture highlight and reading assignment are changed out each week; I tried to choose a scripture from the lesson that I felt encompassed the overall topic of the week - this would be fun to memorize together as a family!
A few tips for you...
Each kit is 8 pages. I don't recommend using super fancy paper or laminating since each component would either be switched out weekly or monthly. I personally like using a 28lb bright white paper for mine so that it's still a nice print; but I hog tied my hands to NOT use my nice glossy paper (aren't you proud of me?)! The bulletin board is just a standard 15x18 board I got at Walmart; you could use a magnet board as well. One last tip... I printed and trimmed all 8 pages, then stored the weekly pieces in a sheet protector that I taped to the back of my board. My kids can easily do the trimming and the updating of the board each week - all I had to do was hit PRINT! As always, I got my bottle cap supplies from Fizzy Pops/ad.
I'll try to work ahead so there are 2-3 months of kits available at a time.
Another HUGE priority for me is personal study. In order for me to guide, teach and get the promptings I need for my family; I need to drive my personal study up a notch - and since I LOVE STUDY JOURNALS; I thought what better way to record not just what I learn... but what I feel!
To design the layout, I read the Intro to the Come Follow Me Manual + the first several chapters to understand the format, the how's and the what's/why's. In doing that - the primary purposes jumped out at me and the format fell together very easily. Each week we should be SEEKING to find truths about Jesus Christ, truths about the gospel, noting words and phrases that pop out to us, looking for points we can ponder on or study further, and RECORDING personal impressions along the way. Other focus areas include new things we learn, ways to apply and just general noes. The key to journalling as you learn is to also record what's going on in life - what are you feeling or what are you concerned about? Then, as you read and study, application comes more naturally if you are mindful of your current situation as you study. It also makes looking back a powerful learning tool if you've also recorded what what was in your heart at the time you studied those chapters.
The "for HER" version is the layout shown above - the "for HIM" version is the very same (less the cute fonts, flowers and swirls). And... since no man really wants a journal, we'll call his a notebook. Ha! I've found many women actually LOVE the "for HIM" version as well - for those who prefer a cleaner, less decorative look - "HIS" is a great option as well!
Next up... a coordinating FREEBIE!
WARNING: GAME CHANGER AHEAD!!
Ok... I LOVE the Bulletin Board Kits and I LOVE the Journals - but THIS really ties it all together and is a way to include your family in the discussion (near and far)! I've partnered with my fun blogging friend Camille @ Chicken Scratch N Sniff to bring you a set of free ...
TEXTABLE, SHAREABLE & POSTABLE
.... Come Follow Me images every month!
Text these 3x3 square images to your teens, college kids - or even married kids and grandkids! Each monthly set will have 3 images for each week... a reading assignment reminder, the scripture that is highlighted on the Family Bulletin Board and a second scripture accompanied by a question to ponder that week. Text them all together or throughout the week! Personally, I'll be creating a group text for Come Follow Me discussions with my family and will use the images as part of that to keep it interesting!
You can also use these for general posting and sharing; they are the perfect social media size for Instagram and Facebook! Feel free to share them in groups; both public and private... the farther they go, the better! Use them in newsletters, emails - or print them off for your fridge if the bulletin board is too much for your needs. The possibilities are truly endless. ♥
NOTE: The images will be delivered in a ZIP FOLDER when you download. This is a standard way to deliver a group of files or images. If you are downloading directly to your phone or tablet - you WILL NEED an app that unzips files. Check your app store. Camille and I recommend WINZIP... it's free and works on both Andriod and iPhones. You can also download and unzip on your computer; then either share to a cloud account or Google drive that you can access from your phone; or open the zip and send yourself the images via email that you open on your phone. You can also download the zip and move it into your Google Drive App and Google will unzip it for you right on your phone. I know it's an extra step since you'll primarily be using these images on your phone - but remember... these images are FREE and a tiny extra effort is worth it! Due to the overwhelming number of people that will be downloading these files, I cannot personally walk you through downloading and using. Please read and TRY the instructions provided.
One final thing I'll be using to keep my on track is my Latter-day Lifestyle Planner! I decided with this layout design that I wanted my week anchored on Sunday. I built in plenty of space for Come Follow Me Planning + added daily tracking for prayer and study. The monthly page also has latter-day planning features for temple attendance, ministering, your calling and more. You will LOVE how this not only simplifies all the things we do - but creates a central focus on what's most important.
Good luck in your study efforts - I KNOW we will be blessed in immeasurable ways by being active, consistent, deliberate and committed to studying the gospel at home with Come Follow Me!
Happy Printing!
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You are my hero! Thank you so much for the images for social media. It will make our RS duties much easier having those created. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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