Our Stake (Arlington Texas) is studying one scripture a month this year. To help families to integrate the scripture into their homes in meaningful ways, for each scripture we will share the following:
- free printables of the scripture or related challenge for display in the home
- family home evening lessons for all types of families
- ideas for memorizing the scripture
- the accompanying challenge
The scripture for July is Alma 46:12.
“And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it— In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole..”
Challenge
The accompanying challenge is to celebrate the freedoms we have in this country.
Participate in the July 4 and Pioneer Day celebrations and consider volunteering to enhance your family’s appreciation for these significant events in our lives.
If you’re going to a parade or just want to add a little patriotic flair to your home, you can make these patriotic pinwheels from Skip to My Lou.
Printables
Wonderful patriotic printables abound. Here are a few we rounded up {all free} we think you may like:
Moritz Fine Designs shares this simple design:
The SFGoodwill has three free Fourth of July printables to choose from, including this cute number.
An Extraordinary Day gathered a group of great Fourth of July printables that you can peruse, including this one from Pink Ink Doodle:
Family Home Evening Ideas
In addition to the ideas below, try one of these ideas:
- Make these super easy, super quick patriotic cookies from Skip to My Lou.
- If you’ve got a little more time to prepare, these Firecracker Ice Pops from Freutcake are fun and super healthy!
- Take the Church’s patriotism quiz!
- If you liked that, here are some more trivia questions about our nation.
- If you didn’t do as well on the quiz or with the trivia as you would have liked, check out this resource full of lessons and activities about our nation’s history.
- Watch President Benson’s super short video clip on patriotism and love of country.
- Send an encouraging message of support to a service person through AnySoldier.
With Children
- Make this American flag out of Lego as a fun activity.
- This lesson on Captain Moroni from The Friend makes a great FHE.
- We’ve got two coloring pages you can use as well. This one of Captain Moroni:
and this one of the Title of Liberty (oddly categorized with Canada Day on the website):
- If you need an FHE in a hurry, you can watch this 1:49 movie of the scripture story of Captain Moroni.
- A Year of Family Home Evening shares a Captain Moroni FHE.
- The This Girl Loves to Talk blog has another FHE about Captain Moroni for families with kids.
- SugarDoodle has a good FHE that’s not just Captain Moroni, but about the symbolism and meaning of a flag.
- Looking for an activity-based FHE? Roots and Wings shares some fun ideas for the 4th.
With Teens
- This article from LDS Living on 10 Little-known Facts about the Pioneer Trek West makes a great, quick, teen-friendly FHE.
- This ward activity idea on Pioneer Day can easily be scaled down for a FHE. Pie-throwing? Teens are in.
- LDS Living also has a terrific FHE on building a family, using a talk by Elder Bednar and the story of Captain Moroni. Love this one!
With Adults
- This short, simple FHE can be adapted for all kinds of families.
- Watch (or read or both) President Benson’s talk The Constitution: A Glorious Standard. Not only does it share a powerful gospel message, but it is quite an interesting history lesson as well.
- Red Skelton’s Pledge of Allegiance video is surprisingly moving. It’s a short video (only 4:19), and it makes a great starting point for a discussion about how many other things can mean more when we look closely at the meanings of the words. Watch the video (below) and then try to do the same thing with the month’s verse. Look at each word and expand upon it, and then recite the verse.
Memorizing
For a fun memorizing activity (that would actually make a terrific FHE!), use a free rebus creator site to generate a rebus (a picture puzzle) of the verse. Try:
Copy and paste in the text of the verse, and see what happens!
“And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it— In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole..”
Main Page
If you would like to see the resources for all of the scriptures, visit this page.
Be sure to visit our Scripture Memorizing Ideas page for ideas and general help on memorizing.