Hi friends! I’m hoping to start getting back into posting, at least occasionally. I still have lots of great ideas; I’m just trying to focus right now on living them rather than photographing them. But I think this one in particular will help many of you.
This weekend is General Conference, when the prophet, apostles, and other leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speak to the entire Church and tell us what the Lord would have us hear about how to keep Christ in our lives and be better people. I’m sure many of you have tricks and traditions to keep your kids occupied and focused so that everyone can hear the messages. We play Conference Bingo, let my preschooler color pictures and do activities in special Conference packets, and have picnic lunches in the living room (the only time food is EVER allowed there).
But the big challenge we were facing was how to remember, retain, and apply what was said during that special weekend! Here is what my husband and I came up with two Conferences ago:
We made 2 posters, with photos of each member of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, and every week for Family Home Evening, we taught a 3-year-old-friendly condensed version of one of their talks. We distilled the talks down into either a direct quote or a summary (often the talks touched on so many topics, we had to just choose the one we felt applied best to our family) and wrote that next to the speaker’s name. Then I did my best to draw a symbol or picture to help my pre-reader remember. I am no artist, but I like to think that my drawings mostly resemble what they’re supposed to represent…
The posters hung in our hallway, where we (and any visitors to our house) could pass by them often and recall some of the lessons. I can’t tell you what a difference this made in our family! My older daughter now knows all of their names by heart, and could tell us what they taught. It was a huge help for my husband and me too; I still remember the topics of that Conference better than any before or since (we moved the day before last Conference, so that whole weekend was a blur).
As an added bonus, our FHE lessons were pre-planned for 15 weeks!
To do this in your family, just buy 2 standard-size white posterboards. Divide each into 8 parts. Print approx. 3″x2″ (wallet-size) photos of each member of the First Presidency sand Quorum of the Twelve. Hang the posters in your house. Ahead of every FHE, consult your Conference Ensign or lds.org for your lesson topic. We always reviewed the previous lessons each week as well.
What Conference traditions and tricks do you use to be able to listen and remember what is said?
Make Myself at Home 
Love this idea! Thanks for sharing!
Great idea! I’m getting ready to use it starting next week’s FHE.