FHE topics by the month

Lately I seem to have lots of parenting posts. I'm really excited about new ideas I've come across lately and love to share them. This kind of stuff is exciting to me because I have so much to figure out about parenting!

A while back someone suggested the idea of teaching a new theme in FHE each month. I really like this idea because the idea of a drawn-out topic helps it stick better in our heads and helps guide me when I'm preparing lessons. Plus, if I come across something great for one of the topics, I can hang on to it in an organized way and use it later when we're on that topic (got a file folder for each month in a filing drawer and on my computer).

Here are the topics I've decided on. We're only into month two of actually doing this, so they'll probably change as we go along. But for now they seem to adequately cover what's important to me. I titled them the way I did because I want them to be positive statements about what we do, not just about information we know.

JANUARY
We are pro-active
- Goals
- Accountability
- Good out of bad situations
- Self-discipline and planning ahead

FEBRUARY
We contribute
- Communicating love (verbally, physically, etc.)
- Friendliness
- Contributing to others, service opportunities
- Teaching and showing an example 

MARCH
We are self-reliant
- Finances
- Work/training
- Educational goals
- Physical health
- Organization
- Emergency Prep 

APRIL
We use the atonement
- Changing and learning
- Repenting
- Hope, healing
- Plan of Salvation
- Christ’s life and sacrifice 

MAY
We are a family forever
- Love
- Memories/traditions
- Temples 

JUNE
We respect
- Healthy communication (no whining, yelling, manipulation)
- Honesty
- Taking care of the earth
- Having charity for everyone 

JULY
We have a heritage
- Ancestors
- Journals
- Testimony 

AUGUST
We are always learning
- Goals review
- Atonement, repentance
- Any topic we need to learn about
- Educational/financial goals
- Not giving or taking offense 

SEPTEMBER
We are divine
- Who we are
- Prayer
- Scripture study
- Holy Ghost
- Plan of Salvation
- Our amazing bodies  

OCTOBER
We follow the prophet
- For the Strength of Youth
- Recent Gen Conf talks
- Learn about the prophet
- The Restoration
- Priesthood 

NOVEMBER
We are thankful
- Blessings
- Seeing the good
- Hope
- Plan of Salvation 

DECEMBER
We are joyful
- Reason for obedience
- Recognizing Holy Ghost
- Peaceability
- Service, Hope, Faith
- Christ’s mission 

We have a corkboard that each month's topic and a visual representation of it goes onto. This hangs in our kitchen and I like seeing it all month.

Do you love Pres. Monson's coat of many colors??

I think learning how to memorize is really important, so I plan to have us memorize something related to the topic each month. So far we just memorize the topic in English and Spanish ("We follow the prophet" / "Seguimos el profeta"). I'd also like to work on learning a related song each month as well.

Anyway, I'm excited about this and thought I'd share in case anyone's interested and looking for new ideas!