Monday, July 26, 2010

Getting the Most Out of the FHE Lesson Packets

Family home evenings are a powerful tool for teaching our families the gospel and I believe that being prepared is vital to making them a success. It is my hope that these lessons will be helpful for you in this quest, so I have put together the following ideas for making your lessons as usable, durable, and organized as possible!

1. Print visuals onto heavy cardstock (67 lbs. or higher for greatest durability)

2. Cut out visuals

3. Laminate for increased durabilityMy workhorse laminator (Only $50, 10 years old, laminated thousands upon thousands of pages and still going strong) It's Royal brand.

Laminating sheets from laminator.com. You want letter size pouches in boxes of 100. They're buy 2 boxes, get 1 free and end up making each box of 100 sheets very affordable (looking at a per sheet basis compared to getting things laminated at an office supply store). Go in with a friend on your order to save money and shipping.

4. Cut them out of the laminate--leave a little border around the edge to keep it sealed

NO--
don't try to save time by laminating whole sheets of paper then cutting. You will not get as good of a seal on the laminate and they will not be as durable



YES--

Much better.

5. Divide your lessons into sections and store the separate sections in their own separate baggies or sheet protectors.
I like to put the story/summary/rules showing on one side and the visuals showing on the other, so everything I need for that one section are all together and visible at a glance. I recommend indicating on the outside of the baggie/sheet protector how many pieces are supposed to be there, so that you will easily know if one has been misplaced during the lesson)
Story summary on one side

laminated visuals on the other

6. Place all the of the parts of the lesson into a large manila envelope or folder

7. Label the outside of the envelope with the title of the lesson with subtitles for the individual parts. You may also want to include any extra materials that are needed.

8. File them in a box or filing cabinet in an order that makes sense to you. I keep mine in alphabetical order by title to make them easier to locate.

9. Use them and enjoy them!


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3 comments:

Erin said...

I am so happy I found your website, it is such a blessing! Thank you for sharing your talent with all of us!

Meeks said...

ooo great tips!!

Annette said...

Wow, you are seriously organized! I am impressed.

Want to come to our RS and do an Enrichment meeting on how to organize FHE lessons? You could come in the winter on one of your many snow days and enjoy our warmth.

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