How to Plan Your Family Home Evenings With This FHE Outline

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe in setting aside at least one evening per week that is entirely dedicated to the family.

Monday night is generally reserved for Family Home Evening; but other times can suffice, especially if they suit your family's needs better.

The Church instructs its members not to hold any local events on Monday nights, so it is available for family time.

If you are new to Family Home Evening, or just need a little help to getting organized, the following can help. Review the basic outline. Just fill in the information or do a little more planning, and change it to fit your family's needs.

Utilize the Family Home Evening resources provided by the Church.

Family Home Evening Program Outline

The person assigned to conduct Family Home Evening should plan and fill out the following outline ahead of time. Also ahead of time, assign family members for the prayers, lesson, activity, refreshments, etc.

• Title of the Lesson:
• Objective:
• Opening Song:
• Opening Prayer:
• Family Business:
• Scripture:
• Lesson:
• Testimony:
• Closing Song:
• Closing Prayer:
• Activity:
• Refreshments:

Explanation of Family Home Evening Outline Items

Title of the Lesson: The title of the lesson should be something your family needs to address. It could be learning a skill or acquiring a spiritual incentive of some sort.

Objective: What your family is to learn from the lesson.

Opening Song: Select a hymn to sing, from either the LDS Church Hymnbook or the Children's Songbook. Choosing a song that accompanies the lesson is a great way to start your Family Home Evening. It is is easy find and use free LDS music.

Opening Prayer: Ask a family member, ahead of time, to give the opening prayer.

Family Business: This is the time to discuss things of importance to your family, such as meetings, trips and activities of both parents and children. Some items of family business can include:

1. Discussing events of the upcoming week
2. Planning future outing and activities
3. Talking about family needs or things to be improved/worked on
4. Finding ways to serve others in need

Scripture: Ask someone ahead of time, so they can prepare to share a scripture. It is best if they have read it over several times. This optional item is perfect for larger families and groups.

Lesson: This is where the heart of the evening should be. Whether it is a story or object lesson, it can focus on an LDS topic, a community issue or other topics of interest. Some ideas include eternal families, respect, baptism, the Plan of Salvation, littering, the Holy Ghost, etc.

Youth and children should have opportunities of preparing and teaching a Family Home Evening lesson, although they may need some help.

Find games, puzzles, songs and other activities that can serve as lesson helps.

Testimony: The person teaching can share their testimony about the topic, if applicable, at the end of their lesson. Alternatively another family member could be assigned to share their testimony after the lesson.

Closing Song: You can select another hymn or song that reflects on the lesson topic.

Closing Prayer: Ask a family member, ahead of time, to give the closing prayer.

Activity: This is the time to bring your family together by doing something together! It can be anything fun, like a simple family activity, a planned outing, a craft or a great game! It does not have to go along with the lesson, but definitely can if you have any appropriate ideas. 

Refreshments: This is just a fun option that can be added to your Family Home Evening. If you know of a cute treat that can represent the theme, that would be ideal, but is not necessary.

Updated by Krista Cook.