Family History Books for F.H.E.

One of the gifts I was excited about for Christmas came from my Grandma to each of the great grand kids. They each received a book that contains family history stories in them. I remember having a book like this growing up and loving it! The book had exciting short stories about our ancestors along with a spot where we could draw a picture. Though this is slightly different than the book that I grew up with (focusing only on the one line), it is similar with great stories and a place for each of the children to illustrate the stories.

A couple of Monday's ago we decided to do one of these stories as our Family Home Evening (F.H.E.) lesson. The kids loved it!

The following Sunday night #1 Girl tells me, "Mom, tomorrow is my favorite day!" I wasn't sure where she was going with this so I asked why. "Because we get to do these!" (She holds up a family history book we colored in last FHE). So, we decided we better do them again.

#4 Boy doesn't really get the 'draw about the story' concept yet and draws mostly lines. However, he does enjoy being included with the others in the coloring process. The first time we did this for F.H.E. we planned to read the story out of his book while the others started on their pictures. #4 Boy was not up for that! He wanted to start drawing right with the others so we ended up reading off some of the older kids books so that we could see past the little arms reaching and coloring.

#3 Girl is getting really good a drawing circles. She doesn't often draw much more. Favorite Parts: the look on her face, the horse drawn by dad, and the many colors the show a variety of ideas that must be going through her head.

#2 Boy's drawing about some boys praying to help with their cows. Favorite: the blue cow tail in the upper left hand corner, the river at the bottom of the page, and the abundance of circles representing different things.

#2 Boy's picture about a story that included a baby girl. I love the big hands, large eye lashes and hidden under those clothes he first drew a belly button.

#1 Girl thinking about what to draw

#1 Girl's picture of the Boy and the Baby girl. Some of my favorites: The girls hair, the smiles that touch the eyes, the belly buttons, and the turtle necks.

#1 Girl with her picture from a story about two young boys trying to herd the cows back home. Favorite parts: the boys are each turned so you can only see one eye, ear, and half of a mouth; the cow tail since the cow was too hard to draw, and the fully colored sun setting so you can 'only see half of it.'

So, this is a start for our kids learning a little more about some of their ancestors. Hopefully, as the kids continue to grow they will learn more about all their ancestors!