Recently, my husband and I sat down together as a couple to discuss our plans for 2013 and the gospel learning in our home. This was a fun time for us as we were able to brainstorm together and come up with a plan that we feel is pleasing to our Heavenly Father.

This past year we have been reading the Book of Mormon and have completed it a little over three times. This next year, we decided that we will continue this current reading of the Book of Mormon and then move to the Doctrine and Covenants, and then the Pearl of Great Price. When we finish all of those, we will start the Book of Mormon again. We will most likely start in on the Bible again in 2014.

We decided that for our family, we would concentrate on the new Youth Program, Come Follow Me,as the focus for our home. We have chosen a scripture for our family to learn each month and a song for each week of the year. We will read, discuss, and master the scripture for the month and sing the song before we read our scriptures as a family each day. We have also planned our Family Home Evenings around these topics, and our son will teach that topic the third Monday of each month. This will allow him a couple of weeks to have Sunday lessons on the topic and let him glean information from those to prepare his Family Home Evening lesson each month. Since he will be going on a mission in a couple of years, we decided that for us, it would make sense to have the first lesson of each month be from the Preach My Gospel manual. My husband will be teaching those lessons each month. The other two weeks will be taught by me. One will focus on a General Conference talk that goes with that month's youth theme. The other week will focus on a scripture hero from one of the scriptures or is found in church history. If we have a 5th Monday, we will do a service project as a family.

I thought you might want to see what we are doing month by month. I will be posting our plans by each quarter of the year over the next couple of weeks. That way you aren't overloaded all at once, and it makes it more manageable here on the website. Today, I am going to share the 1st Quarter of the year with you.

If we had younger children in the home, we would use one of the weeks to focus on the Primary theme for the month, and we would make sure that the Primary Program songs were included in our weekly songs. In any case, this will give you a start if you are interested in doing something like this for your own family, and you can adapt it to fit your own family needs.

January

Youth Theme: The Godhead

Scripture: Exodus 20:3-17

Song 1: The First Article of Faith, CS, 122
Song 2: I am a Child of God, Hymn #301
Song 3: I Believe in Christ, Hymn #134
Song 4: Let the Holy Spirit Guide, Hymn #143

FHE 1: Jan 7th-Preach My Gospel

FHE 2: Jan 14th-Conference Address: Jeffrey R. Holland, The First Great Commandment, Ensign or Liahona, NOV 2012, 83-85

FHE 3: Jan 21st-Youth Theme Lesson

FHE 4: Jan 28th-Scripture Hero-Moses

February

Youth Theme: The Plan of Salvation

Scripture: 2 Nephi 2:27

Song 1: I Lived in Heaven, CS, 4
Song 2: The Iron Rod, Hymn #274
Song 3: Choose the Right, Hymn #239
Song 4: If You Could Hie to Kolob, Hymn #284

FHE 1: Feb 4th-Preach My Gospel

FHE 2: Feb 11th-Conference Address: Thomas S. Monson, The Three R's of Choice, Ensign or Liahona, Nov 2010, 67-70

FHE 3: Feb 18th-Youth Theme Lesson

FHE 4: Scripture Hero-Lehi (Lehi's Dream specifically)

March

Youth Theme: The Atonement of Jesus Christ

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:20-22

Song 1: I Stand All Amazed, Hymn #193
Song 2: I Know That My Redeemer Lives, Hymn #136
Song 3: In Humility, Our Savior, Hymn #172
Song 4: How Great the Wisdom and the Love, Hymn #195

FHE 1: Mar 4th-Preach My Gospel

FHE 2: Mar 11th-Conference Address: David A. Bednar, In the Strength of the Lord, Ensign or Liahona, Nov 2004, 76-78

FHE 3: Mar 18th-Youth Theme Lesson

FHE 4: Mar 25th-Scripture Hero-Jesus Christ

Be sure to watch next week when I will share the 2nd Quarter of our Gospel Learning Plan for 2013.