I think our ward is finding it a bit of a struggle to get the program going. We have only scheduled a few activities so far and no one showed up to any of them. It's my job to announce upcoming activities to all the sisters and I find that even when I take the time to approach each sister and circulate pages of announcements, people still say they didn't know the activity was happening.

Our ward hasn't planned the activities ahead of time, they pop up here and there with little notice.

I think it will take us some time to get organized. How is it working in your wards? What are the methods you're using to plan and notify sisters of activities?

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Dear daughter Kira Jade 2 yrs
Foster daughter B 16 months old
Foster daughter J 2 yrs old
Foster son C 3 yrs old (Down Syndrome,"Bear")

TTC for 4+ years.....now we're Not/Nots.
We'll continue fostering and possibly adopt again some day

Well, our RS just made a schedule here for the groups but I haven't attended any activities yet so I don't know how its going. I plan to go to my first one in a few weeks. I know that lots of women in the ward (including me) are really skeptical about this new program and if its going to succeed.

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I really liked the old version of Enrichment where you had something every month on a certain date. Easier to remember, very fun. I'm not sure what the new program is supposed to address? I mean, didn't the old program allow for fun activities of all stripes? And some of us really liked getting together once a month. Maybe it just takes getting used to, but this just seems so much more random and instead of bringing us together says, "It's ok...do your other stuff and don't worry about the RS for a while." But perhaps this is colored by the fact that the new program is being implemented in a ward where I feel on the outskirts already! That could be affecting my view of it

Marianne

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I'm not really sure to tell yo the truth since I'm rarely go to RS activitie's anyway, lol.

Actually I do know our ward still meets every first Tuesday of the month and have certain things going on that night like a "Finish it" corner where you can bring a project you're working on and you an finish and chat there. Then we always have a quilt going on, then a trading table (you can bring stuff you don't use anymore or take something someone eles has brought) and they have other stuff but I can't remember what right now.

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Shabs
Christopher 4-01
Connor 5-03
Kaitlee 9-06

Brooke and Brennon 11-99

The only activity so far this year that I know of for our RS isn't until next month, we are having a dinner to celebrate the RS anniversary or something. As far as I know they don't plan any other activities. Of course, I miss RS most Sundays, either being in the Nursery or just being too late to hear any new announcements. Our RS really isn't very good about getting word out about activities. I liked having it a set day every month, so that even if I didn't know what was going on I knew at least when it was so I could go if I wanted.

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We've stuck to the same schedule so far, and turn out has actually been pretty good. January was a temple night, February was a "games & get to know you", and then March will be the official "meeting" for the quarter. Honestly, it doesn't feel like much of a change -- at least in our ward. The idea is to still get together on the first Wed. of the month for either an activity or a meeting.

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~Jennifer~
Pg w/#1 after 4 years...
Endometriosis & male factor

I think it would be better if our ward kept getting together every month, even for just a game night or whatever. As of right now, it seems pretty random and disappointing. Basically there's several activities that were already in place that are now official enrichment activities - like exercise at the church on M & W at 9am. Very lowly populated. Or a quarterly "Gastronomy Group" where we get together and share recipes in a theme (like slow cooker, international, whatever). I guess there's also a group of women who get together ever month for lunch, and they said anyone is welcome to that, too.

So as of right now, it seems to me like I'll be getting equal or less exposure to RS on a regular basis. I hope they implement more .... things. I really need *more* opportunities to get to know the ladies in my ward! All this new program seems to be doing is breaking everyone up into smaller groups. Which maybe is more conducive to really getting to know people well, but not so good when you're just trying to get to know people, period.

But I have to admit, I was skeptical just with changing the name from homemaking to enrichment, LOL. This is a much bigger change, but I can't believe it wasn't put in place for a reason. I'm sure it will work out well with some time.

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Becky
DH Jesse
DD Melinda, Oct. 16, 2003
DS Jacob, Aug. 14, 2005
#3 due March 26, 2008

This is exactly what I was thinking...I don't know about this program. Hopefully it will all work out but I can forsee pretty low attendance at a lot of the smaller activities in our ward and possibly cliques forming too. Well, there are already cliques of course but even closer cliques and people not wanting to attend a certain group because they don't feel like they fit in, etc. Hopefully it will all work out and be a good program.

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http://blueskyscrapping.blogspot.com

I guess in our ward it seems like not much has changed, although some of the smaller activities will be at someone's house and without a nursery from what I understand. I think attendance is so low as it is, that having it at someone's house it a totally doable thing. I'm just not seeing too much of a change here.

Our ward split up into all these groups, and I am not really interested in any of them. The plan is for the groups to meet once a month on there own. So actually this is going to be a bummer for me since I am not interested in any of the groups. I like it better the old way

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Well, here is what our ward is doing and it is working so far, we were also skeptical but have had a great turnout. We have tried to schedule things on a rotating basis so its easy to remember

We still have a big HFPE night once a quarter on our normal Enrichment Night. For the months where there is no formal night, we have what is called a "Sisters Night" where we usually have 2 or 3 activites for people to attend if they want to. Its very casual but we still have a nursery for that one night a month. We have one activity that is scrapbooking or finish your craft night, the other activity this month was playing basketball because the stake tournament was coming up, and the 3rd activity was learning to crochet. So, we think we will always have a scrapbooking/finish your craft activity every month on the 3rd Thursday unless there is a formal HFPE planned on that night. The "active/exercise" activity will be something like yoga or basketball or similar, but it probably won't be every month. The first activity is set up to be a 2 month activity. For instance, this month for learn to crochet, the first night they learned how to crochet, the basics....and then the 2nd meeting one month later was a follow up where they met and went over any questions or learned new stuff.

So, for this next month, we will have a new 2 month activity to replace the crochet....flower arranging (one month will be real flowers and the next month one will be silk) and then the scrapbooking/finish it class.

For the other activites they meet once a month or once a week. For instance, the play group for kids meets every Monday of the Month and they move around to the different parks every week, so its park A for the first week and park B for the 2nd week and its the same every month.

We also have a book club that meets on the 4th Thursday of every month.

There is a Temple group that meets on the 2nd Thursday of the month.

And, there is a lunch group that goes out to lunch on the first Thursday of the month.

While I am sure this is clear as mud, here is the basic run down....

Weekly group:
Mondays-Play group at 10:30 am

Monthly group:
1st thursday-lunch group
2nd Thursday-Temple Group
3rd Thursday-Formal HFPE OR night with 2 or 3 activities (one being scrapbooking and the other rotating, the 3rd one being an occasional exercise class)
4th Thursday-Book Club

I hope that helps or gives you some insight!

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