When your personal study doesn't matter Come Follow Me

[Jane_Doe]

Thinking out loud here, and just curious as to other people's thoughts.

Obviously we're not supposed to stop our own personal scripture study with Come Follow Me (CFM).  Sometimes in fact, a person has a personal study subject that needs attention, regardless of what the CFM lesson is.

I am currently job hunting, which sucks.  So I needed a study session on "hope" and had a GREAT & very needed ten day long study session on hope.  Yes, I did do some CFM with my daughter, but that was at a 5 year old level after we read "Let my people go!" every night.  I didn't get to grown up study of CFM that week, because I was doing a desperately needed study on hope.  And then we get to Sunday School, and the teacher is being very big on "tell me about your scripture study this week!".  After much teacher insistence, I did open up about my scripture study that week (which was fantastic and full of insights), but didn't relate to her CFM material.  And the teacher was... on one hand obviously annoyed that I wasn't following the planned lesson, but on the other hand trying really hard to be open about things and welcoming.  

What are your thoughts here?     I'm not looking for critiques on the teacher (she's human after all), but more of the bigger question of balancing CFM study versus other studies.

[Fether]

10 minutes ago, Jane_Doe said:

Thinking out loud here, and just curious as to other people's thoughts.

Obviously we're not supposed to stop our own personal scripture study with Come Follow Me (CFM).  Sometimes in fact, a person has a personal study subject that needs attention, regardless of what the CFM lesson is.

I am currently job hunting, which sucks.  So I needed a study session on "hope" and had a GREAT & very needed ten day long study session on hope.  Yes, I did do some CFM with my daughter, but that was at a 5 year old level after we read "Let my people go!" every night.  I didn't get to grown up study of CFM that week, because I was doing a desperately needed study on hope.  And then we get to Sunday School, and the teacher is being very big on "tell me about your scripture study this week!".  After much teacher insistence, I did open up about my scripture study that week (which was fantastic and full of insights), but didn't relate to her CFM material.  And the teacher was... on one hand obviously annoyed that I wasn't following the planned lesson, but on the other hand trying really hard to be open about things and welcoming.  

What are your thoughts here?     I'm not looking for critiques on the teacher (she's human after all), but more of the bigger question of balancing CFM study versus other studies.

I had a good friend complain once that the church asks us to do so much and there is so much we need to knows (this was in context of a teacher talking about how we need to read the Book of Mormon every day)

My response was “spend more time studying”. My comment hit him hard but he was grateful for it. I believe that is the standard response to people saying they can’t get the studies they need done... but not the only response.

When it comes to CFM, I do some HARD skimming. There are a dozen other things I want to study and learn about more than coming prepared for a discussion on Sunday school. Though I think it is important to be aware of the topic, I personally never let it get in the way of the topics I am feeling particularly passionate about in the study session. I also have a MASSIVE Sunday school class where the average age is 100years old and they all have some wise and deep comments to make (they have 10-15 wise catch phrases they cycle through every few months) so I don’t get much talking time anyway.

[Manners Matter]

Right from the CFM manual:

 

[Manners Matter]

Oh, and good luck with the job hunt!

[anatess2]

2 hours ago, Jane_Doe said:

Thinking out loud here, and just curious as to other people's thoughts.

Obviously we're not supposed to stop our own personal scripture study with Come Follow Me (CFM).  Sometimes in fact, a person has a personal study subject that needs attention, regardless of what the CFM lesson is.

I am currently job hunting, which sucks.  So I needed a study session on "hope" and had a GREAT & very needed ten day long study session on hope.  Yes, I did do some CFM with my daughter, but that was at a 5 year old level after we read "Let my people go!" every night.  I didn't get to grown up study of CFM that week, because I was doing a desperately needed study on hope.  And then we get to Sunday School, and the teacher is being very big on "tell me about your scripture study this week!".  After much teacher insistence, I did open up about my scripture study that week (which was fantastic and full of insights), but didn't relate to her CFM material.  And the teacher was... on one hand obviously annoyed that I wasn't following the planned lesson, but on the other hand trying really hard to be open about things and welcoming.  

What are your thoughts here?     I'm not looking for critiques on the teacher (she's human after all), but more of the bigger question of balancing CFM study versus other studies.

I'm in Primary so I don't have that issue with Sunday School.

But, I just want to tell you... my family did not change our Family study method to align with CFM.  We do it how we've always done it.  Aligned it with the specific needs of our Family.  And if I was in that Sunday School class, I would tell the teacher exactly that same thing.

By the way, I love the new CFM Manual for Primary.  Much better than the old CTR Manuals.

[scottyg]

I do both. I am typically spending 3 days a week on the CFM material, and 4 days on my personal study, which is currently in the Old Testament. It is not the norm, as most people I talk to are exclusively studying CFM every day. Many of those people were not doing any kind of study before, so that is just fine. CFM has been an amazing way to get some families to finally meet together and talk about the Gospel and have a family home evening that they never had. We already did all of that, so we are continuing on in our personal study, and supplementing it with CFM. It is working great so far, and I think it is a great program meant to support home centered study and learning.