I love to use the beginning of a new school year to have a special family night on the importance of education. I begin by sharing this story by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (below). There are also some great items to discuss in For the Strength of Youth pamphlet under "Education."
This a a great video to also share with your kids-
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-06-1090-education-is-the-key-to-opportunity?lang=eng
.
I always want
my children to understand the privilege that it is to go to school each day and
receive an education. It is a gift. This point of view changes the attitude about school every day and gives more purpose and reason to work hard each school year.
We
then set some family goals for the new school year, which always include
increasing our efforts on family prayer and scripture study, being on time,
doing our very best in all classes and giving our best efforts, reaching out to
others, being a better friend and most importantly a positive attitude.
Our
dessert (simple and nothing fancy) for the first day of school FHE is usually a celebration cake of the new grades
that the children are entering.
Jeffrey R. Holland, while president of Brigham Young
University, told this story:
“I’d like to tell you a true story about a young boy who didn’t
have the opportunity of going to school for very long. His father died, leaving
little money for the boy’s family. One day the boy became very ill with
smallpox and had to miss a lot of school.
“Slowly his health improved, and he was glad to be able to go to
school again. But he was back in school for just one year, completing the
seventh grade, when he had to stop going altogether. He and his brother then
had to find jobs to help earn enough money to buy food and clothing the family
needed.
“The boy worked very hard, grew up strong, and learned a lot
through his experiences. He read books whenever he could, and was interested in
learning the things he had missed by not going to school. Often he would say
how sad he was not to have had a formal education. He was a wonderful man and
worked hard to develop himself. And he kept hoping that someday he could get
back to school again. But he never had that chance. This little boy who grew up
wanting to continue his schooling was my father.
“Because of my father’s experience, he was very anxious for me
to have a good education. When I’d say, ‘But I don’t want to go to school,’
he’d say, ‘Then I’ll go in your place. Do you think the teacher would mind? I wonder
if I can fit into the seat at your desk?’
“That always made me laugh because I think it would have
frightened my teacher to see a grown man coming to school, and I knew he couldn’t fit into the small seat at my desk. So I
would go to school. …
“Later when I had graduated from high school, served a mission,
and completed my courses in college, I went on to earn a Ph.D. from a school in
New England. …
“When I received my diploma I wanted my father to have it. He
had never received a graduation diploma from any school and I thought he
deserved this one. I told him that although my name was on it, the diploma
should really be awarded to him. I told him they probably just made a mistake
in the printing. That made him laugh and then it made him cry. I wasn’t sure
then why it made him cry—but I know now” (“Do You Think I Can Fit into Your
Seat?” Friend, Sept. 1978, pp. 6–7).
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