We don't do regular gathering times during the school year, but in the summer we do. One thing we tried this year that really went over well was to do Gathering Time Games. It really encouraged the kids to get there on time, because as soon as the first kids arrived, we started. I made some simple games to review the memory verse, or downloaded images to make matching card games (what was really fun was to make two sets of these and hide them around the room -- kids had to find them and then find the match -- then we talked about how the pictures fit into the story). We played review the story with our game wheel spinner, did sculpt the story with clay and just something a bit different each week. You might want to try some games, especially toward the end of the rotation when you are coming up dry....

Jaymie