A Summer Schedule

Summer has begun and I am proud of myself for starting it with a schedule in place that I think will actually work for us! Last year I spent time making an elaborate schedule that included times, and every moment of the day was assigned to an activity... I think it lasted ONE day before we completely ignored it (though it remained on the wall until school had started, when I shrugged my shoulders, took it down, rolled it up and tossed it.. trying not to feel too much like a failure.

Well, those trial & error moments actually are helpful! It may have taken me 7 years of parenthood to figure it out, but I think I'm on to a scheduling approach that will work for me/us!

Here's What We're Trying:

I ordered a Daily Schedule Pocket Chart by Scholastic (from Amazon).
Then I printed some adorable schedule cards (free from Cara at The First Grade Parade, here).



I'm not scheduling things by time- just by order (everything is less stressful in our world when we go at our own pace!) and the schedule changes every day! I printed a "field trip" card that gets used whenever we get in the car to go somewhere (whether it's something "normal" like grocery shopping or something exciting like a trip to the beach).

Morning 5

We have a "Morning 5" card that stays in place every day, right after breakfast. I heard about this from another blogger, but I don't have the link saved, so I unfortunately can't give her credit, but if I find it again, I will add it to the post! For our Morning 5, there are 5 things the girls need to do to get ready for their day. When they have completed their five things, they come & give me a hug. At that point, I will style their hair (they brush it themselves, but often I will do more to it ;) and check to make sure that their 5 things are done well enough.

When they are finished those 5, they get to play until I am ready for the day. (I'm usually the last one done since I'm helping them ;) We have our list of 5 things on a list posted outside the girls' bedrooms
(shown below).



When I am ready, we do a sort of "opening exercises" for the day. We start with a song and a prayer and read a story from the scriptures. Then we do calendar time. I will post about this soon.

That's the end of the "every day" stuff. The rest of the day will vary depending on what we have planned.
I bought some workbooks for the girls to do some "schoolwork" each day- they are actually having a lot of fun with it!



I am loving this schedule so far because the girls know what to expect, and so do I. I am much better at getting more done when I have something to follow (and the girls keep me accountable ;) I have a good feeling about this schedule- we've already been sticking to it longer than we stuck to last year's summer schedule ;)

Do you have a schedule (written or in your mind) for your summer days?
If you post it, what's your approach?

I'd love to hear your ideas & what has or hasn't worked for you!


11 comments:

  1. We're doing responsibility charts this summer. It's not a chore chart...it has things I want them to practice or work on, and it's just for the weekdays. They have things like making the bed, doing their workbooks, reading time, piano practice, and daily pick up. And the girls are really great about working on it without being reminded, although I think the very small monetary incentive helps. (They get paid for their effort on the weekend, but they only get paid for weekdays where everything was completed.) It's been great and really works for me, especially since I can't guarantee what kind of time I have during the day with a new baby.

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  2. This is such a good idea! I'm not a mom just yet but I'm a part time nanny so I could definitely do a little schedule like this for the days i'm with the girls. I love the "morning 5" idea too!

    Loving your blog!

    xo

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    1. Thanks so much, April!
      And thanks for taking the time to comment :)
      ~Heather

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  3. I love this. I'm not a mom yet but I'm a nanny so I could definitely use a schedule chart. I'm loving the "morning 5" idea too.

    Love your blog!

    xo

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  4. Great idea! I love it. I am totally doing your "Opening Exercises" idea. Also, I wondered if you modified the PDF you downloaded because I can't find "Outdoor Fun" anywhere on the schedule cards. Although I can't believe how many she made! She didn't leave anything out!

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  5. I love this idea! Thanks for sharing. I am totally doing your Opening Exercises as well as your morning 5. These are wonderful! Also, I wondered if you made your own "Outdoor Fun" label because I couldn't find it on the one by Cara. Those cards are really cute.

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    1. You're welcome! I'm so glad you found some ideas to try!

      Yes, I did make my own "outdoor fun" label... I put it into Photoshop & cut & pasted words from another tag ;)

      You can also download the font for free, if you want to alter the ones included.

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  6. What age would/did you start incorporating a schedule for you girls? With my boys being just over 3 and 21 months and a new baby coming any day I find it impossible to stick to a schedule! Though I do think it would help me! I also think my 3 year old might benefit from it but I just don't know if it would be too much? Obviously it would be a much less structured schedule than the one you have with less items included but do you think it would still be useful?

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    1. Hey Jordan :)

      I have not been good at implementing schedules in the past (though I have tried a few times ;) but I do think that "structure" and knowing what to expect is helpful for kids (and us- how great if they know snack time happens at a certain point in the day, so maybe they won't ask for it every 7 minutes, because they know it will come ;)

      I think you can still do a very simple schedule- even if it's just a handful of things that they/you know will happen each day, in a certain order. My advice is to start SMALL and figure out what does/doesn't work for you & your boys. Just think of whatever you do as an experiment & then you won't beat yourself up if it fails ;) Just learn from it & try something new until you find something you're happy with.

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  7. At the beginning of Summer I was all excited for my daughter & I to do so much & have a schedule. But it hasn't worked out that great. We really need to get back on a schedule. This sounds like it will help.

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  8. I LOVE this! I really could've used this when I was on mat leave and home with my 2 boys. I felt really bad for letting my 3yr old watch, what I thought, was too much tv. Will keep it in mind for future days I'm home with the kiddos.

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Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment- I love reading them! :)
~Heather Lynne