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!

Morning Schedule Chart

We're getting ready for school over here and it was time to make a Morning Routine Chart! We've gotten a bit more detailed since the morning routine chart we made in January.

Here's what we came up with this time:


You can find these little icons on DoToLearn.com. (I googled to find some of the ones that weren't from that website)

Now we're working on making a job/responsibility chart for Talia- I'm making a list of things she can do, and then I need to decide how much I want her to be responsible for without overwhelming her. I'd like to have an official chart (we haven't done this yet, and feel it's time). Any suggestions? Websites with good ideas? Things that worked (or didn't) for you? Let me know in the comments!

Printable Schedule

A few months ago, I made a visual schedule for Talia to post on the wall in the hallway upstairs. It shows her all of the steps she needs to take in the morning.
(I mentioned it in the last Monday Moments ;)


I also made one for each of the bathrooms (go potty, wipe, flush, wash hands).

I found a great website with pictures to use but of course I cannot find it now! If anyone recognizes the pictures, please let me know! Or if you know of other websites with similar pictures, please share them in the comments.

Note: I found some otherprintable schedules, and posted about them here.