Make a Schedule this Summer For Easier Days

It's almost summer time and soon your kids will be out for the summer. That means that my days with having only one child home with me will soon become days with three kids. I always worry when school is about to let out for the summer because I don't always know what I should do with my kids. This year, I came up with a schedule.

  
It's may seem vague right now, but I can always tweak it once we get a feel to how we want the day to go.

Have Your Kids Help You Put Your Schedule Together

One thing that I've learned with my kids is that they are more willing to try something if they feel that they are apart of it so I sat down with my kids and we came up with this schedule together. Hopefully, since they were involved involved in the decision process, they will be more likely to follow along.

Why a Schedule Can Be Helpful to Follow

I have noticed that with my children, they thrive when they have some sort of routine in their lives. They like to know what is going to happen and when. This is the first year that we will implement a schedule and I hope to see good results.

Why We Chose to Do Our Schedule This Way

Getting Dressed- Totally optional because I know that I don't always change out of my pjs, but this still helps them get into the habit of good hygiene and when they start school again, they'll need to know that they can't wear their dirty clothes to school all of the time.

Meal Times- In my schedule, I made each meal an hour or more. I know that the world isn't always perfect and sometimes it will take me longer to cook a meal than was planned or sometimes different plans arise.
Nap Time- My kids have pretty much stopped taking naps, but by putting this on the schedule, my kids know that during this time, there is no loud talking or stomping around. They can be in their beds and read a book or play quietly, but they know they'll need to stay in there until the time is over.

You can opt of doing this, if you wish, but I find my kids are less cranky when we do this, and quite frankly, so am I.

Free Time- Free time could be the kids playing inside or out in the yard. We could also be spontaneous and go to a park. It also could be some television time. I'm not perfect and on those rough days, it's sometimes easier to let the kids watch television while I relax.
 
Again, once we get the feel of this summer and what times work better, the schedule can be changed to fit the flow of our lives. I hope that this will work so we have a smooth and stress-free summer.

Chores- I'm going to really work on keeping chores on the list and actually doing it. Giving your kids chores is great for teaching them responsibility. Don't treat your child like Cinderella because there are plenty of age appropriate chores that kids can do.

Ex: My 4 year old can feed the dogs and give them their water and all of my kids can help with scooping poo. My two older kids are perfectly capable of putting their clean clothes away in their dressers and ALL of them can put their plates in the kitchen sink and throw away wrappers and such.

Learning and Reading Times- This one is difficult for me to do because I would have to plan something, but refreshing your kid's minds about thing that they've learned over the school year can be very beneficial for them. If you don't mind your kids using technology, there are some good children's apps the can use for learning.

My favorite way for my kids to learn is letting them use their Kindles which we've added parental guides and also chose the age for the apps they can use.



As far as reading goes, my oldest son LOVES reading to his siblings, so that's a big win for me.

Conclusion

Have  you made schedules for your kids? Do they seem to work and also help the days go by?

I have posted a link to a blank schedule if you would like to use the format that I did. It's my first time posting my own excel sheet, so I hope that it works for you!

Click---> Free Blank Summer Schedule