Create The Perfect Summer Schedule For Kids
Summertime is for fun, adventure and excitement – for the kids. For the stay at home moms, summer can be an overwhelming time.
As mom’s, it is our job to ensure our kids are well looked after AND it’s a good idea to not make them experience too much boredom because that’s when they start to drive you mad.
I present to you, the unscheduled summer schedule. The ultimate solution to your summer.
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The Unscheduled Summer
Some may call it a staycation, some may call it a lazy summer, I call it the unscheduled summer.
an unscheduled summer, to me, is a couple of months when school is not in session and everyone is at home. There are no real vacations or road trips planned. The plan is to enjoy summer at home to the fullest.
Some may say this is insane, and kids should go to summer camp.
They could…but that also costs an arm and a leg. I’m all about saving money, so summer at home is ideal for our family. We usually do our road trips in the spring.
In order to settle down the panic and worry of what we are going to fill our days with and how am I ever going to keep up with the housework and my giant to-do list with demanding kids all around me all day long, I created a summer schedule.
It is simply a rough outline of how our days flow. It is not the bible and I am not strict about following it to a tee. It is simply there, printed out by my computer screen so that I can keep calm and not freak out about the summer holidays.
Getting organized about our summer has removed that overwhelm completely!
I read a few really awesome blog posts on Summer bucket lists and other peoples schedules and I really liked the idea of a themed summer.
The only problem is, I’m kinda lazy when it comes to strict plans, and I know myself…I would never stick to a themed schedule, even though this one seems like so much fun!
I really like to get a feel for our day when it begins and read my children’s moods before we REALLY decide what we will do.
This is why I have created the Unscheduled Summer Schedule.
The Schedule For The Unscheduled Summer
This is actually very simple, and the reason that I needed to write this all out and create a plan is because I needed to know that I could still get everything I needed into my day as well as have time for all the fun we want to have.
The Schedule
8am- Wake Up
9am – Breakfast/Tidy Up/Get Dressed
10am – Go Out / Have Fun
12pm – Home For Lunch
1-3pm- Out Again Or Reading Books/ Art Time
3-5 pm- Free Play / Relaxation Time
5 pm- Dinner Time
7pm – Family Walk / Family Game
8pm- Ready For Bed
I’ll go through the schedule with you so you can understand it a little better.
I have a child who wakes up at 5am, so why on earth did I create an 8am wake up time? Well, my friends, Mommy likes to sleep and we do not get to sleep during the school year. I created a rule, if you wake up before Mommy, stay and play quietly in your rooms until 8am, THEN you can wake mommy.
It works, some days.
If I’m up before 8am due to kids, then I’ll work on my blog or lay on the couch until I’m READY to get up.
Around 9am I like to make a good breakfast. Scrambling some eggs, making some toast and cutting up fruit is the usual routine for us. I try to tidy up breakfast dishes right away so that they are all taken care of.
During breakfast, we discuss what the weather is like and what kind of activity we feel like doing that day.
Luckily, I also have a list of local events and places to go handy so we can just choose something from the list.
After breakfast, we get dressed and head off to our adventure around 10am.
At lunchtime, my kids like to eat at home so I plan to have an easy lunch with minimal cleanup.
After lunch, I have to gauge my kid’s behaviour and decide if it is a good idea to go for another activity or if it is time to take it easy. sometimes they get super overwhelmed, so it is better to read books and cuddle on the couch instead of forcing another adventure. We have to play this by ear on a day by day situation.
By 3pm I am exhausted. I like to go lay in bed and play on my phone while the kids watch some TV, play on the iPad or computer or relax in their own beds. Sometimes this is a good time for a simple craft or baking some cookies. Nothing complicated and whatever feels right.
Around 5pm I start dinner and we usually eat at 5:30pm. I use my instant pot for 30-minute dinners. My house doesn’t get hot and I don’t even have to defrost my meat. I love my instant pot.
After dinner we eat, clean up and while my husband drinks his coffee and catches his breath after a long workday, I like to tidy up the house. This is a great time to fold one load of laundry or sweep a couple of rooms. Nothing complicated, I like to keep things simple.
If the weather holds up nicely, I love to take a family walk with our pups before bath time. The kids love to ride their bikes while the dogs run beside them. It’s a good exercise for me too, the fresh air knocks me right out at bedtime!
After a walk its a quick bath and off to bed with our regular bedtime routine.
After bedtime, I am free to do as I please! This is when I catch up on any work I have to do. The nice thing is, the house is usually petty tidy by the time the kids are in bed, so housework is not on my to-do list.
Summer Is Short Through It Feels Long
And before you know it, summer will be over and you’ll go back to the hustle and bustle of school life.
To make things easy for yourself, come up with a list of crafts and indoor activities so that all you have to do is reference your list instead of spending an hour on Pinterest coming up with something to do.
Scour your local facebook groups and magazines for lists of events you can attend.
Create a list of your favourite parks that you want to visit.
This summer schedule doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for the “I’m Bored” statement, and if it happens, let it happen. Children grow their imaginations when they are bored.
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