Guide to Making a Summer Calendar

Oh, my...I can almost hear the drum roll...

Only TWO more days and the kids are out of school. Do you have any big plans? Small plans? What are you going to do with yours for three whole months?

I have blogged about this last year a bit, but every year, I make a "Summer Calendar" for three months. They are giant calendars where you can see all three months on one sheet of paper (the one in the picture is three 11" x 18" papers, and I am going to glue them together). It is so much easier to keep track of things when you can see everything at once.

My kids are so much better and easier when we have plans and structure. After I had a really hard summer, I decided to do something different the following year. Making the calendar made a huge difference in how we all were and I loved it! Since then, the making of the summer calendar has become kind of a tradition in our family.

If you are interested in starting one, here is what I do;

1. Make a calendar. The bigger the better. The squares need to be big enough so you can write multiple things there.

2. Gather information. I love free activities and such that the local cities provide. I write down fairs, parades, air balloon shows to firemen’s breakfasts as well. I mean, everything our family might enjoy. Also, where I live pretty much all the cities near us have their own fire work nights, I write them down too.

3. Write down all the extra-curricular activities that we signed up for at school, martial arts, and scouts and scout camps.

4. Write down family trips and more.

5. Then, I will have "Sachiko's cooking school" or "art day", or "sewing day" on the off days.

That is pretty much it. My kids get so excited when they can see what's happening on what days (but they know it is not all guaranteed; things happen). When they are not bored they fight and whine less too.

I am almost done making the calendar, come on over summer! :)