Our Summer Rhythm

It's funny now to think about how when all my boys were little our whole life kind of felt like summer break. No worrying about a school schedule or feeling like we had to really soak up the 8 weeks of summer togetherness.

But that definitely changed once my older two started school full time. It's crazy to think that during the school year, their teacher spends more waking hours with them than I do. This change made me start to want to be more intentional with the time that I am with them and all the things I want to teach them.

It also changed the way I wanted our days to go for summer break. I spent my first summer that they were both in school declaring myself as "fun summer mom". Thinking their days should be the antithesis of structured school days - be free and play outside all day. It's more my natural bent anyways - to just wake up and see where the wind takes us that day. The problem with that is that it's fun until it's not. And they don't want to play outside all day. They're hot and hungry and tired of each other and want friends over every second of the day. The chaos of unplanned days and them looking to me to create fun were overall mentally taxing.

So I took some tips from my close friend who thrives in structure and who had gone before me in having school age kids home and I created some structure for them and for myself and it's felt like a night and day difference. I thought through some things I'd want them to do everyday and came up with this chart that I keep on our fridge so they can reference it. If they don't feel like earning screen time they don't have to do the Mind and Body options but they always have to do the Daily 5.

Pink Summer Time Chart

We did a similar rhythm last summer and it worked out well. I catered this more for their ages this year which are 9 and 7. My 3 year old does a modified versions of this and mostly follows them around and semi-participates. We've been doing this particular version this summer for over a week and it's going so well! I've loved adding the ask "how can I be helpful?" option this year because I'm raising future husbands and I want that to feel like second nature to them in years to come.

And since we're all in this together trying to raise good kids and keep our sanity. I've created these as printable that you can use in your own home!

I am offering them for free to you for being apart of my amazing community.

But if you find this to be a valuable resource to you, I never turn down a thank you cup of coffee. Or I'm @shelbygoodman on Venmo ;)

Blank Summer Time Chart

Yellow Summer Time Chart

You can use my version or fill in your own for what works best for you. There's a secondary color option as well!

I also created a chore chart that you can fill in. You can print as many as you need to accommodate your family size! Fill in the family name at the top and the individual names above each column.

Blank Chore Chart

Feel free to use my ideas as a jumping off point!

Happy Summer, mamas! We got this!

All of these printable are for personal use only. Please do not reproduce or sell for profit.