Summer 2023 Weekly and Daily Schedule

The temps have finally warmed up and school is winding down. Summer break officially starts next week, so I wanted to share how we plan to thrive (and honestly survive in some moments) for the next 3 months.

A NOTE ABOUT DAILY ROUTINES

First, my kids thrive routine and structure. I love predictability in my day, up to a point, and it helps me relax knowing there is a flow and rhythm to our lives. When I’m trying to juggle nap times, food allergies, and trying to work out of the house occasionally, a schedule really helps me know what I’m doing and when. This may not be the case for everyone, so take whatever tips suit you and your family and leave the rest.

Second, this is a loose schedule. Our daily schedule definitely flexes depending on the day and how the kids are doing. Sometimes we might push naptime back a bit, some days we get a late start because I’m working, or we have a slow morning in pajamas. If we have a large or late breakfast, we very well may skip a snack and have an early lunch. My kids are 6, 4, and 1.5 years old right now. Ellette still takes a nap and does not nap on the go well at all. We are home for naptime just about every day, except if we are traveling out of town.

OUR DAILY ROUTINE

Our kids are almost always up by 7 a.m. and very rarely sleep in beyond that. We use a Hatch Rest+ in each room and love the color changing feature as an OK to wake visual. The older kids know to read or play quietly in their rooms if they are up before 6:45 a.m. For a while, we let them open their doors and play together, but that started creeping earlier and earlier, which led to cranky and tired kids. For now, the big kids stay separate and Ellette just hangs in her crib talking to herself until I come get them.

Everyone is always starving in the morning, so breakfast is usually the first item on the agenda. Then we get ready for the day and check our daily chores off our list. I’ll go into detail on chores later, but this worked extremely well in our house last summer and I plan to keep it up, adding more difficult tasks as the kids get older.

As the temperatures warm up, getting outside early in the morning is key for us. We usually take a walk, bike ride, swing, or work in the garden in the morning when we have shade. There are mornings where this doesn’t happen and we have to fill time with coloring or independent indoor play, especially if I’m finishing up work or am packing up for a bigger outing. I’m also considering daily journaling for the kids and the morning might be a great quiet time to do that. I’ll update you if/how we do this.

Our daily activity usually happens in the morning, but occasionally will get moved to the afternoon for one of a whole number of reasons. I usually find it easiest to take everyone out of the house by myself in the morning when I have more patience and the kids usually are their most cooperative selves at this time. Again, your family might thrive with slower mornings or do great with car naps and you like getting out of the house in the afternoon. Maybe you like to find a lot of activities and are out of the house most of the day. This is just what works for us.

Dinner time is our trickiest and most unpredictable part of the day. Some days, everyone gets along swimmingly and I can cook and clean in peace. Other days, we have a lot of tears and no one wants to help clean up after themselves. That’s just life with kids and I try to remind myself it is normal and not a reflection of my parenting failures. After we eat, we take a bath and get ready for bed. We keep an early bedtime all year round and try to have everyone asleep by 7-7:30 p.m. Sometimes this slips closer to 7:45 or 8 p.m., but you get the drift. This gives the adults time to read, clean, workout, relax, watch a show, or whatever else we want to do.

OUR WEEKLY ACTIVITIES

Last year we added themed days to our summer for the first time and EVERYONE LOVED IT! You can read about our first attempt at adding themed days into our summer here. We decided to modify things ever so slightly but keep the general principle going. I talked about this in the original post linked above, but setting up a predictable schedule helps me divide my attention between work, the kids, the house, and myself. It helps me feel like we are embracing summer and doing some of the things, but releasing the pressure to do all of the things. I made sure to include unstructured time and a little bit of dedicated learning time. Vaila doesn’t have speech services in the summer, for example, but she has made so much progress in the last few months and it is important that we continue the momentum.

I’ll share a few ideas in each category, but if you use this idea in your house, please know that the categories that fit for us might not fit for you. Maybe you like the idea of Take a Trip Thusday, but that’s all you can handle in the week. Cool! Maybe you just brought home baby #2 and getting out of the house solo is still a little daunting. Set up a water sensory bin once a week and enjoy time with your older child. The point of this post is to help you or give you an idea if it feels aligned with you and you have the capacity for it. This should not feel like an obligation.

Make it Monday

This was a great way for us to spend time together last year and for me to be a little productive all at the same time. We made snacks for the week or pre-made a salad for dinner, and it was always a blessing to my future self. Cooking and baking are great life skills, provide a wonderful opportunity for math and fine motor practice, and allows kids to feel a sense of accomplishment and pride in their efforts. We have a few new recipes we want to try, so I’ll share those as we do.

Thinking and Thoughtful Tuesday

I loved watching the kids write notes or draw pictures for neighbors or family members last summer and we plan to continue this practice. We also plan to add a trip to the library every other week and include some read aloud time in our days. This will also be the day we set aside for more structured learning, such as the speech work I mentioned earlier, but this could also include letters, numbers, spelling, or any other idea that comes to mind. Brinley loves math right now and I want to give her the time this summer to continue exploring this interest, so we might do a few easy math worksheets.

Water Wednesday

By far one of the best ideas from last summer! This helped me in particular because I felt like we were truly embracing opportunities that are available to us only in the summer here in Michigan, but it could be as easy or involved as we needed that day. I usually sit down and ask the kids what things they would like to do in each category so we have some ideas to pull from, but don’t decide for sure until we know what the weather will be like and how much energy I have. Ellette sleeps much better now than she did a year ago, so sleepless nights are hopefully not going to be as problematic this summer as they were last year.

Take a Trip Thursday

This was a hit with the kids last year and provided us a great way to visit new places. This also included running errands like making returns, dropping off donations, taking back our bottles and cans, or heading to the post office out of pure necessity. We usually tried to keep these days free or very low cost, but that helped us get creative with what we did. Utilizing the local library and community resources is a great way to get out of the house. One day last year the kids simply asked to walk on a cross walk bridge… and we still talk about how much fun they had! We literally just pulled over and walked back and forth a few times. That was the trip! This year they want to visit a train station. They don’t necessarily want to ride on a train, but they do want to see a few trains up close. I’m still trying to figure out the logistics of this one, so wish me luck. We will also visit some parks and they have requested to go shoe shopping!

Family Fun Friday

This is a slight change from last year, but we are very excited about it. The only complaint from last summer was while we did a lot, we didn’t spend a lot of time as a whole family. Ryan was working during most of our outings or adventures, and he only got to hear the stories from the day at dinner. I’m hoping this small change allows us to intentionally spend more time all together. Because Ryan will still be working during the day, these activities will mainly take place in the evening before or after dinner. We will be figuring out the best way to navigate this as we go, but that is our plan.

DAILY CHORES

Earlier I mentioned including daily chores in our schedule. Although this isn’t always the most riveting part of the day, I do think it is important. I want to teach everyone in our family the practical how-to of cleaning so we are all on the same page, plus I think it helps the kids take some ownership in keeping our house tidy. We don’t give an allowance for these chores because I feel it is everyone’s job to pitch in.

The chores really only need to take 5-10 minutes, but sometimes we have more protesting and it takes longer. Other times the kids have an absolute ball and we spend more time simply because they are having so much fun. We also may swap for a chore not listed if the need arises, but these are the things I find most helpful and the big kids can actually accomplish. Brinley is 6 and Vaila is 4. Ellette is still under 2, but she likes to help with certain chores.

Cleaning Out the Car

I hand the kids one of our sensory bins, send them out to the car in the morning when it is nice and cool, and have them empty out any crayons, paper, books, dolls, wrappers, sunglasses, or anything else that might be hanging out in the backseat. I also send out the handheld portion of our vacuum to have them clean out any stray snacks, leaves, or bits of paper. I especially love this on a Monday morning if we were traveling over the weekend! It is the perfect refresh to start the week off on a tidy note. Just be sure to set ground rules about pushing buttons or turning on lights. Our rule is the kids cannot be in the front seat and do not turn anything on. I keep the keys inside and make sure I can hear them. I also check the overhead lights when they are done.

Wipe Down Surfaces

This chore started last year as me asking the kids to wipe down their little craft table and chairs. They loved it so much that it quickly evolved into them asking what else they could clean. I have them wipe down all appliances and cabinets they can reach plus doors, handles, our dining room table, and any other walls or hard surfaces. We use Branch Basics in our house, so I feel very comfortable letting them use the spray bottle of cleaner along with some of these microfiber cloths. This job is usually completed a little imperfectly, especially last year when Vaila was just 3 years old, but it’s honestly better than me not getting to it at all or with less frequency.

Wash the Windows

We use our handy dandy microfiber cloths and plain water to get this job done. Our windows are streak and smudge free for at least a few minutes and I think it is absolutely hilarious to watch the kids jump at the chance to wash windows. As the kids get older, this chore will probably be for one person, and we will come up with another chore to run parallel and rotate each week. For now, they do this side by side and it is adorable.

Fold Clothes

I get the most resistance with this task, but we keep at it. At 3 years old, Vaila was responsible for putting her socks away and sorting her clothes into piles so I could put them away easier. Think pajamas in one pile, hang up clothes in another, etc. She also would help fold simple things like shorts last year. This year, she will assist with hanging up more of her dresses and folding pants. Brinley was able to hang up most of her clothes last year, but still wanted help with folding. I plan to have her start the summer with folding pajamas and I’m hoping she can stay focused enough to get through most of her laundry solo by the end of the summer. Ellette still takes the freshly folded clothes immediately out of her drawers, so the work is never done! I try to fold clothes in my room for the first few minutes to give the older kids an opportunity to work independently. Some days we pump some “hot jams” as my kids say (they definitely learned that from me!) and all tackle one room at a time, which gives us an opportunity to practice teamwork and helping each other out.

Vacuum and Mop Floors

I would have never guessed that this would be such a desirable chore, but the number of times we’ve had to navigate an argument about who gets to mop or vacuum is more than I can count. We usually solve it by saying one person gets to vacuum the carpeted areas and the other person gets to vacuum the couches. Then they both want a turn mopping. This gets my floors somewhat clean, because they aren’t great at this job yet, and gets the toys picked up off the floor in the prep phase. This helps set a good tone as we head into the weekend and is a nice reset after the kids likely brought in sand, dirt, and grass from outside all week. Plus, the house looks somewhat presentable in case we have people over during the weekend.

Now you have the scoop on our summer plans. We have a few fun things on the agenda, so be sure to follow us on Instagram to see what we are up to in Stories. I hope this post gives you some kind of inspiration, a sense of solidarity, or really whatever you need. We don’t have any huge trips planned and I intend to enjoy the summer without feeling such immense pressure to do everything and see everything. Slow is just fine by me in this season.

Let me know which idea you like the best in the comments below! I love hearing from you.

And just a side note, the photo above is from last summer and the kids are all so little! Everyone has grown tremendously, and it is the most bittersweet and beautiful thing to witness.

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