How To Make A Schedule For Breaks

Have a mentioned that my kids go to a catholic school? No? Well they do. Also–I’m not catholic.

It’s not sooo weird. My husband and his family are catholic. To get married in the catholic church I had to swear I wouldn’t stand in their way if they wanted to be catholic. So this is me really not standing in their way.

As a result, well that and just being in a country with a high population of catholic people, they celebrate carnival. Growing up as a baptist I had never even heard of this holiday, much less celebrated it, which is weird because I know of lint.

Here where we live it’s celebrated by water fights and drinking as far as I can tell. But most importantly it means that my kids are off of school for a week. And, if I was currently working, I would be too. But babies get in the way of that so I’m home 24/7 currently anyway.

On every vacation we have for a week or longer, I plan our routine and activities so no one goes crazy. (Especially me but it keeps my kiddos content as well, so win-win there) And this time is no different, even if I am 38 weeks pregnant.

First I create our schedule for the week because having the kids around the house all day long is not at all the same as just in the afternoon.

To me creating schedules and routines is like second nature. I can do it with my eyes closed. It may not look as pretty but it can be done.

I think the most important part of creating a schedule — whatever it’s for: during the seasonal breaks or holidays or your run of the mill morning and evening routines– is being realistic.

There are many many many things that I do great at being a mom but I am not capable of not losing my shit if I don’t have get a little me time. Or not even losing my shit–just not being present. And they pick up on that and ask me so I like to plan little blocks of time where I can get these moments so the other moments of “fun activities” actually ends up being fun for me too

So if anything, be realistic. The rest will come naturally.

And so, for this week, this is what I came up with…

From there, I know how many different activities I’ll need for each day. These are the special ones, the ones that the kids get excited about. Of course we could just sit around and play house, or restaurant, or “girlies” (what they call playing with dolls) all day but these planned out activities are the ones I can usually leverage some me time after.

So once I’m done with the schedule/routine, I come up with the variables.

Activities for the week

Monday

1. Have a picnic
2. Go for a bike ride
3. Play a board game
4. Start a spring journal

Tuesday

1. Do a science experiment
2. Play at the park
3. Make a fort
4. Go on a scavenger hunt

Wednesday

1. Make up a dance routine
2. Do hair/Dress up/Paint nails
3. Have a tea party
4. Make a fort

Thursday

1. Meet dad for lunch
2. Get ice cream together
3. Play carnival
4. Play in the sprinkler

Friday

1. Bake something special
2. Play hide and seek
3. Make a book together
4. Kid’s choice

I only have space for three activities during the day–one in the morning and two in the afternoon but because life sometimes gets in the way, I wanted to have a backup idea for each day. That’s why there are four activities each day rather than three.

Keep in Mind

I think one of the most important parts of this, is printing it and hanging it somewhere we will see it every morning.

It such a small thing (well, not really because I don’t currently have a working printer…) but it really keeps us all on track. If I don’t print it, I usually don’t follow through. And with kids, that’s a big deal.

Another thing: I create an idea of what the morning activity for each day will be but life happens so for the same reason I have four planned rather than three, I print them off and laminate them so that I can put up the activity I want, rather than my kids getting excited about playing in the sprinkler that afternoon but it ends up raining.

And in case someone else would like to use this you can find an editable copy of the schedule and extra activities here.

And most of all, remember, have fun!

No, actually, better yet–get you some me time.