It’s my last day at school and I’ve got summer rhythms on my mind. As a teacher, of course I love a schedule. I think that most kids thrive when they know what to expect in their day. Summer is supposed to be fun though!! Throw the schedule out the window. Structure be damned!! You’re right, sort of. For me – if I go totally schedule free – it’s hard to toe the line between fun, carefree and go with the flow without losing my marbles on my three little boys. I’ve learned that the hard way. I like to meet somewhere in the middle between the rigidity of a schedule and the fluidity of free range parenting. And that’s where a rhythm comes in. What’s the difference between a rhythm and a schedule? Not much. A rhythm to me is more of a guide to your day. A schedule is more firm and typically has times.
Our rhythm may vary slightly from day to day because *hello* I still do want to be spontaneous and fun summer mom. I just don’t want my kids to wind up sitting in front of a tv all day because I haven’t thought of anything for them to do. The core piece of our summer rhythm is – in the morning we do a field trip outside of the house, and in the afternoon we stay home and get in the pool. The only firm times on my rhythm are that we need to be home from our field trip by 11am so we can have lunch and get Lukey down for a nap around noon and that dinner happens around 6pm. The other thing to remember is that my kids get up early. Like 6am early. So if your kids sleep in (you lucky duck), this outline might need some shifting to work for you!
Summer Rhythm 2023
Goals: Be flexible, have fun and live outside.
The Morning: Work out first thing – take whoever is awake in the running stroller. Shower and get ready before husband leaves for work. Breakfast Morning Chores Art/Worksheets/Reading Time Field Trip – home by 11am Lunch Nap & Quiet Time for boys – Prep Dinner now!
The Afternoon: Pool & Water Play Indoor play or movie while I make dinner. Planning to do lots of grilling/easy dinners during summer, so minimal kitchen time will be needed. Bikes, Chalk and Scooter play on the sidewalk while we wait for dad to get home from work. After dinner walk or evening swim.
That’s it guys – that’s our summer rhythm! I think I’ll do a couple more *summer* posts this week – lunch and dinner ideas, field trips, activities/art projects, summer reading, etc. Nothing but fun with the occasional meltdown thrown in. Lol.
What about you? What do you do for summer? Any special schedules/routines you follow?
Monday – Husband threw the pork in the crock pot this morning. For dinner we’ll have Buddha Bowls with Rice, Pulled Pork, Roast Broccoli, and the leftover sour cream sauce from Sunday.
That time of the month in which I choose everything I’m going to try. Mostly 4 things per category with a few exceptions for a bonus if we have time. You can choose any categories you like! These are just things that are important to me. And choose more or less depending on how much time you have!
In May I want to be outside, be present, and be focused on my family. I do have two little personal goals for the month – everyday blog posting and everyday workouts. I am the type of person who thrives when doing something every day rather than once in a while. I’ll keep you updated on how it’s all going!
Bake (for the weekend)
Last Day of School Bake – Last year I did donuts, the year before, a cake. I’m feeling a pie this year. What do you think?
Milk Braised Pork with Gnocchi in sage and butter with a salad of bitter greens – literally read this meal in a book and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.
SunFest – Jack Johnson and the Killers are playing and I can’t possibly choose
Charcuterie Date
IPA Beer Tasting
After Bedtime Fancy Dinner
Adventures
Charlie Graduates!
Memorial Day Overnight
Zoo or Science Center weekend outing
Boys to a Movie with dad
House Projects
New Doors!!!
Garden Planner
Plant Lettuce
New Couch – playroom
What are your goals this month? Anything exciting? I’d love to hear! Even if it isn’t exciting! Maybe especially if it isn’t. You know I’m all about the mundane, beauty of the everyday. 🙂
Every new year I sit down and write a lengthy list of goals. Last year I did it stream of consciousness style on a Google doc. Most years past I’ve used a notebook to jot things down. Neither are a bad way to do it, and it’s always nice to read back through to see what I was working on last year.
But I’ve become a bit more methodical (in my old age) and typed up a big numbered list on google docs this year. 32 things! Eek! But I have to tell They’re not all hard. You might even look at it as part to do list, part list of goals. For example, one is “clean out my closet”, another is “repaint the back porch floor”, and “teach Charlie to ride a bike”. These are just (kind of mundane) tasks that really do need to be done and I can cross them off and not think about them again for a good long while. But others need a bit more doing. Things such as “run 6 miles without rest” and “read 80 books” and “find inspiration, but stop mindless scrolling”. This is all fine and good to say those things, but how do you get there?
So this year, I took my list, and under each item I added “HOW?” And then I jotted down some notes for each.
How am I going to make sure that I make it to a yoga class each week? I need to communicate with my husband to see what night works with his schedule. I sent him a text to see for this week and went ahead and signed up for the class this week. Done
How am I going to make sure that we potty train Luke? Well I know that this summer would be ideal. If we do it in June then we’ll have a nice long chunk of time that we’re off school and we can just be home and near the potty. I wrote it in all caps in my planner.
How am I going to make sure not to buy any clothes new for me or the boys this year? I’m going to pick a day to thrift each week after school.
If it helps you to see exactly what it looks like in my document, here are a couple:
Do Duolingo every day.
How?
Pick a specific time and stay consistent.
Set a reminder on my phone.
Read 80 books.
How?
Aim for 2 books a week.
Have books on hand at all times to read. Utilize audiobooks and e-books when needed. I should be able to read 2 books every week. This would be 104 books. This is something I do most weeks. Read before bed, audiobooks at school during shelving and on runs.
Post monthly reading posts on emetamily.com to summarize and help keep track.
Continue posting weekly reviews on instagram on Mondays to stay motivated.
Continue placing holds and making weekly library stops.
And how to make sure I keep up with it all for the year? Well, I took a look at all of my goals and then I wrote a separate little list at the bottom of my document:
– Things to fit into every day: Workouts, Cooking, Meditate, Reading, Duolingo, Playing with the boys, etc. – Things to fit into the week: Yoga, Library visit, Baking, Weekly Dates, etc. – Things to fit into the month: Friend Dinners, cocktails with my sister, etc. – Things to fit into my year: Knit a sweater, have our ceilings redone, sign the boys up for sports, power wash the house, etc.
This really helps me visualize when/how I’m going to get these things done. Is it reasonable? I already know it is because I’ve taken a look at my schedule and scheduled things in. Every day I’m going to do five minutes of Duolingo right when I wake up. I’m going to meditate for ten minutes right before I get in the shower every night. I’m going to a yoga session at 7:30pm tomorrow night. I read 70 books this year at a pretty leisurely pace, so I should be able to read 80 this year. We had a guy come yesterday to give us a quote for our ceilings and he’s going to begin work in the middle of the month. I’m going to ask my dad to paint the porch floor when they visit for the month of February. Boom. I’ve already made progress.
Really the only thing to do next is to form the habits. Dig in and stick to them. Stop being lazy, and really get nitty gritty with the details. Set an alarm on your phone every month “monthly check in!!” to hold yourself accountable. That’s the way to make sure you get stuff done. Just hold yourself to it. Don’t rely on someone to nag you. Make it your goal to keep your promises to yourself and just make it happen.
I remember when I started trying to figure out how to work, and be a mom, and still do things for myself. I was feeling very overwhelmed, so I wrote up a little schedule “An Ideal Week”. I wrote down all the half hours in the day and days of the week, and I filled in what I would ideally be doing each day at that time for an entire week. From 5:30-7pm I wanted to put my phone away and have family dinner and play with my kids. At 5am I wanted to be up and wanted to eat my breakfast, drink my coffee and be alone before I had to start getting ready for the day. On Sunday nights I wanted to have a check in with my husband on what his week is going to look like. And those are the things that to this day I do! That’s something you might try if you’re struggling with figuring out how to have time to do more for yourself and for your family. We all have the same amount of time in the day. We just all use it in different ways.
I also do think that my Making Every Day Special document that I made a few years ago might be helpful if you’re struggling to form home habits (like doing laundry every day, or celebrating minor and major holidays).
A post I’ve wanted to write for a while, but am just now getting around to. The overwhelm when it comes to trying to choose a functional, well laid out, everything I need in my life planner is a lot every year. I spent years making and printing my own planning sheets out because I just felt like most planners didn’t cover every base. But then Golden Coil came into my life. A fully customizable planner from front to back. If you just want exact details – scroll to the very bottom of this post and I walk you through exactly what I chose this year and what I’m doing differently next year.
What do I need in a planner?
a place for meal planning – longer than just a few lines. I like to have space to write down ideas for the next week, things to bake that week, things to drink, snacks to have on hand, breakfasts we’d like to have. A tiny little box just isn’t enough for me.
a place for social media planning – as my following has grown, I’ve needed more space to plan ahead, to jot down brainstorming, collaborations that are coming up, things to follow up on.
a place for home – with so much going on, I need space to jot down things we need for the boys at daycare, sports, things to pick up, etc.
a place for school planning – I like to see my weeks laid out in full calendar format and each week. We have a six day fine arts rotation so it gets confusing unless I have it all written out.
a place for to do lists – I am a list maker extraordinaire. It was nice to use my planner rather than trying to use a notebook and a planner. I still do use my notebook, but less than I used to! But with a planner that also has room for lists, I just have to have one book on hand.
I think I achieved pretty much everything I was looking for this year in my set up. The only thing I will change this year is my weekly spread and a few of the “add-on” pages. I thought it would be nice to have three squares – one for school, home and social media, but I didn’t end up using it as much as I thought I would. I chose a different spread for this year that I’m looking forward to seeing! I shared exact details at the bottom of this post!
Love the monthly spread. Shows you what is up for the month. You can’t change this selection in the planner. It comes standard.
This is an add on “month at a glance” page that I have at the beginning of each month. I use it to plan out blog posts, social media, and my monthly list. Below is a (halfway) filled in month.
The Ideas page is an add on that I have at the beginning of each month. It’s called “Brain Dump”. I often use it for meeting notes, lists for when I have too much rolling around in my brain, and for ideas for the future.
This is an add on page called “Fillable List”. I show below how I use it for meal planning.
I chose the Weekly Double Spread – Vertical 2. It was great for having three different sections of my life – School, Home & Social. I’m choosing a different one this year that I share below!
To sum it up, here’s exactly what I chose for this planner and what I’m choosing for 2023:
Neutral Linen Cover. Getting the exact same again. I’m either very boring or I just know what I like. lol.
I chose a Monday start page. I’m going to choose Sunday this year!
USA Holidays. Nice to have it all written in there for you.
This year I used Weekly Double Page – Vertical 2. For next year, I’m choosing Weekly Single Page – Horizontal 2. I didn’t realize this about myself, but now I know that I prefer looking at the week from the top down rather than from left to right. Not sure why, but I think I’ll like it better top down! I like that the week outline is on the left, and the whole right page is just for notes. I am a list maker at heart, so this is helpful for me.
Added Pages – I’m getting all the exact same this year. I loved these extra pages so much.
Year at a Glance 3 – Start of Planner – helpful to have a full year on one page to glance at. I like having all the dates listed out.
Month at a Glance – Monthly – I use this for blog and instagram planning. Lots of people wouldn’t need this one, but it helps me plan out a full month of ideas on a page. I like working by the month. And when you choose this, you get a blank page on the right of the page that I use for my monthly list. Bake, Treats, Projects, Cocktails, Meals to try, Crafts all go on this page to help me visualize the month ahead and actually Get Stuff Done.
Brain Dump – Monthly – Again, I’m a list maker. When I have a rush of ideas, I jot them all down on the “Ideas” page for the month. I can also use this page for meeting notes during the month.
Fillable List – 2 Monthly – For meal planning each week. I write the dates at the top and then I write down what I plan to make, what we need, etc. If you add two of these, that gives you 4 pages – enough for a month. And I like that they’re all right next to each other so I can look at what we had the previous weeks, or jot down things for the next week when I have meals on my mind.
Added Pages that I used this year and won’t be next year.
Holiday Gifting – Didn’t even glance at it once. I’ve been using a notebook for list making for the holidays, and am eliminating this year.
Weight/Measurements – Thought I might use. Didn’t even a little bit. lol.
New Added Page this year
Goals – Start of Planner – I love making new year goals, and this seems like a good little spread to have to think things through at the beginning of the year.
To sum it up – I am a Golden Coil for life user. You can use the code BLACKFRIDAY for 15% off through November 18th!
The Metroka Family 