Jumping into spring means that summer is just around the corner! You not only have your personal goals to meet by then, but now is the time to get your schedule set up for all of the camps, activities and events starting that last day of school through August when it all kicks back in again.
My suggestion? Grab a clean calendar for summer. You can print off some blank calendars, make copies of June, July and August out of your existing one, but whatever you do – start clean. This allows you to add each layer of activity on with a fresh perspective on the time and availability to get it all done.
Start with the major family events – weddings, vacations, birthdays, etc. Our kids throw their own sports camp, the Sansone Sports Camp, the first full week of the summer each year as well. We make sure that’s on the calendar, but also that they are getting the flyers out for it so other families can arrange to participate. The kids work to get athletes from St. Louis to be a part of the daily activities and offer a host of technical training in a variety of sports.
Then begin to layer on the camps available, times, work schedules and who’s involved. For our ten children, we need to keep focused on the camps we know are good from previous experience and the ones that I can get more of the kids to at the same time. If each child has their own camp and schedule, I’d spend my entire summer in the car dropping off and picking up, and that’s not fun for anybody. Once we get the dates nailed down on the major camps that the kids will go to, I ensure that each child has been taken care of with their request for a summer activity. I don’t just let them do whatever they want, by any means. I just make sure each of their requests have been addressed.
For the older ones, if they are taking summer school classes, we schedule those in the evenings so they can still work during the day. Getting each of the kids lined up with jobs is crucial. They need to build the experience and to keep themselves busy.
All in all, the work put in now to get the schedule firmed up makes for a much easier summer. You can quickly see if extra events are going to work or not without worrying that you’re going to overbook. Overbooking is easy to do. Be organized early to help avoid that out-of-control feeling that makes us fall away from our workouts, sleep and positive attitude!