Create a Family Calendar System // Back To School Week

This blog post is part of a series on getting our families and homes ready for the Back To School Season! You can start at the beginning by clicking here.

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Towards the end of one school year, I spent a Thursday working at home. I’d gotten so much done, I was super proud of myself, and about ready to take a break when I got an alert on my phone.

“2:00pm – End-of-the year party!”

It was currently 1:45. And I was supposed to be at my daughter’s classroom, for a party I had completely forgotten about, in 15 minutes.

THANK GOODNESS for that phone alert! Life can be so busy, and school events (especially at the end of the year!) can be so plentiful, that it’s super easy to forget important things, like, oh let’s see, the giant end of the year party.

The school year comes with a LOT of information – important dates, memory verses, upcoming events, and more.

If you want to stay on top of all these things, you’ll need a central space to keep all that info.

Enter the FAMILY CALENDAR SYSTEM!

In the past, I’ve had some giant command centers, but in our current home I’ve cut it down to just the essentials – a calendar and a whiteboard.

Consider this your tip that keeping everything organized does not have to be complicated. You don’t need a bunch of new stuff! I literally keep a calendar on our pantry door, and a whiteboard on our fridge. SIMPLE.

It’s simple, so it works!

Here’s what every scheduling system needs:

• The ability for EVERYONE to access the information they need. Especially as your kids get older, there will be more activities on the calendar, and more people who need to know what’s going on. Keep this accessible!
• A visual component for every member of the family. While everyone intakes information differently, most of us ALSO benefit from the ability to actually SEE what’s going on. Visually writing out our schedules also helps us to see which weeks are busy, and which have a little more margin.
• Simplicity. If it’s complicated, you’re simply not going to keep up with it. And neither is any member of your family.

Let’s chat about each part of our system – take the parts you like, and leave the parts you don’t! Remember, you want to find a system that works well for you and your family, not anyone else’s!

Our Calendar System:

• No matter what the event, date, or appointment is, it goes into the calendars in our phones FIRST. Jon and I have access to these calendars, and they sync across all our devices. This is truly our master calendar – if it’s not on the phones, it’s not happening.
• For important things (um, like end-of-the-year parties!) I make sure to put in an alert on my phone. Sometimes 1 day before, sometimes 15 minutes before. This has proven extremely helpful for this forgetful momma!
• After everything is in our phones, I write it onto the family calendar ⬆️ so we all have a visual as well. My kids are old enough now to also want to know what’s going on, and this really helps.
• For my own personal sanity, I also write everything into my planner. This way, my day to day planning is easier because the big events, dates, and appointments are already there.

The Calendars:

• I love this simple paper calendar because it’s really big, visually clean, and has plenty of room to write. Plus they make the same one every year, so I can keep the aesthetic uniform in my house from year to year!
• I often fill out multiple months at a time because I always like to see what’s coming up! Only having one month displayed at a time is frustrating when you’re at the end of a month, or trying to think into the next month. Having multiple calendars accessible at once is PERFECT, I’ve found.
• Color Coding is KEY! We have a color for each member of the family, as well as a color for everyone all-together. This makes it easy to see who’s doing what with just a quick glance!

Between our shared calendars on our phone, and our visual command center (and my planner), I’m able to stay on top of most of the events that come our way during the school year.

The Whiteboard:

• Whiteboards are great because they are so multi-functional! We usually keep our meals written out here, and also write out a basic schedule of the day. Every single person in my family does better with a visual outline of what’s going on each day, so this whiteboard helps us all!
• This is the whiteboard we use – I love it because it’s thin and magnetic, so it adheres perfectly to the fridge without sticking out so much. And I use these wet erase markers instead of dry erase because 1) they are double-tipped so they write so much prettier, and 2) they don’t wipe off accidentally!

How do you manage your family calendar system during the school year?

P.S. If you’re still looking for a planner that works FOR YOU, you’re going to want to check out the 2024-2025 S.O.S. Planner. It’s pretty different than any other planners out there, and it’s our favorite! Check it out, along with all of our other Back To School Products here!