Intentional Summer 2012 (with printable planning questions)

We’re getting close to June !!!
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer…

Our family is in count-down-mode with only a few weeks of school left.

And for me, that means it’s time to get serious about summer planning.

I am a natural born planner.
I like it.
It helps me.
I find freedom in having a plan.
And without planning….I accomplish very little–
Because it’s so easy for me to respond to the most immediate instead of the most important.

That said–before I share some ideas for intentional summer planning–
I want to preface this post with four thoughts:

First. All planning must be proceeded with a big-in-bold-highlighted-and-underlined–

LORD WILLING

These verses in James are always so convicting:

¹Come now, you who say,
“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there
and trade and make a profit”— ¹⁴yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.
What is your life? Foryou are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
¹⁵Instead you ought to say,”If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
¹⁶As it is, you boast in your arrogance.

All such boasting is evil.

~James 4: 13-16

Second. Doug Wilson’s thoughts on time management are excellent. He starts by saying:

“The point is fruitfulness,
not efficiency.

You should want to be fruitful
like a tree,
not efficient like a machine.”

Third. I’ve shared before about the rats in my cellar. You know…those little, ugly guys that are always there, hiding in the dark. Funny thing is, they’re rarely seen unless you throw the lights on quickly and catch them by surprise. I don’t always have the best response when plans get thwarted. So it’s important for me to always remember in my attempts at planning….that God’s plans are always best. They are truly the plans I want. And sometimes the unexpected interruptions are actually the plan.

“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life.

The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life —

the life God is sending one day by day.”

— C.S. Lewis

Fourth. Last summer ended up being “the summer we didn’t do anything”…and sometimes, those are the best summers of all!

So this is what my intentional summer planning process looks like…

First, I like to print out free blank calendars for the months of June, July, August, and September.
There are many stored-online-options that work well too and I’ve used those in the past, but I’m personally a hard-copy-have-it-in-my-hand type of person. So I actually do print them out on paper and jot in my notes.

Next, I take time to brainstorm my way through the following questions (not in any order of significance).
I try to keep my answers very practical and realistic so that I don’t get overwhelmed or discouraged.
I figure…actually reading 3 books all the way through…is a lot better than saying I’m going to read 20.

Again, this is just a brainstorm…
I’ll share my own ”answers” at the bottom of this post.

Some questions to think through:
(printable list available at the end of the post)

What places would we like to visit locally this summer?

What specific educational goals do we have for each child?

What 3 books (or more) would I like to read this summer?

How am I going to spend time in God’s Word?

What am I hoping to study in the Bible?

Are there any friendships we’d especially like to connect with this summer?

What household tasks do I need to keep up on?

Are we planning to take any extended trips or vacations?

What reoccurring weekly activities would we like to include?

Are there any specific skills we’d like our children to learn over the summer?

Are there any character traits or heart issues that we need to work on with our children?

Are there any specific skills I’d like to work on over the summer?

How can I make sure we have down time?

Are there any fun movies we’d like to watch together?

How/where will we celebrate any birthdays, holidays or special occasions?

What will hospitality look like for us this summer? Is anyone coming to stay?

Does my husband have anything that is important to him to include?

Do we have any house project goals?

Do we have any other goals for the summer that I haven’t included elsewhere?

What will our kiddos’ summer chores include (now that they’ll have a bit more free time)?

What are some “fill-in” activities that we’d like to do more often (see below for examples)?

Are there any schedules I need to collect to keep with my summer calendars (examples below)?

Finally, using a pencil, I start writing the non-negotiables onto the calendars. Then I also look for ways to include the optional activities, writing a small star next to them, so that I’ll remember them if we have time, but won’t feel any pressure that they are have-to-happen-commitments.
I also like to write reminders to myself at the top of each month of fill-in activities…things that we want to do more often, but that fall by the wayside at the mercy of time-wasters.
At the top of each month, I write the book I’d like to complete that month or any other monthly goals.

When I have our summer calendars mostly filled in, I run them by my husband and then make sure he has a copy of the latest version.

Here’s a shortened version of my own brainstorming, just to give you some ideas…

What places would we like to visit locally this summer? Any fun local activities?
The beach, Mt. St. Helens, Oaks Amusement Park, Portland Saturday market, digging for geodes, Starlight Parade, Portland Rose Festival, Bend, the state and county fairs, Lake Oswego Trolley, parks around the area–I loved this post about taking a local summer park tour.

What specific educational goals do we have for each child?
Make a list of books for each child to choose from, aim for 60 minutes of reading every day, practice multiplication facts every day, read with mom 3 times a week, each older child read Lydia, our youngest, a book every day.

What 3 books (or more) would I like to read this summer?
Of course, my mental list is WAY longer than three…but my specific book goals include Matt Chandler’s The Explicit Gospel, Randy Alcorn’s Safely Home (for a second round) and his book, If God is Good. I also would like to finish Eric Metaxas’ book about William Wilberforce.
I’ll probably also try to read back through Andree Seu’s essay collections because I pretty much am perpetually reading her writing.

How am I going to spend time in God’s Word?
For me this is really worth thinking about because there’s not as much schedule to the day in the summer, except before the kiddos wake up. So for me, I need to read in the morning before they get up or it probably won’t happen. Kinda the same as exercise….

What am I hoping to study in the Bible?
A few friends and I have an annual tradition of a summer-study-in-the-park where the kids play and we go through something together, but we are still discussing what we’re going to cover this summer.

Are there any friendships we’d especially like to connect with this summer?
Several come to mind…

What household tasks do I need to keep up on?
This is really tricky for me in the summer, but what helps me is to list out the basics for each week and then at the beginning of the week add them to the calendar, depending on what is planned for that particular week. I’m talking about the basic basics like: market shopping, laundry, cleaning, meal planning, yard stuff…

Are we planning to take any extended trips or vacations? When?
We always join a group of friends for a camping trip and that is on the calendar already. We’re also planning a trip over to Bend, where my parents live for a family reunion. And this summer, I’m hoping my husband can get time off for a family stay-cation…where we pretend we are tourists here in Oregon and just enjoy all the incredible local places and activities that surround us.

What reoccurring weekly activities would we like to include?
Swimming times, bike riding times, time set aside to have friends over, Regal Cinemas $1 Summer Movies, trips to the library

Are there any specific skills we’d like our children to learn over the summer?
We’d like to use our Signing Time materials. We also hope to have our older three work on their typing skills. I’d also like to work with the kiddos on being able to do their own laundry and to incorporate a few new chores to our chore charts, which I need to update on the blog now that my kind friend Jenn made them computer-printable.

Are there any specific character traits or heart issues that we need to focus on with our children?
For the sake of our kiddos’ privacy…I won’t list those here

Are there any specific skills I’d like to work on over the summer?
I need to do a better job keeping up with the garden and I’d like to continue working towards “set” writing times. I write for The Better Mom and I’d like to get my posts in early, rather than late. But honestly, just keeping up on exercise, cleaning, and time in God’s Word is going to be plenty to fill my plate!

How can I make sure we have down time?
This is where it’s important for us to look through the weekends and make sure we aren’t gone several weekends in a row….or that I’m not packing every day with so many fun options that we all end up exhausted. There’s a whole lot to be said for time at home….where the kids come up with their own activities and have enough uninterrupted play time to really dig in and invest in their created adventures.

Are there any fun movies we’d like to watch together?
My husband really wants me to see War Horse and we want to keep up on L.H.O.T.P. nights. We’ve also been enjoying some older movies like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (which the kids LOVED) and we’d like to watch Oklahoma with them. I haven’t read up on it yet, but the new Disney movie called Brave looks good too!

How/where will we celebrate any birthdays, holidays or special occasions?
We have Father’s Day, birthdays, 4th of July and then more birthdays.

What will hospitality look like for us this summer? Is anyone coming to stay?
This is an important place for us to communicate with family members and friends from out of town. My husband and I also try to discuss what couples or families from our local community we’d like to invite over.

Does my husband have anything that is important to him to include?
I haven’t had a chance to sit down with him and ask yet…I’m just now getting around to this brainstorm, BUT…I know he will say he wants to take the kiddos on kayak-with-dad-times. He usually takes them individually throughout the spring and summer and I’m sure he’ll want to do that again. He also will want to do the Warrior Dash again, so we need to stick that on the calendar.

Do we have any house project goals?
I have several spaces that I didn’t get to organize before our last garage sale. I also need to get serious about the garden and I’m sure my guy will have some ideas to add to this one.
We’re hoping to fix the patio out back and also an area in the front to make a seating spot to watch the kiddos while they play with neighbor friends.

Do we have any other goals for the summer that I haven’t included elsewhere?
This is the first summer in three years that our daughter won’t have language skills therapy for dyslexia, but usually I’m looking for a way to find help with the early morning driving. This year though, we’ll have more flexibility, but I also want to keep up on the activities that have helped her so much over the past three years, to work that into our daily routine.

What will our kiddos’ summer chores include (now that they’ll have a bit more free time)?
Oh–I have big plans for this one

What are some “fill-in” activities that we’d like to do more often?
Puzzles, nature walks, water gun fights, more books, obstacle courses, tree-house-building

Are there any schedules I need to collect to keep with my summer calendars?
Library–activities and summer book reading program, Kids’ VBS schedules from churches, community event calendars, local parks and recreation activities.