Hi guys! Let’s Look is a blog series that some of my favorite mom bloggers do and host a link-up for on their blogs. I used to participate pretty regularly but I didn’t like any of the prompts they had for 2022 so skipped last year. If you’re new to the blog, it’s basically a post series where there is one set topic where you dive deep and “look” at how your family does that topic! I find they’re pretty fun to read so here’s the first Let’s Look of 2023 .. Let’s Look At Scheduling/Organizing a Busy Family!

Okay, so … the majority of this responsibility in our family falls on me. I am the brain/command center of how things run smoothly in the Sophisu Household. As my kids have gotten older, I have found that they have been easier to “care for” in the actual keeping them alive sense – they can wake up themselves, feed themselves, do their chores, etc – BUUUUUUT what has gotten harder is the insane after-school hours.

I used to use a paper & pen planner to schedule all my things as I really prefer to WRITE THINGS DOWN, but a few years ago I discovered the beauty of digital planning with an iPad and boom … I haven’t looked back since.

I purchased this digital calendar download from Etsy and use the GoodNotes app on my iPad pro to in put our family’s schedule. It looks something like this:

I chose a blank month so you could see .. the great thing with digital planners, especially on the iPad (versus a regular calendar app) is you can literally customize it/doodle on it/decorate it however you would on a paper planner. I chose the Sunday start calendar because that’s how my brain works but the download I linked above also has a Monday start version. The months on the side of the calendar and the “W1, W2, W3” etc on the Saturdays are all hyperlinks so if you click it, it takes you automatically to that month or a daily breakdown for that week.

Here’s also an example of a filled calendar … I purposefully made it blurry because I don’t need you all to see my family’s detailed schedule but you can get an idea for how busy we are :

I write down EVERYTHING in this calendar. After school activities, work meetings, personal errands, birthday parties, you name it, it goes down in here. If I’m the brain of our family’s schedule, this iPad is MY brain. It’s the brain’s brain 😂 I love that I can access the GoodNotes app on my phone so my iPad can stay at home and I can check my calendar/make a quick edit from wherever I am in the world.

I mentioned that if you click on a week, it’ll take you to a more detailed daily breakdown. Every Sunday, I use that to double check the schedule for the week and write out a timetable for what our daily schedule will look like (I don’t put obvious things like that I’ll be at work or kids will be school). Here is an example of that … I had to block the actual schedule with my hand for privacy but you can see how I jot down timestamps and what activity is happening at that time:

And then right next to that (you might see it peeking through my hand) there is a daily to-do spot that I LOOOVE to jot down my brain dump on. I put a to-do list, reminders, etc that I need for the day. I really enjoy that I can use my Apple pencil and it literally feels like I’m just using my tried & true paper planners from pre-digital planner years.

Every morning I like to take a look at my calendar so I can give myself a reminder of what the day is going to look like. Even though there is a routine and rhythm to our weeks and much of the schedule just repeats week after week, there’s still one person (me) remembering five schedules (everyone including myself and J) so… a refresh on the day-of is helpful.

Anyway, in terms of the actual doing of the schedule … again, I am the brain of it so I am in charge. There are a few things J has taken over and is in charge of .. for example, E does a weekly junior high DG at church and right across the street D does an extra soccer training at the same time so J knows that he has to take them to do that every week. But the majority of the schedule is for me to handle … and y’all it’s hard. If I could hire a wife to do half the driving with me, I’d love that. J helps here and there when he has a free moment but the mental load of knowing when that pick up happens or who needs to be where at what time still falls on me. J just serves as my hands and feet when there are conflicts and I can’t be in two places at once.

Alright well I hope that gave everyone a sufficient look at how THIS family handles their scheduling and organizing. Is it a perfect system? No. Do I feel crazy most days? Yes. Does this HELP? Yes.

Happy Wed!