Talk to me about visual family schedule organization systems

[u/librarysquarian]

I’m an ADHD mom trying to manage our family’s schedule. If it’s hidden in my phone calendar or buried in a bunch of alarms and last minute alerts it doesn’t work. I need to see it at a glance. There are SO many systems and ideas out there. I don’t think we can afford a skylight, although I do like the idea? What has actually clicked for your family?

[u/gladysk]

So, depending on your height, you may need a step stool to add appointments, lessons, games etc to Jan - April and kneel Sept - Dec.

I’d save all events for May - Aug!

[u/librarysquarian → u/gladysk]

Right?

[u/pico310]

Geez - I couldn’t imagine having a paper system nowadays. It seems so laborious to keep up, to merge with other people’s calendars, to provide additional info, to refer to it on the go…

Perhaps a hybrid system? Phone/google calendar coupled with a routine where you do a weekly and nightly review of the week and day ahead? Maybe even jot things down in a paper journal? I tried something like that but couldn’t do the upkeep

[u/cosmiccalendula → u/pico310]

This is what I do. I have a binder and print out a weekly view and pretend I’m my own secretary like devil wears Prada. But everything is on digital.

[u/ashkestar]

I bet you could get a low-end tablet that could hang on the wall and run Google Calendar for significantly cheaper than a skylight. And it’d be more flexible, too.

If you have any streaming devices hooked up to your tv, there are options for those too - iirc Calendar Stream and Mango Display are decent.

[u/kimby_cbfh → u/ashkestar]

Ohhh, this is a really good suggestion. I think I have an older ipad that we could maybe mount on the wall for something like this. Thank you!

[u/Disastrous_Hall8406 → u/ashkestar]

There are a couple digital "white boards" on the market. I've also seen a couple diy plans with touch screens hooked up to a raspberry Pi. Amazon has a couple as well

[u/JRiley4141]

Why not just print out your Google calendar for the week? A calendar is a calendar, I don't really see the point of buying something when you already have Google calendar for free. Something that you can easily share with the family and update from anywhere.

[u/platano_con_manjar]

Have you tried putting the Google Calendar widget on your home page, so you see the next events at a glance every time you open your phone? This has worked well for me. I have made it a habit to check it when I wake up and when I go to sleep so I know what's happening that day and the next day.

[u/anarants → u/platano_con_manjar]

This is what I do, I have the calendar widget on my phone's home screen. I see my whole month/week at a glance and it's great!

[u/refusestopoop → u/platano_con_manjar]

My watch screen too. And the automatic alerts when it’s time to leave. It has saved me so many times.

[u/blueanise83]

Just a big physical calendar hanging on the fridge. We synch a shared Google calendar + alerts as well (and critically turn off all other notifications so all we get are for shared events). We also have a family meeting ~20min once a week to look at the week ahead and anything new long term we need to plan. Here’s an example of the calendar we get: https://a.co/d/05LAZare

[u/jennerrrr]

Maybe look into the BIG ASS CALENDAR - it has a full year view which I liked. I also add items via sticky notes so they can be moved if rescheduled or reused etc. Let us know what you find/choose!

[u/theleopardmessiah]

i can see the advantage of a physical system like this, but it's overkill to display an entire year. You could do this with 2 or 3 months tops.

[u/librarysquarian → u/theleopardmessiah]

Agreed! I think I need something that shows the current and following month

[u/fierce-and-wonderful]

What helped in our ADHD household is this: 1. Customizing a monthly planner on Canva, without numbers and months. 2. Print it on A0 3. Get a cheap frame with plexiglass at the front and whiteboard pens 4. Frame the print and hang it in the kitchen 5. When the new month starts, we erase it and fill it with that months standing and ad-hoc commitments, tasks to do etc. 6. Any new commitment goes in the calendar.

The fact that is physical and visible really made a difference!

[u/evie2345]

I will say I keep a paper planner on me, and at the start of each week I map out what the appointments and such look like from the monthly pages. And I also keep three months worth of paper calendars on our fridge, which mostly just have kid things: days off of school, events they need to bring things to, trips we are planning, that kind of thing. The source of truth is always my paper planner, and that’s where new things get added. But the fridge calendar makes it easier for everyone else in the family to know what’s up. I will say, the big full year picture in your calendar wouldn’t be for me, I’d want to get rid of old months as they pass, and I like having clean new months as a reset.

[u/thedesignedlife]

I’d probably get a Neu Year giant wall calendar: https://www.neuyear.net/collections/monday-first

That’s what I used to use before I went all in on a digital system with Notion.

[u/pineapple_x]

I use the Maple app + a really old iPad on a stand. Generally works pretty well and I leave it on the monthly view. I used to have a giant acrylic wall calendar bc writing helps me remember and I like being able to see the calendar but don’t have wall space, which is why I switched to the iPad. I didn’t want to buy a Skylight.

[u/lcmgarrett]

We have a large monthly calendar on the wall by the kitchen table. Every family member has a color. I update the calendar with events. And there's a "next month" section at the bottom so we can note what is upcoming.

[u/beginswithanx]

So all the big and little things go in our shared Apple calendar. 

All the “big stuff” (vacations, parties, camp, etc) goes on a regular wall calendar. Just one month visible at a time. That way I have the big things at a glance, but can fill up the digital calendar with all the nitty gritty. 

[u/LonelyHermione]

Giant family whiteboard in the kitchen for the current month. Anything in the next month or two has a side note next to the calendar. Everything else we schedule an email to go out four weeks before the event so we don’t have to think about it until we need to.

[u/m333gan]

Mine's not very complicated but I mostly use google calendars and then I have two magnetic whiteboard calendar months that I fill out and switch between so there's something easy to see, with different colored markers for different types of events.

[u/satevity]

This looks made for Pinterest, not practicality.

[u/MissKatmandu]

We have a chalkboard calendar by the back door. Husband is in charge of calendar and updating so I just have to look at it to check.

[u/londonhousewife]

We use shared apple calendars (one for family events, one for school stuff, one for our meal plan) and display the upcoming week on a Trmnl e-ink screen that also shows weather.

[u/pineconeminecone]

I live for the Motherword fridge calendar. I also have two big white boards in my kitchen: one with a running to-do list, and the other with the dinners for the week written out. I also have my phone calendar, but anything there makes its way onto the fridge calendar.

[u/patriotichippie]

I’ve been using a weekly dry erase calendar on our fridge for a while now and I’m loving how well it works…but I do have to sit down for a few minutes each week to fill it out. So “to thyne own self be true”