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The Academic Calendar

Writer's picture: Kristen King JaivenKristen King Jaiven

I love calendars. Paper calendars, electronic calendars, shared calendars, hanging calendars - I love them all. Give them to me for any gift, and I will use every last one of them (add cool pens and we may become best friends). I currently operate my life - managing my days as a mom, wife, lawyer, writer, and owner of a very old house that is always undergoing repairs - with the help of an assortment of calendar products from Simplified by Emily Ley. Upon becoming a customer of Simplified products, you get access to a Facebook group where a bunch of people discuss topics calendar fanatics love. A recent post in this group discussed using calendar year v. academic year agendas. Overwhelmingly, the post responses were split two ways: people with kids = academic; no kids (or grown kids) = calendar year. I immediately logged my response as academic; reasoning - small human that comes with wonky school schedule.

As I saw this Facebook post during my son’s last week of school, the post really got me thinking about how we organize life before kids v. after kids. If you ever told me pre-kids that a child’s school calendar - including events, days off, and even the pizza schedule - would become more challenging to keep track of than harsh lawyer deadlines and meeting company goals set on a fiscal calendar year, I would have laughed in your face. And yet, once I had my son, I literally tossed out the idea of living life on a calendar year, meaning I tossed out every tool I used to keep me on track professionally up until becoming mom. I no longer set goals on January 1st. January 1st became a mere day to help indicate that school would be reopening soon.

While the post got me thinking about how hard it is to keep track of our kid’s schedules, it also got me thinking about how much I absolutely LOVE the ebbs and flows of life with littles. When I think back to being a young lawyer with no child, I kept my nose in my work for days on end. I never came up for air and barely took vacations. While I always spent holidays with family, the holidays didn’t bring the preparation or buzzing excitement they do with children. The year would pass in a linear fashion from January 1st to December 31st absent any event of consequence that would provide an indication I was in a different season (it is important to note here that I live in Florida, so the weather does nothing to help me identify seasons). By December, I would find myself setting new goals and reviewing a hefty balance of unused PTO.

Then you have kids, and you start to live your life through their experiences. You find yourself shopping for new clothes and cleaning out old things before school starts in August. Then you are searching for Halloween costumes and stocking up on candy. Next thing you know your kid has brought home a pile of crazy turkey crafts, and you realize you’ve decorated for Thanksgiving without even buying one thing (who knew people decorated for Thanksgiving!). Then comes Christmas and Hanukkah and the kids are literally just buzzing with excitement for an entire month. You take a few days off of work over their Christmas break to make cookies and watch the Grinch and realize the Christmas season really is magical. Then school resumes until Spring Break and you realize a break in March or April is as much a mental break for you as it is for the students. Then the school year ends, and you find yourself in the chaos of an unstructured summer.

Last year was the first summer we decided not to send our son to school or find childcare for the entire summer. We took trips and took our son to swim lessons. We visited family and let our son get lost in the shuffle of a bunch of cousins each day. We broke routine for the months of June and July, and it was one of the best things our family ever did. Our son, who has been in daycare since he was ten weeks old, got two months of virtually no schedule, while my husband and I realized we could take time off without things falling apart. Sure we had to take calls and log hours at work, but everything was fine. As it turns out, a lot the world pauses in the summer.

Today marks the first day of our 2022 summer adventure. I have the last two months of my 21/22 academic calendar filled with fun things and moments of nothing - the perfect summer combination. I also have my 22/23 academic calendar in tow with hopes to start planning next year - a year with big changes on the horizon. But next “year” doesn’t start until August… so until then, it is time to enjoy all that summer has to offer.

***Note: The Mommy’s Time Store will be closed for Family Time June 1st through June 15th. While Mommy’s Time is soooo important to me, so is Family Time, and I have to make space for both. That is truly what the book is all about! If you want to purchase the Mommy’s Time book during the store closure, please visit Amazon or Barnes and Noble. While the Mommy’s Time mug is exclusive to the Mommy’s Time store, the mug was designed and produced by the Made for Mama Shop and their mugs are the absolute best. If you are in the market for a mama-inspired mug while the store is closed, visit Made for Mama and use “mommystime” for 10% off!***

Thank you for your continued support of Mommy’s Time!






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