Catholic Family Summer Checklist

Hello and welcome!

As promised, here is the Catholic Family Summer Checklist! Just click the button below to download and print!

Summer is a wonderful but crazy time for families. There is so much more free time and fun, but also lots of obligations, and each year those summer days seem to just slip by!

But I’m determined to do things differently this year!

Experience has taught me that trying to impose a rigid schedule around here in the summer will backfire, so instead we are adopting this simple family checklist that will work for any family! Join us in striving to do these simple, yet powerful tasks each day, each week, and each month. Each of these tasks will help my family and yours get more out of summer and live the Catholic Faith well. Nothing here is too big or too specific, and yet ensuring that these things happen in your home will deeply impact all members of your family.

In case you are staring at the checklist, curious about how to accomplish these things in your home, here are a few ideas:

DAILY TASKS

The daily tasks on our summer checklist are simple things that are good for adults and children alike. Also, lots of these tasks can be combined!

We encourage you to make the daily tasks a habit in your home. Train your kids to do each of these things each day. To accomplish this, print this checklist, laminate it, and give a copy to each child with a dry-erase marker. Then, before they are allowed leisure time, ask them to complete each task for a designated amount of time and mark it done on their sheet.

PRAYER: We ask our children to start praying on their own when they are 10. The younger kids can count our family prayer time as their daily prayer task.

MOVE: This means whatever it needs to mean for your child. Whether your child is training for a sport or simply stretching their legs at the park, let’s all get in a little bit of movement.

LEARN: Again, you are the parent, so you decide what this means. I have a couple of kids that will be working on reading this summer. One is going through a program, another will be reading to me for 15 minutes each day. Another one of my kiddos will be working on math facts. I set the expectation for “learning” and it is up to them to make sure it is completed.

PLAY: It amazes me how some days I have to force my kids to play with each other! In our house playing together is an off-screen activity. My kids love board games, although sometimes they need a push to get started. My little ones love imagination games. At the start of the summer, I am investing in a few new board games and a fort-making-kit.

EAT TOGETHER: This is a must for our family all year long. Most every night we sit down to eat supper together. We also have a designated time for lunch, otherwise kids would just snack snack snack all the day long!

FRESH AIR: I live in Minnesota, so summer is our time to be outside. Maybe the climate where you live won’t allow this. Regardless, I think it is important to “get out” each day. Maybe it’s a trip to the store or grandma’s house, but getting a little bit of “fresh air” is good for us all! 

And, here are a few ideas for combining these daily tasks on days when you are all together as a family:

INVITE SOME FRIENDS TO PLAY AT THE PARK: While there, pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet (here is a guide), run around and have a snack. ✅Pray, ✅Move, ✅Play, ✅Eat Together, ✅Fresh Air

VISIT A DIFFERENT PARISH: Spend an afternoon or a Saturday visiting a different parish. Explore the statues and stained glass, pray before the Tabernacle, walk through the cemetery, and, if possible, meet the priest. ✅Pray, ✅Move, ✅Learn, ✅Fresh Air

WEEKLY TASKS

Weekly Tasks are wonderful things for a family to do, but a bit more involved. Regardless, strive to do each of these things at least once a week to keep Christ and Family at the heart of your summer.

ADORATION VISIT: Summer gives us lots of freedom, so let’s use that freedom well! Got some time to kill between baseball games? Stop by Adoration. Got bored kids at home eager to get out and do something? Head to Adoration. Make it a habit, and stop by when you have a moment.

FAMILY ROSARY: Summer is a time for road trips! Use that time in the car to pray the Rosary! We love praying along to an audio version of the Rosary. My favorite audio versions of the Rosary can be found inside the AMEN App, which is a free prayer App. It’s also wonderful to gather around a campfire and pray the Rosary, or meet friends at a park where the kids can play while the moms pray the Rosary. 

FAMILY ADVENTURE: Let’s go on an adventure! family adventures can be big and small. A few summers ago the kids and I visited as many waterfalls in our local area as possible. Some of them were just a few miles away. It was simple and so much fun! Take an adventure to a nearby lake, to grandpa’s farm, to a local parish. And trust me, calling something an adventure makes it WAY MORE FUN!!!

MONTHLY SUMMER CHALLENGES

And finally, the Catholic Family Summer checklist offers you 3 monthly challenges, one for each of the summer months. Here are some tangible things you can do each month:

Ideas for celebrating the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

• Create a Sacred Heart Pie
• Pray this Sacred Heart Prayer 
• Go to Holy Mass
• Use our 33-Day Preparation for Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Ideas for Participating in the Eucharistic Congress:

• Use this Eucharistic Procession Coloring Pages
• Go to Eucharistic Adoration
• Pray the Pardon Prayer from Fatima
• Pull your family closer to the Eucharist with our Eucharistic Study, Encountering the Heart of Jesus

Idea for Celebrating the Assumption:

• Make Mary Paper Dolls
• Pray the Rosary Together
• Go to Holy Mass!
• Use this beautiful book with reflections by St. Mother Teresa to help your family fall in love with the Rosary! 

I hope that this checklist and what I’ve shared here is helpful. Promise me that you won’t let this become overwhelming! Do what you can, strive to be a little bit better every day, and TRUST that God will use our small efforts to do big, incredible things! Because He will.

In Christ Jesus,

Nancy 

PS: you can find all of the products we mentioned right here: https://shop.catholicsprouts.com/collections/summer-catholic-family-checklist