Summer schedule for tweens at home

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Inside: Summer schedule for a 9 to 12 year tween children at home. What to include in their Muslim routine and how to guide them.

Kids need a schedule in Summer

Summer means relaxed days and exploring in my home. And it is the number one reason for me to create a schedule for my kids because if not, it will mean just LEGOs, dolls and screen time all day long! If I don’t help them create a routine, for sure they will spend their whole day in chaos.

Through the school year, they are busy with studies and school projects that they don’t get the time to look at other opportunities to have fun or learn new things.

Summer activities for kids

I am not a big fan of extra-curricular activities during the school year, outside of what they already are doing at school.

Since, I am very strict about their sleep habits and preserving energy for proper performance at school, I generally don’t let them go swimming, or take taekwondo classes on a weekday. It has to be either the weekend or Summer or even a Winter break.

I am also not a big fan of Summer camps for kids. We live in a very hot country. If schools aren’t safe to be open, then I feel my kids aren’t safe to be outdoors, or commuting just to be kept busy. I prefer that my kids be bored and curious to try new things themselves, instead.

We are not a screen-free family. I know the importance of screens in education and so, although we have strict rules in our home, screens are never banned. My children are free to use a mobile phone, TV, iPads and have their own laptops.

The number one benefit, that I have seen of parents being okay with screens, but having rules at home, is that kids aren’t stretching their privileges. Family rules are important for every family.

But having said that, in Summer, it is not just rules that will help you keep kids responsible with their screens. You need activities for them that steer them to try new things. That means investing in quality educational toys, craft supplies and educational material.

Chores in the Summer

I also feel that Summer is is a great opportunity for me to teach my kids real world skills – like how to run a home and how to do fun non-screen things!

I understand it is boring for the kids, but with a little positivity and encouragement, they do learn to pitch in with the chores. Chores done, means a happy mommy – who is willing to take them places, and let them try new things at home and outside.

It seems hard for us adults to visualize children actually enjoying Summer doing chores, but with a little creativity (as you will see in the schedule I share below) kids actually enjoy it. You can get a child to enjoy things like vacuuming, dusting, arranging cupboards and loading the dishwasher. (Only… we mums have to lower our expectations of what a job well done looks like.)

Quran memorizing in the Summer

My children have been memorizing the Quran for some years now, so I find that Summer is also a great time for kids to catch up on their revision, and also speed up their progress.

There are two ways to get your children enrolled in Quran memorizing

1. Hire a teacher or enroll in a madrasa
2. Guide them yourself at home.

We have done both ways. In the past few years, my kids have been in a physical madrasa, in online classes, through a private tutor and at home with me. There is no right and wrong way. And mostly, Quran memorization is a journey… so you will have to be very in tune with your children.

There is also your parenting style. Some parents prefer to be very strict with the method, and want their kids to stick to the class or tutor. And often it works out with their child’s personality. Other parents may prefer to be very child-focussed. They want the kids to take the lead with how the child studies.

In the Summer, you can take either of those approaches and both will work. Summer is, in my experience, the best time for you to enroll your child in Quran studies.

Prayers in Summer

Summer is also a great time to help your children form the five times a day prayer habit. If your child has been neglecting their prayers – either all or some of them, here’s your chance to gently form the habit again.

This has two fold benefits. One, you can teach your child to prioritize prayer and schedule their day around the five daily prayers. Secondly, the most important thing you can teach your child is to get up early, and not sleep in until late.

In the Summer, one of the major problems parents have is that kids delay bedtime and sleep in in the morning. You can avoid all of this by helping them realize the importance of their Salah and it being prayed at the right time.

How to create a Summer Schedule for Tweens

When you are creating a Summer schedule for kids, and you want it to work, here’s one thing that I want you to remember: It is their routine so it must be created by them.

Your tween is not small. They are almost a teen. They are responsible and very intelligent. They can think for themselves and make good decisions. All you need to do is trust them to make good judgments and learn from their mistakes.

As a parent to a tween, your job is to offer guidance. Don’t try to live their life and definitely, don’t try to teach them how to do things. They can figure things out by themselves. They may need your advice but they will never need your rescuing them. If they ever did, they will ask you.

Trust your child. Let them take on their own responsibility. Summer is a great time for such “experiments”.

Trust them to have a good routine. The sample routine I offer you below is for your guidance and information only. If you’d like your child to adopt a good routine, let them take the lead.

Sample Summer Schedule for a 9-12 year old.

So you need ideas for what an ideal tween’s routine looks like. May be you would like to offer them one or may be you are wondering if your little guy (or girl) is on the right track. Well, so here is a sample for you:

That’s my kids routines this year. It has been like that for a few years now. (I don’t remind them that though!)

It’s child-led, so meaning to say, it took them a few weeks after school closed to come up with this routine. They tried a few things before this:

• They tried waking up early and staying up till noon… but they’d be very tired and cranky.
• They tried sleeping in later at night (school days bedtime is 9pm) but they were unable to wake up for Fajr.
• They tried asking for screens in the morning, but then afternoons were boring.
• They wanted Quran time to be after Maghreb, but they couldn’t keep consistent and were too tired to revise or recite.
• They wanted to do chores later in the day, but we were all hand washing the dishes and having to push things off the couch.
• They wanted to make their beds later with the chores, but the house looked a bigger mess to start with.
• They didn’t want to vacuum everyday but the rugs were always cluttered to sit on.

They eventually learnt and revised and… re-revised till they got it right. Yes, mommy did off-handedly tell them what was not working. But just subtly! 😉

So… this is the routine for Summer we have. I hope it benefitted you in some way.

Need help creating your own daily routine for kids?

If you’ve tried routines before and they fell apart within a week, it isn’t your fault. And it is not your child’s fault either.

A sample schedule tells you what to do. It doesn’t tell you how to get your child to actually cooperate with it. It doesn’t give you a morning routine chart your 3 year old can follow independently. It doesn’t tell you what to do when the afternoon falls apart, or how to handle the days when everything goes sideways.

That gap between knowing what a good routine looks like and actually living it is exactly why I built the Calm Confident Children’s Bundle.

Here’s what’s inside:

• 20 done-for-you routine charts — school time, summer, homeschool, morning, afternoon and evening routines, all formatted and ready to print tonight
• 3 Family Rules charts — screen time, quiet time, and house rules — so your child knows what’s expected without you having to repeat yourself
• 20 accountability and progress charts to make cooperation feel like a game, not a battle
• The Perfect Routines Workbook — a step-by-step guide to customising a routine that works for your child’s temperament, not just a generic 3 year old
• “Is My Child Getting Enough Sleep?” workbook — so you can stop guessing and start adjusting with confidence
• 150+ play and learning activities so you always know how to fill the morning and afternoon slots meaningfully

One mom who used it said: “My home went from chaos to calm in one week.” Another said: “No power struggles since. A happier home.”

It’s $39 — less than a single trip to the supermarket — and you get access within minutes of purchasing.

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