Calming the scheduling chaos with Google Calendar

There’s so much going on during the school year,  it can sometimes be hard to keep track of what everyone is doing and when it all is happening!

A great way to tame the scheduling chaos, and minimize stress, is to create a SHARED Family Google Calendar.

This way, you all can all share events with each other, and see at a glance what everyone else has on the calendar.

You can add and edit events on the go, so they can be recorded the moment you learn about them, rather than waiting until you get home or have time to write them in a planner.

And your calendars will always be in sync, because as soon as one person edits an event, everyone else will see the changes happening in real time.

Want to try it out?

Here’s how…

How to set up a Family Google Calendar

1. Create a Google Account. If you don’t have a  Google account, you can create one at https://accounts.google.com/signup
   
2. Log on to Google Calendar at https://www.google.com/calendar
   
3. Create your family calendar(s). Follow the instructions from our Google Calendar Guide to set up your new calendar and share it with your family members! Some of the calendars you may want to create include: 
   • A shared family calendar, for events that everyone in the family will have access to
   • A calendar for each of your kids, which you each have the ability to edit and update as needed.  You can create this calendar and then share it with them, or have them create it and share it with you.   If you want them to be able to add events and make changes to the calendar, make sure that you share with the permission setting “make changes.
   • You may also want to share your personal or work calendar with your spouse and/or kids.  For example, if you travel a lot, you could create a ‘Travel’ schedule that you invite your kids & spouse to view so they can see when you’ll be out of town and when you’re coming home.  Note: For this calendar, you’ll want to select the setting that allows them to view event details, but doesn’t give them editing permission.
4. Add events to your calendars.  For recurring events, you can set them up to repeat once/week, on M/W/F, once a month, etc.  Some examples of the types of events you might want to add could include:
   • Sports tryouts & practices
   • Club meetings
   • After school classes or tutoring
   • Other extracurricular activities
   • Parties, Sleepovers & other special events
   • Trips / Vacations
   • School holidays
   • Birthdays (recurring yearly)
     …and more!
5. Set up reminders for your events. Set up default reminders for each of the calendars you have access to.  Encourage your kids to set up their own default reminders, too, since their preferences might be different from yours. For example, you may want a notification message one hour before each of your kids’ scheduled events, whereas your son or daughter might want two notifications: 30 minutes and 5 minutes beforehand.  Here’s more information on how to set up these reminders.
   
6. Download the Google Calendar App on all of your mobile devices,  so you can get notifications and make updates to your calendar on the go.  There are several Google calendar apps available. Here are links to my favorite ones for Android and iPhone/iPad

We’ve also put together a step-by-step guide to create your own family’s calendar! If you’d like to check out the guide, just click here or fill out the form below:

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About The Author

Dr. Maggie Wray is a certified ADHD Coach & Academic Life Coach with a Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Behavior from Cornell and a Bachelor’s degree in Astrophysics from Princeton. She founded Creating Positive Futures in 2012 to help high school and college students learn how to earn better grades with less stress. Her team of dedicated coaches is on a mission to empower students to develop the mindset, organization, time management, and study skills they need to achieve their goals.