How I Keep Track of 5 Kids’ Schedules Without Losing My Mind

The simple family calendar system that keeps our family of 7 on the same page

There are seven people in our family.

Five kids. Multiple sports. School activities. Appointments. Church. My husband’s work events. Practices. Games. Chores.

And somehow…Mom is supposed to know where everyone needs to be at all times. 😂

There are seasons when I feel like half of my brain is being used just to remember who has practice, who needs to be picked up, what time we’re supposed to be somewhere, and whether there is actually a night this week when all seven of us will be home at the same time.

For a long time, I used a system that technically worked.

I kept everything in my paper calendar, and then at the beginning of each month I would transfer our entire schedule onto a big dry-erase calendar so the rest of my family could see what was going on.

Except as our kids got older and became involved in more activities, our calendar started getting FULL.

Like…running-out-of-room-to-write full.

And I was spending way too much time writing everything in my planner, rewriting it on the family calendar, changing things when schedules changed, and still being the person everyone asked:

“Mom, what do we have tonight?”

I finally decided there had to be an easier way.

Our Family Schedule Is A LOT

Right now, we’re in one of those especially busy seasons.

Monday usually means school and volleyball practice.

Tuesday and Wednesday include BSF for my youngest and me, school, and practices or games for my older daughter. Wednesday also brings cheer practice for my 7-year-old, followed by Wednesday night church.

Thursday is school and football practice.

Friday usually means school and another practice.

Saturday we have tennis.

Sunday is church, football, cheer AND small group.

Meanwhile, my husband works a lot of evenings and usually has events happening throughout the week, too.

And that’s just this season.

Give us a few months and the sports will change, the practices will move, and we’ll have an entirely different schedule to keep track of. 😂

With five kids, I realized I didn’t just need another calendar.

I needed a digital family calendar that could actually keep up with a large family—and one place where everyone could see what was happening.

I needed one place where our entire family could see what was happening.

The Digital Family Calendar We Switched To

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We ended up switching to a Dragon Touch digital family calendar, and it has become our family’s central hub.

Shop our Dragon Touch Digital Family Calendar

We hung ours in the dining room where everyone can easily see it when walking into the kitchen.

I actually love having it there because we can also look at it while we’re sitting around the dinner table.

We’ll talk about what’s coming up the next day, the next week, or even the next month.

Instead of everyone’s schedule living inside Mom’s head, it’s right there where the whole family can see it.

And that alone has been a HUGE help.

Everyone Has Their Own Color

This might be one of my favorite features.

Every person in our family has a different color — all five kids plus Mom and Dad — and then we have another color for events that involve our whole family.

When I glance at the calendar, I can immediately see who has something happening.

With five kids going in different directions, having that visual separation makes such a difference.

Instead of reading through a giant list of events trying to figure out who needs to be where, I can look at the colors and quickly get a feel for our day.

My Husband and I Can Update It From Our Phones

This was a game changer compared with our old dry-erase calendar.

There is an app that my husband and I both have on our phones.

If I’m sitting at school pickup and get an email saying practice changed from 5:00 to 6:00, I don’t have to think:

“I need to remember to change that on the calendar when I get home.”

I change it right then on my phone.

And the calendar at home automatically updates.

My husband can do the same thing.

Since he works a lot of evenings, this has been especially helpful for us. He can open the calendar on his phone and see what’s happening with the kids without needing me to remind him of every practice, game or appointment.

It’s one less thing for me to carry around in my brain.

And I will happily take that. 😂

It Does More Than Keep Track of Our Schedule

This is probably what surprised me most.

We originally needed a better way to manage our calendar, but we’ve started using it for much more than that.

There are areas for things like:

• Meal planning
• Grocery lists
• To-do lists
• Chores
• Rewards
• Reminders

The chore system has become one of my favorite parts.

Our kids can see their chores and check them off when they’re finished.

When they complete them, they earn stars toward rewards that my husband and I have set up.

I love that because the calendar isn’t just telling our kids where Mom is taking them next.

It’s also helping them learn:

What am I responsible for today?

They can check the calendar themselves.

They know what activities they have.

They know what chores they’re responsible for.

And they have goals they’re working toward.

Anything that helps five kids take a little more ownership of their own schedules and responsibilities is a win in my book. 😂

Getting the kids involved is also a big part of our evening reset routine, especially when it comes to getting the main floor picked up before bed.

It Has Taken Some of the Mental Load Off Me

This is probably the biggest reason I love having it.

There’s a lot of invisible work that comes with managing a family.

It’s not just driving everyone to practices.

It’s remembering the practice in the first place.

Remembering the school event.

Remembering that one kid needs to be somewhere at 5:00 while another needs to be somewhere else at 5:30.

Remembering what your husband has going on.

Remembering the appointment you scheduled three months ago.

And remembering all of that while doing everything else that comes with being a mom.

Now when something comes up, I put it on our calendar.

And I can let it go.

I don’t have to keep reminding myself not to forget it.

We can even set reminders for important events so we’re notified ahead of time.

My kids can see what’s happening.

My husband can see what’s happening.

I can see what’s happening.

Everyone is working from the same information.

And that has taken a surprising amount of mental clutter away.

One thing that has helped me even more is having a few simple routines we can fall back on—especially our Sunday reset routine before another busy week starts.

Is the Dragon Touch Calendar Perfect?

Nope.

And I always want to be honest about products I recommend.

Our biggest annoyance is that sometimes the calendar can lag a little.

My kids are FAST when they’re checking off chores. 😂

They want to tap, tap, tap and move on, and occasionally the screen takes an extra second to respond. That can frustrate them.

For us, though, it hasn’t been enough of an issue to outweigh how much we use and love the calendar.

It’s something I would want another mom to know before buying it, but I would absolutely choose it again for our family.

Would I Recommend a Digital Family Calendar?

If you’re managing multiple kids, activities, sports and schedules — YES.

Especially if you feel like you are the family calendar.

That’s exactly how I felt.

I don’t think a digital calendar magically makes family life less busy.

We still have five kids.

We still have practices.

We still have games.

We still have nights when we’re going in five different directions. 😂

But now everyone can see what’s happening.

My kids have more responsibility.

My husband and I can both add and change things.

And I’m not spending time copying everything from my planner onto a dry-erase calendar every month.

Most importantly, I don’t feel like I have to keep quite so much information stored inside my head.

And in this season of motherhood, anything that gives me a little more room for the things that actually matter is worth it.

See the Dragon Touch Digital Family Calendar we use!

Less chaos. More life. 🤍