Oh man, this is by far the toughest lesson for me to teach and preach yet honestly live out.

Us mama's often get so lost in the daily grind and the joy of our role, but we don't do for ourselves which nourishes our souls most.

We also find ourselves so caught up in the busyness of summer and we can't seem to untangle our day enough to come up for air.

For me, I especially found this to be true once I 'lost' nap times I so valued when they were little. Though, rarely did they go as planned. I had those kind of kids. : )

When they were little, the mornings sometimes stretched on for ages and I used to wait to cram too much in an hour nap time, while often needing a nap myself. I didn't always want to feel like I need to run to the gym just to occupy them, though it was exactly what I needed to do some days.

So, what's mama to do?

Time blocking sounds so formal, but there are several ways to carry this out in creating a Simply Summer for you. Remember, how I've promised you to find more time for you to do those much needed projects or find time to peacefully work from home?

This is how I do it.

Pull out those Calendar Worksheets again, I would use the weekly view to record your answers for a speedier process. Look at the rhythm of the days you have set so far.

First grab your blue and purple pencil.

Step#1- Now, identify this space of time on the full summer schedule:

• Where do you have too much time this summer with your kids with nothing scheduled? This is a purely unique personal opinion, based on your capacity.

Step #2- Identify on your weekly calendar or full summer schedule:

• What is the realistic time you can have your child(ren) play or work on activities alone? Hint. This will most likely be the space of time they can use to work on their Super Summer Challenge.

Step #3- Mark those available times we just identified in blue - those hours they might be able to work on their SSC (Super Summer Challenge) activities alone. Just write ‘SSC’. We will plan the specifics later.

Step #4- Don't forget the days and times you might begin a quiet/rest time for the kids. If you have independent readers, this is a perfect space of time to have them read or non-readers to look at books or enjoy special learning toys. Write QT in blue. You can add this to your weekly or monthly calendars.

Step #4- Now identify:

• When can I create some focused 'me time' while they are others occupied (either in QT or SSC or asleep? For me this is early morning, during lessons or specific SSC alone activities.

• If they are past the napping stage. Can you incorporate a quiet time a few days a week for an hour; morning or afternoon?

Now, we’ve barely scratched the surface about find and creating more ‘me time’. Not to mention if often takes a few times to be told to do something this before we finally do it!

But this is a great beginning.

Now, onto the third module.

You are going to breeze through these next few lessons and the rest of the workshop.

The first two modules take the most time, but lays a much needed foundation. Not to mention, you will probably feel like you've done all you need for a Simply Summer. But wait! You want to keep going.

Now, we get to choose how we want to make all our can do, need to and must do lists fun and rewarding for everyone!