Make a Summer Fun Binder | Homeschool Better Together

I had been happily planning a fun summer full of activities this week— camp, crafts, VBS, and fun reading programs—when it occurred to me that the massive stack of related papers on my desk would not go anywhere for the next two months. Oy! This would never do.

PinSo what do we do with all those papers, where do we house them, and did I mention that I needed some calendar just to keep track of all the summer things we wanted to do?

Enter the Summer Fun Binder!

Pretty cool, huh? Let me tell you how I did it.

First, this is the perfect project for using up old office supplies you have around the house. I did not buy anything for this project and would encourage you to do the same. Here is what I used:

1/2″ binder – unless you are having too much fun, this should be big enough 🙂
pocket folder – the more pockets for all the slips of paper, the better
cardstock – I raided my scrapbook stash
three-hole punch

I thought it would be good to have a calendar to write out all the different activities we wanted to do. I knew writing things down by hand would help me to organize my thoughts about the jumble of available activities.

While pondering where to get a calendar printable, I realized I already had a very nice one. That one starts in July, though. So, I remedied that by making a June calendar and redecorating the summer months to make them theme-appropriate! And, of course, I am going to share.

PinThe pack also includes a cover sheet and a spine. You can print the cover and slide it into your binder sleeve or give it a bigger punch of color by cutting it out and mounting it on colored cardstock.

Inside the Summer Fun Binder

Here, I have my calendar with our activities penciled in. I started by putting in the big activities—Vacation Bible School and day camp. I also put in our regular activities, like piano and karate.

Then I looked at all the summer activity calendars I have collected over the past few weeks and started choosing which other activities would be the most fun and worth our time.

Having a calendar and all the options right in front of me made it easier to discern which activities were most worthy of our attention and which days we would need to stay home and rest some.

Once I used all the collected calendars I punched them and put them in the back of the binder in case we have a change of plans, and I need to refer back.

So, what is in the binder:

my calendars filled in with our chosen activities
event calendars from the town libraries, craft store, movie theater
summer reading material from Traveling Through the Pages Summer Reading Adventure, library, and Barnes and Noble
camp registration confirmation and information sheet
VBS registration forms (that I still need to complete!)
Karate belt exam study sheet (since the kids are testing in June, and I need to help them study)

So, basically, anything relating to the kids and their summer activities will be stored here. This will also be a great place to store any free deal tickets they get to local restaurants and ice cream shops. We always seem to pick up a few of those in the summer and never know where to put them to keep track.

So there you have it. A summer storage solution that is easy to grab and go puts everything at my fingertips and removes clutter from the edge of my desk. Let the summer fun commence!

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Pam

Pam is the author of The Your Morning Basket Guide and Plan Your Year: Homeschool Planning for Purpose and Peace. She also is the host of three popular podcasts -- The Homeschool Snapshots Podcast, Your Morning Basket, and The Homeschool Solutions Show. She lives in the Deep South with her husband and three kids, where she is the go-to lady for great curriculum recommendations or a just a pep talk on a rough day.