Let’s talk keeping your family schedules organized digitally. 

With four kids, life is never a bore. Two are toddlers and not even into sports yet, so I don’t even know how we will juggle that when the time comes!  The original plan to keep up with our family schedule involved a dry erase calendar hanging in the laundry room.

I bought it shortly after we moved into the house and designated it our command center. After a few months, I realize that I never changed the month after the initial month. I guess I can take that calendar down now, since it’s not been used since.

How to Organize Your Family Schedule Digitally

Keeping Your Family Schedule Organized with Google Calendars

The biggest thing with keeping up with our family’s schedule is making sure that both my husband and I are both in the know. And the one tool that has worked for both of us is Google Calendar.

Yes, I know there are numerous apps that can help do this, but at the end of the day the way Google integrates with Gmail and well so many other things in my life, it has worked best.

Here is a look at our Google calendar for October.

Coordinating Family Calendar

Crazy, right? I may have had a slight panic attack when I zoomed from week to month. No wonder why I feel like we are always on the go. I’m able to color coordinate items, set alerts and more.

The best part is that my husband can see this on his phone, or computer. He has no excuse when scheduling something (and neither do I!)

Regardless if you use an Android or an iPhone, you can sync your calendars with just a few steps. You can setup alerts, create invitations and more.

You can create individual calendars, share each with multiple people and more. Let’s look at a few tips and tricks that will help you use Google Calendar for your family’s schedule:

Setting Up and Sharing Family Google Calendar

If you already have a Google calendar setup for say work, don’t worry you can create a specific calendar and share that specific calendar and still keep your work calendar.

Do this by clicking on the gear in calendar mode and then going to Calendar Settings.

Google Calendar for Family

And here is what the calendar settings look like. You can share SPECIFIC calendars, unsubscribe from calendars, create another calendar, import or export calendars. Google really has created an awesome tool that will help you tremendously when organizing your family’s schedule!

Viewing Specific Google Calendars

If you are like me, and have well – a LOT of calendars going on. From the web, you can click and choose which calendar you see by just clicking the calendar name to toggle viewing on or off.

Google Calendar for Family Schedule

Sync iPhone with Google Calendar

Here is how you sync your iPhone calendar with your Google Calendar:

To sync your Google Apps account with your iPhone or iPad:

  1. Go to your device’s home screen.
  2. Touch Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account > Exchange.
  3. Enter your full Google Apps email address and password, then touch Next.
  4. Enter m.google.com as your server address, then re-enter your full Google Apps email address in the “User Name” field.
  5. Touch Next. If your domain administrator has enabled the necessary Google sync settings, you should be good to go.
  6. Any emails, contacts, calendar events, or reminders you send or create on your device will now sync directly to your Google Apps account on the web. To sync only your calendar, turn the others Off.

Just open Calendar to verify that it’s syncing. If you run into problems, check out the related articles below.

To sync more than one calendar or new calendars you create, go to https://m.google.com/sync/settings >Calendars you want to sync > Save.

Learn more at support.google.com

Android and Google Calendar

If you or your partner have an Android, just make sure that the calendar is shared with the email that they are using with the phone.

That’s How We Use It!

Well folks, that’s how we digitally organize our family’s crazy schedules. It works well for us, and may just work for you. Bonus: It’s FREE!

Do You Use Google Calendar for Your Family Schedule?

How to Keep Your Family Schedule on Google Calendar is a part of the Digital Mom Blog series Kids and Technology

More Digital Mom Blog Fun: