By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed.
I’ve written about summer reading before, and have shared multiple summer reading tips here and here.
In this post, I’m elaborating on one of the summer reading strategies I’ve discussed before, because it is worth sharing again: how to make a summer reading schedule.
It’s automatic to think that summer vacation is three months long (most of us associate June, July and August with summer break), which misleads us into thinking that we have three months to read our summer reading books. But if you look at an actual calendar, that just ain’t so. (Sorry.)
In order to have enough time to read your summer reading books before summer is over, you should make a basic summer reading schedule. The whole process will take no more than 10 minutes, but can make such a difference in balancing your summer reading with your summer otherthings.
Whether you have to read one book or five, the steps for creating a summer reading schedule are the same.
Below is an example of what a completed summer reading schedule could look like.
If you’d like a free printable of summer reading schedule that I made just for you – so that you can print it and fill it out on your own – here you go.
Once you print out that template, follow the steps below to fill it out.
How to make a summer reading schedule
- Choose a deadline for finishing your book. If you have multiple books, choose a deadline for your first book, then your second one, etc.
- Calculate how many days you have between now (the day you plan to start reading) and your deadline. Write this number down.
- Divide the total number of pages in your book by how many days you have to read it. The result is how many pages per day you need to read to finish the book on time.
- On a calendar – like the one in this template – write out the exact pages you will read each day. Don’t write how many pages you will read, but instead include the actual page numbers.
Again, if you have multiple summer reading books to get through, then just repeat steps 1-4 for each book.
Stick to your reading schedule as much as possible. But if life happens and you don’t do your assigned reading for a day, then just catch up the next day. That’s why it’s so important to write exact page numbers for each day, as I wrote in step 4.
If you need a blank calendar template and you don’t want to make one yourself, use the one I made for you!
Download your FREE summer reading schedule template here.
You can also create a summer reading schedule digitally, using Google Calendar or something similar. Still, I really advise doing it on paper for the visual advantages that paper-based calendars and schedules provide. If you’re worried you might lose the paper or forget to bring it with you somewhere, take a picture of it.
Don’t forget! Download your FREE summer reading schedule template here. It’s easy – just print it as many times as you need.
If you need summer reading book ideas, here are some of my favorite sources for good books and summer reading lists: