One of the things our family does that has really helped make our lives a bit easier is our weekly Sunday Family Meetings. These meetings help create a structure for our week, while also keeping everyone up to speed on the family schedule and upcoming events.

Our family meetings have taken different forms throughout the years, but where we’ve landed now is our favorite model yet.

The night before the meeting Adam makes a little agenda of what we’re going to cover. We screen mirror this from his computer onto the TV screen for the kids to see. Not only does this make everything feel more official (kids always behave better when things feel official and important) but it also allows them to see what’s going to happen — that way they know when we’re almost finished. (who doesn’t love when they can see a meeting wrapping up? ha!)

The general structure of our meetings looks like this:

• Opening Question
• Review of Last Week
• Preview of The Coming Week
• Weekly Goal Review/Set
• Any Special Projects or Announcements
• Personal Savings Account Reports
• Hands in

If that seems like a lot, don’t fret, the meetings last about 15 minutes on average!

Opening Question

This helps get the kids focused. We try to keep the questions light and easy and give the kids a chance to speak. Often the question asks them to share a favorite moment from the past week or something else similarly reflective or hopeful for the upcoming week.

Review of Last Week

We’ll talk about what went well and what needs improvement. This is also when we discuss how homeschool went. The kids each give a brief report on how they felt their week at school went and I’ll share any feedback for how the school week went for me as their teacher.

Preview of The Coming Week

We’ll go over our weekly schedule. If there are any appointments, or irregularities that the kids need to know about we can share them here so they’re prepared. We have a few kids that like their routine to stay 100% the same and doing this helps prep them for any bumps in that routine they might encounter. It has helped immensely.

Weekly Goal Review/Setting

Adam and I like to set goals and encourage our children to do so. We all take a moment to share how we did with our goal from the previous week, and then share what personal goal we have for this week or how we’re going to improve if we have the same goal.

These aren’t always big goals, in fact, we stress to the kids to pick something smaller and more manageable. Putting their shoes away; finishing a book they’re reading; shutting the door each time they head outside, making time for art, etc. I think it’s great for kids to have an opportunity to both see how we as adults are working on bettering ourselves in both small and large ways and be self reflective about things they can do to improve pain points in their lives.

Special Project/Announcements

This isn’t every week. Only if there’s anything special like a holiday or a day trip they need to plan for.

Personal Savings Account Review

We’ve created a spreadsheet that shows each kids’ savings account balance. This includes all the money they’ve received from Birthdays, Christmas, special chores, or other means. We take a quick minute to go over their balances so they know what they have. This takes hardly any time to cover, but for us its important that our kids get into the habit of responsibly monitoring their finances at a young age. With their current ages we focus a lot on the value of saving and spending on things that will bring value over impulses.

Hands In

At the end of the meeting we all put our hands in and someone new each week gets to pick the thing we say on three. It ends the meeting on a fun note, especially since the word or phrase is almost always ridiculous.

Want to start a family meeting tradition: Go for it!

If you want to start holding family meetings, we’re rooting for you! If you’re wondering if your kids are too young, they’re not! If you’re worried it’s too late, it isn’t! These meetings don’t have to be perfect — just whatever works best for your family. No matter what that looks like, there’s nothing but good things that can come from families communicating and working together.

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