A household Ramadan planning checklist

Four weeks before

• Ask your mosque which calculation method its timetable uses, and whether it adds minutes to Fajr or Maghrib.
• Make the timetable for your city with that method, and note the expected first day. Ramadan 1448 is expected to begin on 8 February 2027.
• Agree the reading plan: the whole Quran once, a juz a day, or a set number of pages, and who reads on which days.
• Decide as a family on the month's charity, and on which days to give.

Two weeks before

• Talk to each child about what they want to try, and choose a fasting tracker, a good-deed chart or both.
• Pick the iftar evenings for guests, and who is coming.
• Let schools and work know, if that helps the household's days run smoothly.
• Add the suhoor and iftar times to the family calendar from the calendar file.

The last week

• When your mosque announces the start, change the first day in the pack if it differs, and choose 29 or 30 days.
• Print the pack: the cover, the timetable, a chart for each child, the reading plan and the Our Ramadan page.
• Put the timetable picture on the fridge and the charts where the children can reach them, with stickers or pens.
• Fill in the Our Ramadan page together: goals, guests and charity days.

During the month

• Tick each reading on the plan as it is done.
• Let the children mark their own charts each evening.
• If a day is missed in the reading plan, share the pages over the next few days rather than doubling one.
• Check the timetable against your mosque in the first week; adjust and reprint if they differ.

Towards Eid

• Follow your mosque for the end of the month: Eid follows the sighting, so the date on the pack is expected only.
• Look back at the Our Ramadan page and the charts together.
• Save a backup of the household, so next year starts from this one.

A worked example

A household of two parents and three children, aged 5, 9 and 13, makes its pack four weeks out. The mosque uses the Muslim World League method and adds 2 minutes to Maghrib, so they set the same. The 5 year old gets a good-deed chart, the 9 year old both charts, the 13 year old a fasting tracker. Both parents and the 13 year old read every day and the 9 year old reads at weekends, so the plan shares the 604 pages over every reading and comes to about 6 pages each. When the mosque announces a day later than expected, they change the first day and print again.

Common mistakes

• Printing before the start is announced, then forgetting to reprint when it changes.
• Choosing a method without asking the mosque, then wondering why the times differ by a few minutes.
• A reading plan with one heavy reader. Spread the pages, and add weekend readers.
• Planning every evening for guests and leaving no quiet nights.

Sources

• Ramadan guidance 2026, Birmingham City Council, for schools. Last reviewed 19 October 2026.
• Unicode Common Locale Data Repository, calendar data, Unicode Consortium. Last reviewed 19 October 2026.

Times are calculated; follow your local mosque for the start of the month and for prayer times.