10 Ways To Get Back-To-School Ready
The sun is setting earlier each day. The days are getting a little cooler. The stores are advertising Back-To-School outfits and you’ll start seeing school supplies pop up everywhere very shortly (if not already).
With these back-to-school tips and ideas, we hope everyone can have an enjoyable transition from the less structured days of summer to the beginning of the school year.
1. Outfit Planning
Whether your children can choose their own clothes or you decide for them, picking and laying out outfits the night before can save you serious time in your morning routine and often frustration for you and your child. Make this fun by choosing each outfit together! Some really organized parents even choose outfits for every day of the week. Check out these hanger dividers that can help you and your kids stay organized throughout the school year. Don’t forget to pick out the shoes, hair accessories, socks, and jewelry too!
2. Meal Planning
This is an important part of back-to-school prep for both parents and kids. Do your full grocery shop the weekend before school starts to make sure you have all the things you’ll need to pack lunches and prepare breakfasts and dinners each day that week. Check out these great crockpot recipes to keep the cooking easy the first week back. When it comes to packing lunches for your kids, there are so many great ways to get organized. Use Ziploc bags to organize each part of their lunch and measure out snacks and veggies for every day of the week. If your kids are old enough to pack lunches themselves, make it easier by having snacks pre-packed and ready to grab on the go. Try having them choose one from each category: (CRACKERS) gold fish/pretzels, (PROTEIN) cheese sticks/chicken strips/hot dogs, (VEGETABLES) carrot sticks/celery sticks, (SWEET) trail mix/gummies, (FRUIT) clementines/grapes/apple slices.
3. Homework Stations
Having a designated organized space for your kids to do their homework can really help their productivity. Put together a station stocked with all the supplies they’ll need: pens, pencils, highlighters, crayons, markers, ruler, erasers, paper, scissors, stickers, etc. This can also help them stay focused since they won’t have to run around the house looking for a pen or stapler. How about a station for you too? We love having folders handy to organize the papers that need to be signed or filed (like report cards, school photos and teacher notes).
4. Backpack Organizing
Regardless of your child’s age, having a system for their backpack is important. If they’re in kindergarten, maybe all you need is a pouch for writing supplies and a folder to hold paperwork. If they’re in elementary school, perhaps you’ll want separate pouches for pens and pencils and multiple folders to keep papers organized. If your children are middle-school age, then they might want to help in the organization process so they can keep it up. Maybe they need to carry a phone and phone charger for emergencies – having a pocket designated for this can be very helpful.
5. School Supplies
Err on the side of MORE when it comes to school supplies; you know you’ll eventually use them throughout the school year, just make sure that you can find them when you need them.
6. Morning Routines
Decide what time you need to leave by (at the latest) in order to be on time and then tell everyone (including yourself) that you have to be out of the house 10 minutes before that time. If your family is chronically late in the mornings, try changing the clocks to make them a few minutes faster. A lot of the other tips discussed today will help with your morning routines too, like picking out clothes the night or week before, having meals packed and ready to grab and go and getting into a good bedtime routine.
7. Bedtime Routines
It’s so hard to go to bed early and wake up for the first day of school, so why not start a week early to get into a good routine? Try having your kids get into the habit the week (or two) before school starts and have them practice waking up on time to give them time to adjust. It’s hard for anyone to get into a new routine, so practice early and it will help everyone deal with the first week of school!
8. Chores For Kids
Ugh! I don’t know many kids (or adults) who like to do chores, but I do know that starting to help at an early age can set up great habits and feelings towards doing chores. Here’s a great resource for assigning chores to children in various age groups.
9. Mommy & Daddy Prep
One of the greatest tips I’ve found for parents heading into the new school year is to put down the phone until the kids are off to school. Maybe you love checking Facebook and Instagram before heading off to work (I know I do), but it can be a big time suck and you have more important things to take care of the first couple days and weeks of school starting up.
10. First Day of School Photos
Capturing the first day of school for your kids memories is important and can be done in a number of fun and creative ways. Check out these printables that we made for you to use on the first day of school.
PRINTABLES
I hope that you feel a little more relaxed thinking about the first day of school. Even though it’s just around the corner, you’ve still got some time left in this beautiful summer, so get out there and enjoy it!