It’s the favorite time of the year for many exhausted parents: Back to school! If you’re a parent, you understandably want to make the school year as organized, drama-free, and enjoyable for yourself and your children. Here are some tips to ensure that this school year is a resounding success!
Check To-dos Off Your List the Night Before. Nothing gets you and your kids’ day off to a shaky start like a chaotic morning and a mad dash to make it to the bus stop or school in time. Add some breathing room to your morning by having your kids shower and set out their school clothes the night before. If you pack their lunches, do that the night before as well.
Have a Dedicated School Stuff Space. Depending on the age of your kids and your method of getting to school, you probably have backpacks, textbooks, musical instruments, school projects, lunch boxes, and/or bicycle helmets to keep track of. Create one area for these items. Hang hooks for backpacks and helmets and set out bins (one per child) for other essentials.
Create A Homework Policy. As the school year progresses, homework will become a part of your child’s responsibilities. Have a family meeting and decide what works best for your family. Should kids complete their homework as soon as they get home? Before dinner? After dinner? Should they do their homework in their room? At the kitchen table? In the den? What works for the Joneses next door may not work for you.
Create a Family Master Calendar. The beginning of the school year is full of meetings and deadlines. As the year progresses, there are also practices, concerts, dances, schedules, field trips, etc. The more kids you have, the harder it is to keep track of it all. Create on large, centrally located master calendar and color code it per child. This way everyone in the house will be able to arrange their schedules and expectations for the day.
Organize your home and your time and set down some ground rules, and you’ll get an A+ for back to school!