Five Tips For Surviving Back To School
Summer disappeared in the blink of an eye and we’ve officially hit the back to school mark. Fall is quickly approaching, schedules are still fresh, and that last glimmer of summer is still hanging by a thread. Getting back into the swing of things can be stressful, but there are some things you can do to make the transition a little easier on yourself (and your family).
Here are Five Tips to Surviving Back to School!
Set a time for homework
Whether homework is done as soon as your kids get home or after their sports or activities, establish your homework time slot now. As the school year progresses and homework piles up, the after school routine will be automatic, leaving less rushing to complete assignments that were put on the back burner.
Extra Tip: Set a homework timer or clock that alerts everyone when its time to start homework.
Make a Family Calendar
Back to school night, book reports, football practice, soccer game… back to school means back to the crazy schedules. Create a calendar for everyone to use that clearly identifies the activities and due dates for tasks. Keeping everything organized will be less stressful in the long run, plus it will allow you to see when you have free time (if there is such thing as free time).
Extra Tip: Get creative and use a specific color for each family member. This will keep appointments and reminders easier to track.
Prep for the next day the night before
Mornings are crazy, especially if you have kids that have trouble getting up. Pick out clothes, pack lunches, and put together backpacks the night before. It will give you more time to focus on getting ready and having breakfast, plus you wont be scrambling to fill out any necessary papers.
Extra Tip: Put together as many lunches as you can on Sunday night. If you’re making sandwiches, make all five at once so you dont have to make one every night and separate snacks for five days. This will enable you to grab everything the night before and simply put it in a bag!
Establish an appropriate time for bed
Summer may have brought later bedtimes and lazy days, but now that school is in full force, its important to establish a reasonable time to head to bed. Gage your kid’s behavior, they’re doing a lot more at school during the day, so chances are, they’re probably exhausted by the end of the night. Try to send them to bed before the full exhaustion has set in.
Extra Tip: Depending on the age of your kids, this may mean an earlier dinner to get them settled at a reasonable hour. Plan out dinners for the week to spend less time after school and work asking the dreaded question “what are we going to do for dinner?”
Stay Involved
Get to know your children’s teachers (you’ll be with them for the next 9 months) and make sure your kids have all the required supplies and materials for school. Set a time in the evenings- like during dinner- to talk about the day. The new school year can bring lots of anxiety and excitement for kids, use this time to hear about the things going well and the challenges so far.
Extra Tip: Go around the dinner table and have each person share three things that happened during the day. 1. Something good 2. Something challenging 3. Something good. Use the time as a family to help each other through the challenges!
Back to school doesn’t necessarily have to be back to stress. Staying organized and establishing solid routines now will help ease the transition and make for a much smoother school year!
How do you survive the back to school chaos?
