Back to school season is upon us, whether you’re ready for it or not. While getting back into a routine can be nice for many families, it can also be a pain point and difficult transition for many others. If it’s usually a difficult adjustment for you and your family, or this is your first time sending a child off to school, these back-to-school organization tips are for you!
Start practicing the routine now.
One of the hardest things about the back-to-school season is often the change towards a more strict bedtime and wake up routine. Your kids are probably used to going to bed a little later and getting up a little later in the summer. You’re probably also more lax about what the kids wear or what their hair looks like during the summer, and no one has to worry about packing a lunchbox or making sure the homework is in the bookbags. This can be a lot to try to change in just one day. Tift County Schools start back this Friday, with Tiftarea Academy, Chess, and Providence School of Tifton starting back in the next couple of weeks. Whatever school your child goes to, start adjusting the bedtime and wake up routine now. It works best (for everyone) if you can do it gradually. You may even want to do a trial run the day before school starts where everyone practices getting up on time and getting their stuff, but instead of heading to school, you do something fun together like eat a nice breakfast out together or head to the park for one last adventure.
Create a kid-friendly checklist.
Even if you start working on adjusting the routine, there will still be some things come the first day of school that will likely be a little different than a summer day (think bookbag packed and lunchbox ready to go). This is where a checklist can be super helpful (especially if you have multiple kids), so you’re not having to check behind them on every single task. You can just type up or write out the things each child needs to do and put it in a cheap glass frame where they can use a dry-erase market to check off each item. If your child is not reading age yet, you can still do a checklist but just make it more visual with pictures instead of writing each task out. This helps make it clear to each child all the things that need to happen before it’s time to load up and can help your mornings run a little smoother.
Create a drop zone.
One of the other stressful things about back-to-school is all the stuff that comes with it. From school supplies and book bags to papers to sign to artwork to study guides, there is so much to deal with. It can be very overwhelming if you’re not prepared, but a drop zone can help. Create a designated space in your home for bookbags/lunchboxes/water bottles, important papers/dates, and artwork/classwork that deserves to be show off. The drop zone for each of these categories can be different locations but having a predetermined spot (and making it clear to your kids) can really help you later on.
Make childcare arrangements.
If you haven’t made afterschool arrangements for your child, now is definitely the time! If you need help crossing this one off, we’ve got a great afterschool childcare guide here.
Prepare in advance.
This one might look different for each person and each family, but find some things you can do on the weekend to save yourself some time during the week and make those early mornings (or late afternoons) a little easier. Some ideas might be packing multiple lunches at once, picking out school clothes for all five days on Sunday, or cooking an extra meal or two for during the week.
Evaluate the extras.
The change in routine with back-to-school season can be stressful, but if you still find yourself struggling several weeks in, it might not be back-to-school anymore. If you have multiple children in multiple extracurricular activities, and you find yourself struggling to keep up, it might be time to do an evaluation of the activities that are really important to your family and drop the rest.
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