BACK TO SCHOOL
As we head into the final weeks of summer break, the first day of school will be here before you know it. A little preparation now can go a long way toward making the transition back to school smoother for both you and your kids. Use this checklist to get a head start before the busy back-to-school season begins.
Calendars and Schedules
- Meal plans: Put together a rotating lunch plan, plan a few easy school-night dinners, and review school menus if your kids will be buying breakfast or lunch.
- Eating times: Over the week before school begins, try planning your kids’ breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack times around the same times they'll eat on school days. This can help prevent them from feeling too hungry during class.
- Sleep schedule: If your kids’ wakeup and bedtimes have gotten later during the summer, adjust them gradually until the first day of school.
- Establish routines: Help everyone stay on task and organized by creating routines for school mornings and afternoons. Create a morning checklist, listing every step that family members need to take in the mornings, from brushing their teeth to grabbing their backpacks. After school, create expectations for downtime, homework, and next-day preparation. You could even try a dry run of parts of your day, like getting the kids to school or a school-night bedtime routine.
- Mark important dates: Gather back-to-school communication about meet-the-teacher days, picnics, or schedule pickup times, and mark all the important dates in your calendar.
Take Care of Essentials
- Secure school supplies: Make sure you have purchased, organized, and labeled all of your kids’ school supplies in advance to avoid the last-minute rush and picked-over shelves.
- Choose a first-day outfit: Have clothes picked out for the first day ahead of time so no one has to spend time choosing what to wear during a hectic morning.
- Locate the essentials: Make sure you have backpacks, water bottles, lunchboxes, and shoes ready to go. Wash items as needed and check that everything still fits. You may even want to plan ahead and be sure you have a jacket ready for when cooler weather hits.
- Paperwork and funds: Do you need to complete forms for school or sports or add money to a lunch account? Set aside some time to take care of these tasks now so that you don’t have to worry about them later.
Ramping Up
- Prepare spaces: Set up a family command center where you display a calendar, lunch menus, and kids’ activity schedules all in one place. You could also establish a quiet homework area stocked with school supplies, a laptop, and organizational folders.
- Work in a little brain boost: Understandably, kids have probably focused a lot on resting and having fun over the summer. Now would be a good time to start building in some time for math flashcards, extra reading, or even iReady to ease kids back into learning mode.
- Connect with classmates: If you haven’t seen classmates as much this summer, consider scheduling a group get-together at the park or a playdate to rekindle those friendships.
- Last hurrah: Plan a last hurrah to say goodbye to summer. Take one last adventure, hit your favorite go-to summer locations, or spend time reflecting on your great summer memories.
- Plan a first-day treat: Get kids excited for a special treat after the first day of school is over, like a trip to the park, ice cream sundaes, or a campfire with s’mores.
Don’t forget to join Stroll Highland Lakes for our annual back-to-school ice cream social at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 18!