Back to School Prep

School starts back up for us this week! I say it every year, but the summer went SO fast. While I am going to miss our lazy summer days, I am looking forward to a little more routine in the house. I’m sharing a couple tips that help us as we head back to school!

1. Prep night before – This is the most important at our house. The mornings are chaotic and we try to get as much as we can done the night before to ease the am load. 

This includes: 

– picking and laying out clothes and shoes

– finishing all homework at night

– packing backpacks and folders

– setting out clean water bottles and lunch boxes

– post it on door to garage with any reminders 

2. Up early and allow extra time – Aka allow time for a melt down or spill or some inevitable delay. 

3. No electronics in AM – Coming off summer this one is hard. But important. TV and ipads are big distractions in our house and not a way we want to start our school day. Eliminating them in the AM keeps us on track. Going in with this rule also sets the expectation for the kids and prevents them from asking.

4. Dedicated bin for important papers – The kids come home with different mail and forms and we put ones that need to be returned or addressed in a special bin in our mudroom. These then get filled out and packed back up in our nightly prep

5. Consistency – Our house has thrived on routines ever since they were little. Keeping our school mornings consistent in times and routine gives all of us predictability and is another way we try to minimize the chaos!

These tips work for our house – take or modify any that you think will work at yours! Also sharing some of my back to school essentials in my amazon storefront here!