It’s that time of year again, back to school time, and I need to get in gear and get us all organized and ready for school to start. Like by this weekend. School starts Monday! We had Open House last night and got to meet their teachers and get a feel for the school. We all felt good about their teachers and classrooms. This year I have a 3rd grader and a kindergartener starting at a new school, and I’m both looking forward to them starting and meeting friends and feeling more in a routine and anxious about it all. I also have a preschooler starting a new preschool this year with a different schedule than we are used to, so I know it will take a little time to get in our groove around here. But the last few years, as the summer is winding down, I start to think about what I/we need to get accomplished and get prepared for a successful start to the school year. I’m a bit behind from where I would like to be, but here are some of the tips and tools, in no particular order, I use to make sure we’re as ready as we can be. And by “we” I really mean ME!
Our Kiddo binder holds vaccine records, emergency contact forms, well check stats, etc. and our Family/Household binder in the past has kept things like school schedules, extra curricular activity info, and teacher and school info. I will need to go through these once again and update them. I haven’t used our Family Binder all that much in the past year, but I constantly use the Kiddo binder. Having a binder like this to corral these important papers helps me with all the forms you have to fill out each year. I keep copies of what I have for a couple of reasons…1.) Because I like to have copies of important info that I give the school and 2.) So I have something to reference easily for phone numbers, emergency contact info, etc. that I can just copy and don’t have to look up each time when I’m filling out all those school forms.
I think a drop off zone is so important for a busy household. A place for backpacks, a purse, shoes and if there’s room, files for important papers and mail, is such a lifesaver when it comes to little ones and back to school. Well all through the school year, really. In our last home, we had a “coat closet” that was really just wasted space and I transformed it to our own little drop zone/command center. In our new house, we don’t have any place like that, so I’m creating a little drop zone with this bench, shoe baskets, the sock basket and some hooks for back packs in the garage. We really hope to re-do our laundry room in the future and make it a bit larger and way more functional, but until then, a little drop zone in our garage will do just fine.
A Spot for Shoes & Socks /Toothbrush & Hair Brush, etc.
In our last house and in our new house, we have a powder bath downstairs near the main living area and that is where we keep an extra set of toothbrushes, toothpaste and hair accessories. It makes getting cleaned up before we head out the door much easier than sending a kid upstairs to brush teeth and get sidetracked with who knows what. A lot can happen from the breakfast table to the upstairs bathroom!
To Buy/To Do Lists
I don’t have a picture of this, but my good friend, Erin, taught me this a few years back. For someone who loves lists {I have been known to add something to my to-do list that has been completed just to be able to cross it off ;) } a list of what we need To Buy: School supplies, back to school clothes and shoes, back packs, lunch boxes, extra water bottles {I still need to get those!} and To Do: Haircuts, kindergarten physical, registration forms. And after last night, turns out I need to update my To Buy list. Apparently I missed the memo on school supplies after I saw a ton of families carrying bags of supplies in to their classroom. Umm…guess I have to check the website today ;)
An Organized Homework Station
I am going to come right out and say it: I hate homework time probably more than my kids do. I have used containers like this in the past {I also keep crafts in these containers too} to have all our homework supplies together and near where we do homework so it’s easy to grab and keep contained. I found these containers at Target. In the early years of school, most of the homework is just practicing writing, learning sight words, etc., so I’ve tried to just keep those learning supplies all together to easily grab. Full disclosure, as organized as our homework station is, it doesn’t make what should be 20-30 minutes of homework time any easier, at least in our case. The amount of time it takes to whine about the homework and try to get out of it is usually double the time it would actually take to just get it done. Please tell me we are not the only ones?!? I sometimes day dream about being a home schooling mama. Then it’s about 3pm on a weekday and it’s TORTURE, and I think there is no way we would survive one morning worth of home schooling, let alone accomplishing enough learning to actually pass a full grade.
I have written about it before but it’s true, I couldn’t live without my Erin Condren Calendar/Planner. My newest Life Planner recently arrived and I’ll have to write a little something about soon! I’ve been so consumed with getting unpacked that I haven’t filled out my new planner. I’m slightly obsessed with planners and planning and feeling like I’ve got in under control. HA! Neat planner pages and cute stickers and fresh highlighters at least make me feel like I have it more under control than I probably do. But I have to have my tried and true planner to keep everything straight. My Life Planner is for me and our family, but my husband and I have used Cozi for almost 2 years and it really has been super helpful in getting control of our schedules. This year I added a larger desk calendar for the family for it to be out and visible. It may be overkill, but we’ll see how we use it.
Art Bins/Keepsakes
The amount of artwork and school work, especially in the early elementary and preschool years, can be quite overwhelming. A few years ago when my oldest was in preschool, I got the idea of school work bins from I Heart Organizing and set a box up for each kid. I have meant to write about these before, but never got around to it. I have a file box filled of school work I wanted to keep of the second half of school this past year that I need to get organized and I’ll be sure to share because I think it’s a really good system!
As seasons change, I tend to try and go through the kids’ closets. Back to school time is a good time to get those closets ready. Go through clothes to get the outgrown ones out of the way. Things that don’t fit or don’t get worn can get in the way of an easy morning routine. I can’t stand when we have too many t-shirts, shorts or pjs in a drawer that I know don’t all fit properly. I don’t know about you, but an organized closet or dresser makes getting ready in the morning so much less stressful. And kids notice that. They also notice a calm and less stressed mama ;) Organized closets and dressers have that effect on this mama, at least!
This week we got back to school haircuts and we will be picking up some shoes for a couple of the kiddos today hopefully. Getting closets cleaned out and getting their rooms put together {you can see the boys’ room in our last home here and my little girl’s room here} as best as I can while I have little “helpers” around is my priority this weekend. That and having a little last minute relaxed summer time fun! What are some of the must haves/must dos for you at the beginning of the school year? I would love to know what works for you or your family! You can leave any ideas in the comments so we can all get more ideas :)
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SO many great ideas Gina! I love it! Reminded me I need to get going on my kids’ work boxes! I can’t handle another school year with their work scattered all over the place! xo
I’m hopefully working on these next week! It’s a bit out of control at the minute!!! xo