Top Back to School Tips

ALWAYS, get ready ahead of time... and do whatever you can, the night before.
Even if that means, loading up the car with whatever you need, for the next morning.
AND making the kids lunches, the night before too and filling up their water bottles. ALL the night before.

ALWAYS factor in more time, than you actually need. So that, you or the kids are not late, in going to school.

FACTOR in TRAFFIC... and how long it will take you to get to school.
HAVE a plan of alternate routes... to get to school, in case there is traffic or what not.

ALWAYS, be ready to leave the house and be ready, before you actually have to leave. Then you do not have to rush.

Get the kids up in the morning, in adequate time, not at the last minute, so they/you do not have to rush.

KNOW how long it takes your kids to get ready.

YOU... wake up earlier if you have to, so that you can get ready ahead of them, ahead of time.... and not be late.

Be ready for any glitches.
Thus, do things ahead of time and wake up earlier than you think you have to, so time is not wasted and you are all, late.

Start, getting your kids to bed, early. So they get enough sleep.
Over-tired fussy kids, will delay things.

Try on old winter clothes and get rid of what doesn't fit. Before you know it will be cold and then they'll pull out their sweatshirt from last year and it will be too small. Start the bedtime you would have on school nights about a week or two before school starts to get them used to it.

This year I'm storing extra food before school starts. Home cooked meals in the freezer & snacks in the pantry.

Doing deep cleaning like carpets cleaned, car detail etc, getting rid of outgrown items during July and Aug.

Got doc/dentist/eye exams done before end of August

Keep to a schedule. A predictable life is easier on everyone, especially the kids. And if the kids are happy, everyone's happy. So set a breakfast and dinner time, and be sure to sit and eat with them. Doesn't matter how simple the meal, eating with your children calms everyone. I know a working, very stressed, single Mom who served cereal as a main dish many a night. Folks were horrified. But her kids are doing beautifully in college now, adore her, and remember their meals "together". Schedule bedtimes for the children, earlier than you might think they need. Then do the same for yourself. We all need more sleep than we're getting. Oh, and choose what not to do, when asked for all those extra volunteer jobs, beyond what you can handle. Simple say "Thank you for thinking of me, but I won't be able to do that." Best of luck!

If your child attends a school that wears uniforms, start buying them now. The sizes become scarce the closer you get to school starting.

I'm someone that is so busy I tend to be forgetful and I found myself at the beginning of every school year so busy with my 3 kids new schedules that I would lose track of where, and what time I had to be at curriculum night, open house, meet the teacher etc... So even with a giant white board calendar, a calendar on my cell I was still getting to things late or missing them. Finally, I picked up some super sticky post-its color coded each child and wrote each event multiple times in areas that I was in daily. The best place that worked for me and kept it out of visitors eyes were inside my spice cabinet and dish ware cabinets. Since I cook every night and I start dinner early enough usually before events it was my great idea until the new schedules were routine and helpful for those one time events.

This one is a timesaver if your child likes peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches in her or his lunch. On Sunday evening I prepare a weeks worth of sandwhiches, place each in a sealed sandwhich bag, then place all of them in a large ziplock freezer bag, and pop them into the freezer. Each morning I add one to the lunch kit. It helps keep other items cool and is thawed by lunchtime. Initially I was concerned that the bread would get soggy or stale, but my son has never complained. If your children take goldfish, pretzles, nuts or chips as snacks you can prepare them for the week as well in individual sealed snack bags so they are ready to go in the lunchkit each morning.