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We are only a short time away from school starting for the upcoming school year.
What are you doing to prepare your family for the upcoming change? For the next school year, Organized Chick is here to give you some tips to help your family prepare.
1. Setting Goals For The School Year
Sit down and set goals for the upcoming school year. It’s important for your child to understand what you expect of them. Putting pen to paper has shown to have a higher rate of success than those who don’t write out a list or set of goals. I even recommend writing a contract between you and your kids to keep everyone accountable for goals and expectations.
2. Open House/Meet Your Children’s Teacher
Verify with your school when the open house/meet your teachers day is and add it to your calendar. This allows the opportunity to meet the teacher and ease any nervousness for the first day of school.
3. Getting School Supplies
Verify and make a list of school supplies needed at school and then items needed for the home to get prepared.
Another way to stay on top of, or ahead, of school supplies need is to start a supply stash. You know the feeling — it’s 9 p.m. and you’re out of posterboard for your son’s project that’s due at 8 a.m. Prevent future late-night freak-outs by refreshing the store pile: markers, index cards, and so on. You can also save cash by buying products in bulk.
4. Fresh Cuts, Backpacks, & Clothes
Help your kids to feel ready to start school by getting a fresh haircut, and have backpacks and lunch boxes ready. If your kids are younger you may also consider getting their name monogramed on these items. One of my favorite ways to label backpacks, lunch boxes and clothes is through Marabel’s Labels. Their labels are great because they can be customized with your children’s name, icon, and favorite color. Most importantly, Mabel’s Labels are laundry safe, dishwasher safe, and microwave safe. You can grab the Ultimate Back-to-School Combo Pack which includes 126 labels. OH MY!
Along with a new ‘do, backpacks, and lunch box you’ll definitely feel like you’re a step ahead of the game when you organize your kids’ clothes for the entire week on Sunday night! Create hanger labels for each day and pre-select the outfits, so your kids can get dressed in the morning without rooting through drawers and laundry baskets to find a favorite pair of jeans or hoodie.
Let kids choose what to wear ahead of time to avoid last-minute indecision — just don’t forget to check the weather!
5. Create a Family Calendar/Command Center
Once school and activities are in full swing, it’s more important than ever to keep everyone in your family on the same page. Setting up a large calendar in an often-viewed space (think kitchen or mudroom) can help you keep track of everyone’s schedule, activities (even if it’s just Zoom calls!) and holidays.
We suggest using a different colored marker for each family member, so it’s easy for them to take a quick look at what they have going on that day.
You can go super simple and get a Jumbo Dry Erase Wall Calendar or get fancy with a 1thrive command center.
1THRIVE Command Centers bring organization, clarity, and structure to your home without sacrificing style and beauty. Unify your efforts, control the chaos and command your life. One idea inspired by real people. One wall to help you THRIVE.
6. Extra-Curricular Activities
If your children are also starting extra-curricular activities, organize their equipment and make sure you don’t need to order anything in the next size up. As kids grow, they’ll need larger equipment like soccer/basketballs, baseball bats/gloves, plus helmets and footwear like cleats or dance shoes which are usually out-grown from season to season. This sport equipment organizer/rack is great because it allows you to utilize vertical space and hooks to hang sports back for easy accessibility.
For the younger we love the idea of printing out a photo of what your child will need for each after-school activity so they can reference it and pack up their own activity bags.
7. Creating a Snack Station
No mom wants to spend precious time every evening assembling lunches for the next day. Genius idea alert: snack stations! Bag grapes, carrots, and other perishable snacks and toss ’em in a drawer in the fridge along with cheese sticks, yogurts, and pre-made PB&Js. A pantry shelf can hold single-serving bags of pretzels, juice boxes, and cookies. Now assembling lunches is so turnkey, that even kids can do it. The iDesign Plastic bins fit perfectly in fridge and pantry. I love that they can stack on top of each other.
8. The Daily Routine & Chore Charts
It’s easy to let chores slide during back-to-school season. Your main concern is getting the kids ready, making sure their homework is done, and finding a way to get them to and from that after-school activity.
Chore charts make it easy to visualize who gets what chore and whether or not it’s been completed. These charts can be as simple as this magnetic baking sheet DIY or they can be complex and complete with built-in rewards systems.
Help little ones establish a morning and bedtime schedule with an illustrated checklist that gets displayed proudly on the wall. As they get older, they’ll be able to go down the list for themselves and become more independent.
We at Organized Chick have provided you with a chore chart that you can use for you and your family.
9. Creating a Homework Station
Pencils, and papers, and folders, oh my! Cut down on clutter by setting up a homework station for your kids. Stock the center with the supplies they’ll need to burn through assignments without having to break to hunt for an eraser, highlighter, or calculator. The rotating organizer can be home to any homework station or craft station. It is by far the best!
Organize the necessary tools and supplies in bins or baskets, and color code them if they’re being used by multiple children. Label every bin and basket. Assign a spot to display artwork or notes of encouragement. Be sure the space is well lit!
With your awesome homework station set up it’s always a good idea to be on the same page about when your child plans to do their homework. So why not lay the ground rules now before the stresses of school set in.
Talk to your child about your expectations, and discuss when the best time will be – it could be as soon as they come home after a snack, after a certain amount of “down” time, or after dinner. You can even decide on things that can’t be done (watching TV, having devices, etc.) until homework is complete.
10. Create In/Out Parent Bins
There’s always a plethora of school paperwork and updates that need to get safely into your hands, especially at the beginning of the school year. This 3 tier wall file holder is ideal for paper work to be review/signed, file important documents, return to school.
Consider setting up some in and out bins where your kids can drop off any papers that need to be signed or seen by a parent.
You can then go through them each night, and put any that need to be returned to school in the “out” bin, ready for your kids to pick up in the morning and pack in their backpacks. With a little practice, this can be an extremely effective method that can be used all the way through high school!
