Back-to-school is right around the corner and it’s time to get organized for the new school year. Whether you’ve collectively prepped for September or if you haven’t started prepping for the new school year yet, I got you! I’m going to share my tried & true actionable back to school tips to help make the process a little less stressful and a lot more organized.

I always need help in the organization department to be honest! But first….

WHERE DID SUMMER GO?!

Can we talk about how fast summer went this year? My kids were in school until the very end of June and in the blink of an eye July and August flew by so fast! Luckily, we were able to schedule in some fun family outings so at least we were able to enjoy bits of summer here and there. Regardless, time spent together as a family is time well spent!

But now, it’s time to get down to business. Stores have officially gone full on back to school mode and I’m starting to feel the pressure to be ready and the truth is I’m not ready. The biggest struggle for me is usually getting the kids back into somewhat of a routine so the first day isn’t a complete disaster. I’m a big believer in having a sustainable routine and a plan that the kids can follow independently, or somewhat independently.

BACK TO SCHOOL ROUTINES

Routines are important. Although my kids have enjoyed the late nights and slow mornings of their summer routine, that can’t continue when school starts. Reality is about to kick in! To help ease my kids into a routine I try to personalize our routines for each child and I try to implement these 5 simple steps about a week before school starts:

1. Print a morning routine checklist
2. Print an after school routine checklist
3. Use a family organizer to track activities
4. Collect lunch requests
5. Have a convo to prep the kids for school + their new routines

Let’s talk about the importance of each step for a minute.

CHECKLISTS ARE IMPORTANT

First of all, having a checklist is great for visual learners. Another bonus is that it’ll decrease the amount of daily reminders and give our kids the option to independently complete tasks.

I tend to drive myself crazy repeating the same “asks” on a daily so this is important for my sanity and I’m sure it’ll help you too!

Separating the checklists into morning and after school will help with overwhelm your kids might feel from having too many things to do in a short amount of time. Think of your daily to-do list and how it makes you feel when there’s a full list you know you won’t be able to accomplish. It doesn’t make you feel good and it’s likely it won’t make your kids feel good either.

I’m all for starting the day off on a good start and eliminating stress is super helpful for setting the tone for a good day at school.

Checklists can be as simple as:

• brush your teeth
• make your bed
• eat breakfast
• pack your backpack + lunch bag

This is sure to help in the moments where we don’t have time for morning mishaps.

FAMILY ORGANIZERS ARE HELPFUL

Another great tool to utilize is a family organizer.

I’ve tried to wing the school year without a family organizer and I failed miserably! I constantly forgot appointments and school events because I had too many things to keep track of and some things ended up getting lost in my calendar. Mom brain at it’s finest! And also, I’m only human! It’s super hard to remember everything all the time…

This year I purchased the More Time Moms Family Organizer from Costco and I absolutely love it!!! There’s so much space to track daily activities, events and so much more. I’ve started filling out September and I instantly felt so prepared. My kids will have after school activities and clubs to attend this school year and I’ll need a space to track their activities while allowing everyone in the family to assist with keeping track.

After all, we’re in this together!

If you’re interested in knowing more about this planner, check it out in my recent video!

Now let’s talk school lunches.

SCHOOL LUNCHES

School lunches are usually a little challenging as kids tend to change their minds quite often. What I’ve done in the past is track what lunches

• won’t take a long time to eat
• are interchangable
• kid-approved

COMBATTING LUNCHES RETURNING HOME

If you want to eliminate how much lunch returns home it’s super important to know how much your child eats in a specific amount of time. You can do this by guess or you can do this with more accuracy. For accuracy, set a timer when your child eats lunch to see if they’re able to complete a meal within a 20-30min window.

Start curating school lunch ideas that’ll align with the amount of time it’ll take your child to eat lunch at school. If you’re looking for school lunch ideas, check out this video here.

Now that we’ve covered routines and lunches, let’s tackle supplies and gear.

BACK TO SCHOOL SUPPLIES

Here in Canada, most school supplies are provided to my kids. However, I still like to shop for extra notebooks, pencils, colouring supplies and the usual supplies to help our kids have a successful school year.

This year, we opted to invest in a desk and chair. I noticed that using our kitchen table was causing me a lot of stress so to avoid that this year a desk was necessary. I got our desk and chair from Ikea because it was super affordable and I’m sort of testing how well my kids function in this new space.

Stay tuned for a progress report on if I’m less stressed during homework time and how my kids have adjusted to the new space!

The one area I feel prepared with is school gear.

BACK TO SCHOOL GEAR

Since July, I slowly started to purchase back to school clothes and gear to make sure I was able to get multiple options to choose from and good deals.

So far, we have clothing from

1. Marshalls
2. Winners
3. Gap Kids
4. Old Navy
5. H&M
6. Walmart
7. Children’s Place
8. Costco

Costco came through with the outerwear and winter gear! These shops were over the course of a couple months and half these items were purchased online to save time! I like shopping in different places when possible so I can get deals that are exclusive to a specific store and to have more variety to choose from.

Here’s what I shopped for:

• short sleeve shirts
• long sleeve shirts
• hoodies + warm clothes
• winter gear + winter boots
• indoor + outdoor shoes
• dresses
• pants + leggings
• underclothes

WHAT’S NEXT?

Next on my list to buy are things for after school activities and clubs like…

• Activewear
• Uniforms

Having these things readily available will also help with getting organized. You can go the extra mile by packing bags for activities/sports with all the things your child will need in advance so you can grab-and-go without the fuss.

Don’t forget to have two sets in the event that laundry pile is still waiting to get done!

Luckily, having the bulk of the gear out of the way makes me feel super prepared to easily get my hands on the activewear and uniforms that we will need. I’m pretty sure we are set on clothing until Christmas!!!

The biggest takeaway from shopping in advance is simply being able to take my time deciding what’s worth spending the money on vs what I’m getting because I’m in a crunch.

As a mom, I’ve noticed that when I’m stressed sometimes that can transfer to my kids. Mindfulness around what causes stress and how easily that transfers to my kids is all the reason to start this process as soon as possible.

TALKING TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT BACK TO SCHOOL

No matter where you start, don’t forget to talk with your kids to get them prepped for the new school year. I like to remind my girls of what’s expected of them, what their days will look like and the importance of kindness. I know this goes without saying, however raising good humans starts at home and these convos are super important.

Now you’re all set with actionable tips to help your kids have a successful school year. Remember to form healthy routines, plan ahead, get the family involved with organization and talk about the changes ahead. Try to stick to a routine for at least 1 month to be able to easily pinpoint what works and what needs an adjustment.

In my next post I’m going to share some actionable tips that’ll help parents get in a routine to make all this possible. See you then!

-Dee