Easing into a Back to School Routine

My kids started school yesterday, 7th and 5th grade!  Crazy to think I only have one more year with a child in elementary school!  We thoroughly enjoyed our summer break, so much so that Monday’s 6:15 am wake up call hurt real bad.  I don’t know about you other moms, but during the first couple weeks of school I feel a little like a fish out of water as I try to get back into a school routine.  Managing schedules, carpool, lunches, homework and dinner can feel overwhelming after a summer free of bedtimes and school projects.

Thankfully over the years I’ve adopted a few back to school habits that really help me to get back on track and more easily transition from “summer mom” to “school mom”.

Weekly Outfits for the Kids

In my house outfits for the entire week get chosen on Sunday.  This way Monday through Friday both kids know exactly what they’re wearing.  It makes our early morning routine that much easier.  And for those of you moms battling with daughters over outfits I can’t tell you how nice it is to only have those “discussions” once a week.

My daughter uses days of the week hangers on the back of her closet door.

My son utilizes a hanging sweater organizer in his closet.

Lunch Prep Once a Week

Sunday is our prep day around here as this is also the day we get lunches ready for the entire week.  The kids help with this little task, so it only takes about 10 to 15 minutes.  I used to pack their lunches the night before, but prepping them on Sunday for the entire week just makes weekday mornings so much easier and it’s one less thing to do at night.  I have a designated spot in the pantry for dry lunch snacks and a place in the refrigerator for lunch containers.  The kids are then responsible for packing their own lunches every morning.

Corral School Supplies in One Spot

Before I shop for back to school supplies I do a good clean and purge of what we have at home.  It’s just nice to start the school year off with an organized stash of school supplies, and it makes it so that I don’t have to run out at 7:30 pm on a random Tuesday evening for a glue stick.  😉

Nightly Outfit Routine

While I get the kids outfits ready for the whole week on Sunday, I choose my own weekday outfit every night before I go to bed.  I’m not a morning person at all.  My brain just can’t be bothered to think about what to wear at 6 am.  It’s enough to just brush my teeth and make a cup of coffee.  😉  So getting my clothes ready the night before works really great for me.  I have a hook in my closet where I hang the next day’s outfit.

There’s also a chair in my closet where I lay out my workout clothes.  Seeing them when I walk in my closet  in the morning helps to motivate me.

Mom Command Center

I couldn’t survive without my mom command center.  It sounds dramatic, but it’s the truth.  With all the school paperwork that comes home with my kids I have to have place where I can see it all at a glance.  For me there’s only so much my phone can do, and then I revert back to a good, old fashioned, giant paper calendar.  I like having a dry erase board to write down reminders and a pinboard for important papers.   My command center lives in my pantry where it’s out of sight but easily accessible for daily life.

The Artkive App

One of the things that can be really overwhelming, more so with young students, is the amount of artwork that comes home.  It’s like you want to keep it all, but what in the world are you going to do with it all?!  I discovered the Artkive app a few years ago and have loved it!  I only keep originals of my very favorite pieces, which I hang on the kids art gallery wall.

The rest I throw away after saving them to the Artkive app.   The app allows you to organize by child, age, grade, whatever you want.  Then you can order books (really great for coffee table books), mugs, cards, phone cases…..the list goes on, all displaying your child’s artwork.  It’s a pretty awesome app for parents, and the products you can order make great gifts for grandparents.  It has really helped me to feel less guilty about throwing away my kids’ artwork and special projects.  This way I can keep it all without actually having to keep it all.  It’s so much easier to digitally organize, and at the end of the school year I don’t have a giant box full of artwork that needs to be sorted.

Meal Planning

I started weekly meal planning a few years ago and was amazed at the difference it made.  There is just something about knowing in advance what you are going to make for dinner that somehow magically makes the evening less stressful, especially when you’re driving carpool to extra-curricular activities.  I’ve been utilizing the calendar in my mom command center for meal planning and what began as a weekly task has turned into a monthly thing.  It sounded like a lot to bite off at first, planning meals for an entire month; but as it turns out, it’s pretty doable.  I think the key to making a go of meal planning is being realistic.  Look, I’d love to bust out a Betty Crocker style pot roast every night, but sometimes even just getting the crockpot out feels like a giant task.   I figure if I’m making an effort that’s all that counts, so sometimes we have what I call “Italian Nachos”, which is basically my spaghetti meat sauce over potato chips with sliced green olives and chopped basil.  And other nights when I have a little more time it might be baked bbq chicken with garlic broccoli and roasted sweet potatoes.  The funny thing is my family prefers Italian Nacho night.  😉

So those are the little life habits that I have adopted that really help to make the transition to school mode a little easier for me.  Do you have any weekly, nightly, monthly habits that make your daily routine more manageable?

I realized yesterday as I watched my 7th grade son get on the school bus, he only has 6 years of school left before he leaves for college.  It’s just so easy to get caught up in the chaos of busy schedules and school activities, but I want to really cherish these days……because they’re temporary.  These back to school habits may make me sound a little too type A 😉 but in truth, it’s just my way of ensuring that the busyness that school life brings doesn’t get in the way of enjoying these special days.  Someone much wiser than me once said, “The days are long, but the years are short.”