Can you believe it is already almost time to go back to school? Where we live it just started to be warm enough to do fun activities outside and now we are saddened that it is almost over.

But the reason I love summer so much is that it seems less stressful. I don’t have to worry about strict schedules in the mornings and attitudes on getting ready for school. No last-minute request for items needed the next day or the realization while driving to school that they had homework. It just seems so much easier in the summer.

However, this year I am hoping we can start the year off a little smoother. By implementing a few little tricks, maybe it won’t seem so chaotic.

Morning Routine

I found the best way to make a morning routine is to start with the time you need to leave by and work your way backwards. Figure out everything that needs done in the morning and how much time it should take. For example: Brushing teeth and washing face- 10 minutes, eat breakfast- 30 minutes. I know that my daughter needs at least half an hour each morning just to slowly wake up. In this amount of time she eats breakfast and eases into the morning. By knowing this and putting it into our routine I am not rushing her in the morning to get ready.

If it helps your children get ready in the morning create a checklist for them. They can check off everything as they accomplish it and you don’t have to remind them every morning of each task.

Evening Routine

Your morning routine will benefit from a good evening routine. I use the same concept as the morning routine, by working my way backwards. Start with bedtime and feel in the rest in between. Make time for the following things:

• Empty/ go through the bookbag for the day, make sure there are no papers that need signed or any announcements.
• Downtime
• Homework
• Dinner
• Reading
• Pick out outfits the night before

What is usually the last-minute thing that holds us up as we are ready to walk out the door? Shoes! We think we are all ready to walk out the door and slip on the shoes that should be over there. And sometimes, myself included, they are not where we thought they were. By taking just a minute in the evening to gather all the shoes that will be worn the next day and placing them by the door will nix that last-minute hold up!

Plan out Lunches

If your child takes a lunch to school every day this weekly tip will save you some stress. When I meal plan for our dinners throughout the week I also ask my daughter what she wants to have for lunch. We make a calendar of what she will take for lunch each day. Then on Sunday I prep the lunches for the week. Then in the morning I grab everything and put it all in her lunch bag.

Plan out After School Snacks

Don’t you just love the after school comment, “I’m hungry can we stop somewhere?” Am I the only one that gets that every day after school? By planning out some after school snacks and having them ready I can avoid having to stop somewhere. And it’s nothing that will make them too full to not eat dinner. Pinterest has some great ideas for simple after school snacks.

Command Center

My favorite tip is having a command center. We simply hung up a dry erase calendar with a cork board strip. We write down everything that is scheduled for the month on that calendar, days off from school, field trips, project due dates and so on. We use the cork board strip to save things that we need like reading logs for the month. Below the calendar are hooks for book bags.

Ease Back Into It

A week before school starts is a good time to start getting back into a routine. Start getting everyone ready and in bed by their school times. This will help ease back into school instead of waiting until the day before to enforce a bed time they are not used to.

Waking up earlier in the mornings can help ease into waking up early again. Try waking everyone up 15 minutes earlier each morning and keep adding 15 minutes each day. 

I hope these tips will help you have a smoother school year!