Back To School Tips

It's hard to believe we're already talking about back to school! Is it just me or does it feel like summer barely started and yet it went by oh so fast? Sorry, we've been MIA we took some time in the summer to have some fun, and to be honest life as a single mom is hard, every time I wanted to come on here and write something life just got way too crazy.

But now that we're mere weeks away from school starting again I thought it'd be a great time to share some tips I've learned in my years of teaching to help this transition back into school.

One thing we did a lot during the summer was to keep up with reading. Whether it was library visits or getting our awesome Chirp magazine subscription it was a great fun way to keep literacy going throughout the summer. P.S. if you check out our links tab and click on Owl Kids Publishing you'll get an automatic discount when you check out.

But onto Back to school.... even for me as a former teacher, back-to-school time is still quite hard for me as well. I've gotten used to having the kiddos home so it's going to be a big change for us when both my older kids go back to school.

So here are a few tips to help ease the transition

• About two weeks before school starts again. I re-establish our bedtime, because if you're like us and bedtime routines/wakeups kinda went out the window during summer break you're not alone. So two weeks before school starts I'll start our bedtime routine earlier and slowly scale back 15 minutes each night so we'll go back to our regular 8 PM bedtime instead of whenever the kids were tired.

• Similar to re-establishing bedtime; I also re-establish our morning wake-up routine as well. We'll do our regular wakeups, brush our teeth, and get ready for the day to get my kiddos back to the routine. If it helps even put up a digital clock so they can see the time. (Writing up little visual schedule cues will help as well)

• If it is your kiddo's first time in school. This is where I'd do a few dry runs of the walks or drives to school to get them familiar with the route to school. I'd even suggest letting them play at the school playground a few times so they'd get familiar with the space.

• Another lifesaver is setting out the clothes the night before. And have it in the same spot every day so they can use to dress.

• Pre-planning school lunches is great to get back into a routine. Especially with picky kiddos getting them involved in planning out school lunch meals will really help them be more inclined to eat their lunches. Have the lunch schedule up on the fridge so they can help and know what's next for lunch.

• If you've got some anxious kiddos, reading books together about back to school is so helpful. Even introducing journals they can write in about their feelings is a great way for them to express themselves.

• Summer write-up... This is a fun one. Get your kiddos excited for their first week back to school by having them do a fun art collage about the great summer you had. In most classrooms teachers tend to ask everyone how their summer went as an ice-breaker and this would be a great way to get your kiddos excited for back to school.

• Lastly, mamas remember the first time back to school after summer break is always going to be an anxious scary time for both parents and kiddos. It is okay for these feelings, just talk to them and assure them that everyone has that first day of school jitters. Acknowledging their feelings and talking about them is a great way to help them realize those feelings are oh so normal.