Getting Organized for Back to School

Before we know it, the summer nears its end and school is just around the corner. As a parent, we want to make sure we are setting the up to have their best school year ever. But just buying them new school supplies and fashionable threads are not going to cut it. Being organized is essential to getting better grades. When your kids are organized, they can anticipate due date’s better, focus better and be an all-around better student. Here are some tips on how you can help them get organized for back to school.

Before school starts, there are so many things you need to get completed. From doctor’s appointments, renewing kids for sports or after school activities as well as sorting through clothing to see what fits and what doesn’t, there is a lot to get done! The best way to tackle this is to start a list and start as far in advance as you can. Schedule each week before school begins with a task list that needs to be completed before the weekends.

Morning

One of the biggest time stealers in the mornings is trying to decide what your kids are going to wear for school. They will complain, “I have nothing to wear!” as they pull shirts and pants all over the floor. The best way to fix this problem is on Sunday take the time to pick out their outfits throughout the week. Have everything laid out down to their socks, underwear and hair accessories? You can place a hanging six compartment sweater bag and label each section a day. Every morning your children can just pick up and put on their outfits already chosen for the day. No thinking needed!

Homework

Before your kids go back to school, organize a homework station in your home. Creating a space where your kids can focus on their work without distraction will help them get the best grades ever. Make sure that this area has all the supplies that they will need such as pencils, staplers, calculators, etc.… at their fingertips. You can put an over the door shoe organizer and label each pocket with school supplies. It is also nice to have a small snack station too. Instituting a no phone rule and having them put it in a basket will help eliminate distraction when they are trying to focus on studying.

Chart

Want to make sure your kids are ready for school the next day? Have a dry erase board that they can check off every night before they go to bed. This will help keep them accountable to make sure that everything is completed and ready for the next day. The checklist can include: homework done? Backpack ready? Clothes picked out? Reading minutes? Practice piano? This list makes sure that they don’t miss a thing.

Siblings

Have multiple children? Things can get confusing as to what belongs to whom, whose homework belongs to whom or who does this take home sheet that needs to be signed belong to? To help keep not only your kids organized, but yourself, assigning colors to each child will help keep items straight. Everyone can have their color lunch box, backpack and folder where they can put things that need to be signed. That way there are no mix-ups and no one is going to school with the wrong homework.

Snacks

Create a snack station. When you are running from one activity to the next, you don’t have time rummage through the pantry or refrigerator looking for snacks. Creating a snack station will allow you to have everything at your fingertips and ready to go. Keep a tray of individual sized portions of food that each of your kids can snack on. Not only is this super helpful, but is also an excellent way to make sure they are eating healthy snacks.

Incorporating the snack station idea into a lunch station is a very good idea as well. This keeps everything that you need to put in your lunches in one area. Have a drawer that contains your plastic ware, plastic bags, lunch bags as well as the apple and sandwich cutters. It is also nice to keep all the other foods such as fruit snacks, applesauce or anything else you put in their lunches in one area too. This will help to make sure that your kids don’t use them to snack on leaving you without anything to pack without you realizing it.

Paperwork

What about all that paperwork? Every parent knows that once school begins, it may feel like you are swimming a sea of papers. documents. Between everything that they take home and want you to hang on the refrigerator as well as all those informative articles and papers that need to be signed, it can be overwhelming. Purchase a file box per child and file folders to help keep everything safe and organized. Create a label with the child’s picture including information such as what grade they are in, which teacher they have and school they are attending. You can keep all the papers you want to keep in an organized area while sorting through the important stuff and the papers you can just toss. This will help keep backpacks cleaned as well as your kitchen countertops.

Do you have any tips on getting organized for Back to School