Is the impending doom of back to school starting to descend upon you? Are you ready for the kids to go back to school, but also dreading the idea at the same time? I hope this article will help you get ready a little easier and help to decrease your stress and mental load.
We moms, have a rough go when it comes to getting ready for the start of the school year because we have to remember ALL THE THINGS. We have to remember supplies, schedules, lunches, clothes/uniforms, and 100 other things on the never ending list.
If you’re like me, you have a perfect sister/friend, who always has her kids perfectly ready, first day of school signs designed like she went to art school, and pictures taken with all of her kids smiling like little angels.
Meanwhile, at my house, it’s like a scene from the Redneck Woman music video. I have a baby with only a diaper on, hanging off my hip, no one is smiling, my signs were bought from Walmart, and… oh yeah I didn’t take the first day of school picture until three weeks after they started.
Anyway…
Let me tell you right now that it doesn’t have to be perfect, you don’t need the signs or the pictures, and the kids may not be smiling. It’s okay.
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What Really Matters for Back to School
1. Clothes
Uniforms
I, personally, send my kids to private school where they wear a uniform. This makes figuring out the right amount clothes pretty simple. My first grader and 3rd grader (both boys) have four full days (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday), every Wednesday is a half day. So my son’s need 3 sets of uniform pieces (pants, undershirts, pairs of socks, and button-downs). This was I can wash them on the half day and I have enough to get through the rest of the week. They also have a school sweater that I wash on the weekends and a tie that I only need to spot clean occasionally.
My daughter, who is going into Kindergarten, has no school on Wednesday, but four full days the rest of the week. She, in fact, will only get one jumper (they are $75), but they are a very thick durable material and believe will lend itself well to spot cleaning through the week and doing a full wash on the weekends. She got two shirts for under the jumper and has 2 undershirt for under those as well. It will be pretty easy for me to clean the uniforms all at once on Wednesdays even if I have to separate for a load of whites.
I also had to make sure my children had shoes for school (dress shoes and gym shoes). My children also have new gym clothes requirements this year, and I only have one set for each child, but they only have gym twice a week so it shouldn’t be an issue.
Seasonal Items
Don’t forget to factor in seasonal clothes as well. I already stated that my children have school sweaters, but I also wanted to make sure that they had a heavier coat because October in Upstate NY can be quite cold and we have seen snow. We had at least four inches on Halloween last year. My kids have snow boots that fit, snow pants for school and a pair for home, and a snow jacket. We don’t mess around up here in the frozen tundra.
I only tell you my plan so that you can come up with one for your own children. When my daughter was in public Pre-K last year she started out having enough clothes that she didn’t need repeat outfits for 6 whole weeks. Do you want to know what she was wearing by November? The same 5 dresses every single week. It was perfect. She would trade out the leggings or shorts and grab a different sweater or sweatshirt and she was happy. I was happy because I never had an outrageous amount of clothes needing to be washed.
Non-Uniform Ideal
Pick 3 pairs of pants, 3 dresses and 4 shirts and you will have a great variety of outfits without and ridiculous amount of clothes to wash. Maybe they have gym shoes, dress shoes (for church or school), snow boots, and rain boots. Maybe 2 sweaters, a sweatshirt, rain coat, dress coat, and winter coat, if you have crazy seasons like we do.
Make a Plan
Find a clothing plan that fits for you. Find a schedule for laundry that works and then plan around that. Maybe you’re okay doing laundry once a week, so you need at least 7 outfits to get your kids to the next laundry day. Maybe you do laundry every day so you only allow your kids to have a handful of outfits. Whatever suits you and your family is what you should plan for, but I do recommend looking forward to the next season or two because once school starts it is hard to remember snow gear until there is a foot of snow on your porch and your kids have to wear their dress shoes to school because you forgot to buy them snow boots.
2. Food
I love making lunch for my kids. This year, however, I would like my kids to start making their own lunches or at least help me make the components and then give them the autonomy to choose what they want as long as they follow the guidelines. They have to pick a sandwich, but they can have peanut butter and jelly, ham and cheese, peanut butter and nutella (occasionally), turkey and cheese, etc; a fruit, but they choose between an apple, applesauce, orange, berry cup, peaches, etc; some sort of veggie (i.e. celery, carrots, cucumbers, snap peas); a snack food (chips, crackers, etc); and finally, a treat (cookie or small piece of candy (usually a seasonal left-over).
Every once in a while we’ll switch it up and the kids will get a homemade pizza lunchable (Fridays we don’t eat meat) or crackers, cheese, and meat slices. We also don’t typically buy prepackaged snacks because they are so expensive so instead the kids and I will probably bag them at the beginning of the week and then they will be able to just grab them while they are making their lunches.
My kids don’t drink juice boxes. I’ve sent them, but they literally wont drink them, so they get these refillable waterbottles that they bring to school.
Come up with a lunch routine that works for you. I know Kallie from the That Productive Mom, makes her kids lunches two at a time. She has two bento style lunchboxes for each child and so she makes two lunches per child at a time and it saves her time. Find a rhythm that works. Make their lunch every day, every other day, make all 5 on Sunday night, or let them buy lunches if they have that options. Everyone’s needs are totally different.
3. Transportation
This is my first year where all of my children are going to the same school, at the same time, on the same bus. I could not be more thrilled. This is my reminder to you to make sure you know which bus your child is riding and when and where it will be picking up your child. It was hard juggling this information in years prior when I had three kids going on different buses at different times to different schools. Make sure too, that when you find out this info that you write it down somewhere important. I also made a point to save the Transportation Phone Number into my phone so that I always knew the number and never needed to look it up in case of an emergency.
Our Pre-K is great because they actually have an orientation where your child learns how to get on and off the bus. When my oldest started out in our new district and had never been on a bus they actually offered to do the bus orientation with him the first time they came and picked him up. It was so sweet. My son is very cautious and he did really well with that orientation. You may be able to request something like that if you love in a small enough district.
4. Supplies
I like a good deal and not spending a million dollars on school supplies. Here are some of my tips:
- Shop your house first. My kids come home with half of their supplies not used or barely used. So instead of buying new, we just use what we have from last year. If it isn’t in good working order or is in rough shape obviously I will buy new, but I don’t need to buy 30 new Ticonderoga pencils (which are the best) when both of my sons came home with 5 unused ones each. I also don’t need to buy new folder when they have perfectly good ones from last year. My oldest came home with one of his composition notebooks that only had one page written on. Why buy him a new one? So shop your own home first.
- I bought all the cheap generic composition notebooks, but I got them each one upgraded specialized one. I can spare one extra dollar each child.
- My kids only get new backpacks when they start school or when their backpacks are no longer usable. We have 11 school years of backpacks (counting every year my child has been in school with a full-sized backpack) and we have been through four backpacks in total. Our system has worked so far, but my oldest in only in 3rd grade so we’ll see.
- I do shop brand name when it come to supplies, when I think quality is really an issue or if the school specifies. Our school only wants Ticonderoga pencils, but I’ve tried a variety of the large pink erasers and I don’t find a huge difference.
- I like to shop deals so I find shopping for my school supplies in July is a pretty good time to get what you need for a good price. If I shop at the end of August, half the time I can’t even find what I need.
Other Considerations
Sleep
If your kids are anything like mine, your bedtime has slipped over the summer. That’s okay, it happens, but your whole family is going to have a rude awakening when school starts and everyone now has to wake up at 6am to catch a 7:15 bus. We always take the last two weeks of summer break to gradually get our bedtime back to 7:30pm. The first week we go from 10pm to 8:30 and then the second week get down to 7:30. It’s usually pretty effective.
This leads well into the next consideration…
Routines
Now I am not the queen of perfect routines. My family has a bedtime routine that has worked for us for the last 3 years. In the next year or so it will be changing to accommodate the fact that I have an 8 and soon to be 7 year old who have changing needs from their toddler-aged siblings. Our bedtime routine as it is now has suited us for years and really helps us to get everything we need done in a reasonable amount of time with the least amount of fussing.
Making routines for your family can be challenging. I struggle with morning routines because I don’t wake at the same time every day and some days they wake before I do. This is sure to change once school starts though.
Fun fact: If you struggle with routines and habits like I do, please read Atomic Habits by James Clear. It was so easy to read, eye-opening, and so incredibly helpful. I cannot recommend it more.
Planning and Your Family’s Schedule
Make sure you have your kids’ school schedule written out, along with an sports schedules, and other activities your family is involved in. Find a planning method works well for you and your family. I, personally, love paper planners. I used a bullet journal for a few years when I had more time to dedicate to planning and I found it fulfilling. Currently, use this planner from Gather & Pray because it is amazing for a Catholic mother. My only critique is that I follow the Traditional Catholic Calendar so some of the feast days aren’t accurate to suit my needs, but I make it work. I do put any appointments, games, or dates that my husband needs to know on our linked Google calendar so that he knows when I need him.
Along the same lines, my husband and I go over the week’s schedule and appointments on Sunday evenings so we are on the same page.
Meal Planning
I’m not a meal planning expert. I use this magnetic dry erase board that is on our fridge. I also bought this magnetic pen holder to keep next to it as well. That way everyone knows what’s for dinner. I try to be cognizant of what is going on that day to make sure I’m not putting a time intensive dinner on a night that I will be out. We’ve been trying to save some money from eating out and this helps us in those goals, but only when I actually keep to what I put on the schedule.
Setting Up a Command Center
A Command Center for me does not have to be crazy. It doesn’t have to have all the bells and whistles. My Command Center has a place for incoming paperwork, homework assignments, and where we put important school uniform pieces like the boys’ ties, the kids school sweaters, and my son’s glasses.
We use this to organize papers coming in. I use one of the slots for future assignments and events, one for completed schoolwork and artwork, and one for important action paperwork.
I picked up this weekly tear-off calendar to keep up with tests and homework with my kids. As my children get older I will expect them to manage this information on their own, but my oldest is only 8 and he needs extra help with memory recall and structure. I write down all of the assignments, projects, and events coming up from their assignment book, emails from their teachers, and the school calendar.
My children attend private Catholic school and so they have very expensive uniform pieces that they wear every week. We have been through the “Where’s your tie?” “I don’t know…” phase too often, so now… right when they walk through the door, their tie, sweater, and glasses come off and go right in the bin.
I also keep a little container for pens and markers for when I need to write the assignments down or fill out a form the school sent home. I’ve had mine since college and it still does the trick.
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At the end of the day, we should be as prepared as we can be, I hope this article helps, but remember that our kids don’t expect perfect, they just expect us. Our presence, our attention, and our personal best. Even if our personal best for today is subpar, they will still love us unconditionally and so we should give them that love back unconditionally, too.
If you read this post, you are trying your best, and that is awesome. If you are reading this because you are overwhelmed and need a hand; ask for help from someone around you, from God, or email me and we can be besties.
Leave a comment if you have sure fire ways to make back to school easier. I love adding content to my posts that I may have overlooked.
