Back to School Routine - Top 10 Tips - The Pretty Little Classroom

Hey Teacher Friends!

Getting the kiddos ready for school on a daily basis causes high anxiety! Today, I’m sharing my Top 10 Tips that will streamline your way back into a healthy & positive school routine in your household.

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Using the following Top 10 School Routine tips will not only lower the stress of getting your kids ready for school everyday, but also enforce strict expectations & routines in your household. Think of how important it is to calm the morning rush & start the day off in a positive mindset.

In fact, routines create structure and promote good emotional, physical, and mental health. Through these expectations, routines, and chores, the kids will gain skills such as….

responsibility
helpfulness
initiative
organization
decision making
problem solving
and many more!

The biggest point I can make, is that whatever you implement in your household…be CONSISTENT!

This is the key!

As long as you set out the routine, role model it, enforce it and be consistent– it will succeed and you will enjoy getting the kids ready for school all year long! (well…maybe minus the days they wake up sick or in a bad mood and you have to deal with that instead…right?!?)

Top 10 Tips for a Back to School Routine:

1. SCHOOL READY DRAWER/ CABINET-

- Have a location in your kitchen that is dedicated to school items.

- Try using a kitchen drawer that holds the lunch bags, food containers, and re-usable water bottles too. This makes it simple to pull everything out in the morning when making lunches.

2. GROCERIES-

- Buy groceries on the weekend and make sure that you have enough fruits, veggies, snacks, and lunch mains for the entire week.

3. PREP YOUR FOOD-

- On the weekend, prep your fruit and veggies by cleaning them, cutting them up, and storing them in a container in your fridge.

- Then, throughout the week, all you have to do is grab and go by putting these items into school food containers.

- This decreases the time needed to clean, prep & clean-up the mess in the chaotic mornings. Minutes matter in the craziness of a school morning!

- If you don’t already own a bento style lunch box…it’s a great way to separate your child’s lunch into perfect portions and keep it all together in one container!

4. SNACK LOCATION-

- Have a snack pantry/ cupboard area where you have a stock of potential snacks to go into the lunch bag.

- A great idea is to already have them out of packaging and ready to grab on a daily basis. This could include granola bars, fruit cups, apple sauces, crackers, etc.

- If possible, try to create enough bags of snacks (chips/ popcorn/ crackers) put together before the week. Even organize them in like bins or containers for easy access.
- Also, have your kids involved in picking out their snacks for the day. This gives them the power of choice, but also limits them to what you are offering & how many as well.

5. SCHOOL READY BACKPACKS-

- Make sure the school bags are all packed up prior to going to bed the night before such as paperwork, gym attire, extra clothes, note-tote, notes to teacher, etc.

- This could be a perfect chore for your child to complete before going to bed each night!

- Also, set the school bags in a dedicated area such as the mudroom- perhaps have individual hooks nearby their shoes, jackets, hats, etc.

6. SCHOOL READY OUTFIT-

- Have your kids choose the next day’s outfit the night before school (or at least 2 possibilities). If your children are anything like mine, they could quite possibly change their mind the morning of.

- They are too groggy in the morning and have a difficult time making decisions. Plus, they haven’t been able to decipher their mood or how they are feeling.

- Tip–>Make sure to check out the weather to see what the temperature and conditions will be like.

7. AFTER SCHOOL ROUTINE-

- Getting the kids into a routine is key on any school day and this includes their after school routine.

- It’s a good idea to have the kiddos come home and immediately unpack their school bags and lunch boxes.

- This allows you as the parent to see what they ate, if there is any homework, and if there is any paperwork/ notes from school or the teacher.

- A general rule in our house is to finish your school lunch before you eat any other snacks – no need to waste food!

8. HOMEWORK-

- Set aside a time to review their daily agenda and complete homework.

- Our homework time is when dinner is being cooked. The kids sit at the kitchen island and work on their homework while I prepare our food. It allows me to be present for any questions or clarification, and also ensure that they are putting in the quality work that is expected. Being a teacher, we have high expectations!

- The homework location should be a consistent environment such as an office, dining table, or kitchen island. Make sure that you have necessary resources on hand and with easy access if needed. (pencils, rulers, markers, pencil crayons, erasers, etc)

9. MORNING SCHOOL ROUTINE-

- Setting a morning school routine up for your kids gives them daily expectations to complete before going to school.

- For example, our kids get up, get dressed, make beds, eat breakfast/ tidy up, brush teeth, and pack their school bags prior to the bus.

- This gets done every single day and therefore they know exactly what is required of them in the allotted time. (they literally only have about an hour in the morning to get everything done)

- If everything gets done and there is still time left, they get some free time to play, read books, etc.

- We like blaring some pump up music in the morning to get us going and put us in happy moods for the day!

10. LUNCH MENU-

- Have a lunch menu of ideas to put into the kids lunch and post it in a central location such as the fridge or pantry.

- This helps to make putting lunches together a kid friendly activity.

- If they can see that they need to choose 2 veggies/ fruits and 2 snacks from the pantry, then they would be able to compile the majority of their lunch for the day.