Back to School: Where to store kids school bags + an after school routine

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Do most kids love to dump their bags on the floor and head straight for the telly and just leave mum to unpack the bags??

Create a routine/new habits so your kids can help you.  Even better if they are starting school teach them great habits from the start.  Remember Mum if you do it for them, they will expect you to continue doing it, they are perfectly able to unpack their own bag.  My kids have followed the routine below since they each started prep, they have learnt their bag is their responsibility. 

Our afternoon routine

1. Remove shoes and place on shoe rack in garage. 
2. Take off socks while still in the garage as they are usually filled with sand and bark which I don’t want through the house.
3. They then take their lunchboxes and drink bottles out of their bags and place on the kitchen bench ready for me to clean that evening.
4. All certificates received go directly onto the fridge
5. Paperwork sent home from school (rare as we have a paperless school and receive everything on email), will be clipped to the fridge.  Anything clipped to the fridge needs priority attention. (more information coming in future posts)
6. Homework books go onto the dining table ready for them to start after they have had a bite to eat.
7. Home readers are put into their boxes (see tomorrows post for more information).
8. Place bags on bag hooks (see below)
9. Then they have afternoon tea and chat about what they got up to at school
10. Next, time to start homework in their books
11. Once finished, homework is placed in their boxes (again see tomorro’s post)
12. Followed by 10 min on the computer homework tasks (isn’t technolgy crazy now with 5 year olds + doing their math homework online)
13. Now it’s either time to go to our after school sport session or relax by watching some TV or outside playing, whichever they please.  We don’t allow computer games or Wii during the week.

Idea’s on how to store school bags

• Prior to what we have now I used 3M hooks on the wall which were perfectly capable of holding heavy school bags
• However, I wanted to fancy up the wall so I purchased MDF Intials of each child, plus created one for myself, I painted and covered in scrapbooking paper.  Inserted a hook to hold the school bags and viola, fancy bag storage.  We store their bags at the garage door, it’s a great wall hidden from the rest of the house perfect to also store their library bags.
• In their wardrobe.
• A hook on bedroom wall.
• On bedroom door knob.
• In a basket by the garage door.
• Where ever you choose make sure the bag is always returned to the designated home.

Where do you store your school bags?