Get back into your daily routines at least a week before school goes back for a smooth transition and stress free school mornings.
Summer holidays they seem like are going to go forever until then suddenly there’s only one full week of holidays left and school will be starting the following week. At least by the week before I like to be starting back on our normal daily routine so it’s not too much of a culture shock for the family when early wake-ups and busy mornings are the norm again. Here are some of my tips for a smooth transition into the new school year.
These tips apply to adults of the family as well as the kids! If you have been on holiday mode for the last few weeks, you don’t want to start the new school/work year with a dose of stress!
To help you out with your Back to School Essentials, we have made Organised HQ a one stop shop to help you get organised and prepared the new school year. We have lunchboxes, drink bottles, lunch bags, checklists, school lunch ebooks, routine charts for the kids, all to help you get ahead with your organising and so much more.
1. RE-ESTABLISH BED TIMES
Staying up late followed by long lazy sleep-ins the next day is part of the fun of summer holidays. However you can’t just switch from late bed times and sleep-ins to earlier bedtimes and getting up early. It will be difficult for your kids to fall asleep, and you and the kids won’t have had enough quality rest! Rather than changing sleep times drastically simply adjust your child’s bedtime by a half hour each night until you reach the desired bedtime. Then do the same in the mornings, by waking them a little earlier each day until their body clock is comfortably set to the time they need to get up by.
2. GET BACK INTO ROUTINE
Do you normally get up earlier to exercise, shower and dress before the kids wake up? If your normal routine has fallen by the wayside over the summer break then starting re-adding your normal morning activities to your day. Get your kids back into the swing of their normal school morning routines as well, by them getting used to being ready for the day by a certain time every morning again.
I’m a firm believer of routine charts, I first started using a morning routine chart for my kids when they started kindy as I found I was continually repeating myself. To eliminate me yelling from the kitchen, I instead created a routine chart so the kids knew exactly what they needed to do each morning to get ready for school. To help you, there is a wide range of printable routine charts available in the shop, including personalised routine charts which are created to suit you and your family’s schedule. These charts even include times and pictures so that young children can easily follow them too.
3. INTRODUCE SOME DAILY READING AND WRITING
It’s pretty easy for kids not to have spent as much time reading and writing over the summer break as they normally would. Described as the summer slump by some teacher friends of mine, back to school learning can be quite confronting for younger kids especially. Help them ease back into their normal learning rhythms with some daily reading and writing. This can be fun, for writing they could make a summer journal or scrapbook of their adventures and activities. Or maybe they could write a letter to a friend or family member.
A family reading session in the evening near bedtime is a great way to help everyone wind down for the evening. Especially helpful if you are introducing earlier bedtimes again. If you have older independent readers you might even get the chance to pick up a book too!
4. Prepare for packing school lunches by stocking your freezer
Stocking the freezer with school lunch snacks is one of my biggest tips for helping with your back to school daily routines. Packing lunchboxes is a breeze for you and your children when you have a selection of different snack and main items all ready to go. All the recipes in my Lunch Box Recipe Cookbook are perfect for this!
5. Make one last fun summer memory
End the holidays on a high note and go do something special as a family on the last weekend before school goes back. This doesn’t need to be an expensive outing. A picnic in the park, or a beach day or a family bush walk are all fun and memorable. If you’re child has to write a ‘What I did on the Holidays’ story when they go back to school this well help them too! When my kids were little they often used to forget what had happened earlier on in the summer and only remember the last few things they did.
What does a typical school morning look like in your household?
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