No. 98: The Back to School Survival Guide | 10 Things to Simplify a New School Year

for you and your humans

pendants

As you’re reading this, I’ll have just finished a week full of pencil sharpening, uniform unpacking, orientation attending, lunch box scrubbing, pantry restocking, hair braiding and teacher gift purchasing. This can only mean one thing—we have officially completed our final week of Summer.

I have lots of feelings about this which I shared in depth last week, but the borderline unrealistic optimism is still reigning as champion and I’m rolling with it. Ten things is a lot of things but only a couple of them are on the long-ish side. Fret not.

1. Set up the School or Homework Station for Success

This year, we’ll sit down for schoolwork in the yellow home school room I’ve been dreaming up and designing for years. In my mind, it’s a very Sound of Music situation and I can’t wait to work in a space where everything actually has a place and I don’t have to dig endlessly for that thing we need this second (of course I will, just let me exist in the dream for a minute.) For the past four years, though, our school setup has been a few file folders next to the dining table. That was it. That little six foot strip of papers got just as chaotic as an entire classroom would so this applies across the board—whether your kids are full time homeschooling, full time in-person at school or doing a hybrid situation like us, this applies to everyone.

Things to consider:
Is there a space for everything?
Have you clearly communicated and shown what that space and place is?
Is the space stocked with the essentials they’ll need to do their homework—pencils, erasers, sharpeners?
Is there anything you wished you had last year that you want to grab before this school year starts? Maybe a small white board? A clip board? A kitchen timer? (These are all things I grabbed this summer so they’re top of mind.)

I’ve found in our six years of teaching babies that it’s easy to fall down a rabbit hole of purchasing things that mask a problem rather than working to solve the real problem. Finding a place for everything that needs a place is a less sexy job than restocking paper clips and fresh markers but I promise, it’s the job that will make the space usable and enjoyable.

2. Peek in the Closet

Technically, yours and theirs. But let’s just talk about theirs. This is a horrific task and one that I always feel the need to set aside an entire day for, but it is always so worth it in the end. It’s time to reorganize their closets and dressers to the best of our ability to simplify the school day. You can make your own life easier by limiting options and make their life easier by making clear choices.

I have some friends with younger kids who set out their outfits for the week on the weekend, putting everything in these bags which I have and love for tons of different things, but I also see lots of YouTube organizers use these closet hangers (colorful version and simple version) to do just that. Even just moving “school clothes” to one section of the closet can be helpful, though this only works for a certain age.

Refresh what they’re low on (it was uniform appropriate socks, undershirts and belts for us this year,) grab some fresh undies and they’re ready to roll.