I can’t believe that I am writing a post about going back to school. I was thinking the other day about how funny it is that at the beginning of summer, it feels like we have forever. So much time that we even worry about how we are going to fill it. But here we are with about 2 weeks left and it has all flown by. There is probably a metaphor for life to be drawn here but my brain is broken because I have had all of 2 hours to myself in the last 12 weeks. AHHH SUMMER!

If I’m being honest, summers haven’t always been great for me. Not because my kids aren’t wonderful but just because it’s HARD and little kids are HARD. This year, the big boys are quite self sufficient. I mean, they can make toast and fry an egg. They go on bike rides together and have even taken on a summer job of caring for a neighbor’s puppy. The littles are easier too which just leaves more time for fun. I have loved babies (still do, just OTHER people’s babies) but I’m enjoying this new phase of parenting. This has been our best summer yet. We have had a blast.

Alas, I am looking forward to getting back into a routine and dedicating a couple of hours to myself and my work during nap time. Over the years I have learned a few things that make the back-to-school transition easier on us. I like to learn things the hard way by messing them up so massively that everyone ends up in a puddle of tears for the first few weeks of school . . . but this is the worst and a little bit of planning can go a long way.

1. Clothes shopping My kids attend a school that has a uniform policy. It’s not super strict about colors so it’s fairly easy to accommodate. I pull out all of the clothes that they were wearing at the end of the year. Whatever still fits, goes in the bin for the new year. The old stuff, goes to the clothing exchange at the school. I make a list of what is needed to fill in the blanks. I like to have 5-6 outfits for each person because I can only count on doing laundry once a week. On the flip side, I don’t like have too much stuff because I don’t have the space for it. My list usually looks something like this.
   • 5 shirts for Elle size 4T
   • 3 shorts/skirts for Elle size 4T
   • 8 shorts for the boys size 8T
   • Boys undies size 8T
   • Toms for Luke size 2
2. Clothes and shoes organization This is different for everyone. Experiment to find what works best for you. Here is how we do it: Everyone has their own school bin. I put at least 5 shirts, 5 bottoms, 5 pairs of undies in each bin every Sunday night. That way they don’t need to search their drawers for clothes or complain about the options. I have another bin of socks and I ask them to put their shoes by the bin every night before bed.
3. Miscellaneous School Supplies Make sure book bags, folders, lunch boxes and eventually, coats, have a designated place to hang. For about a year, I had a big problem with my children NEVER hanging their book bags on the hooks. They’d drop them as soon as they walked in the door (that is, if they made it out of the car). I would ask them 1500 times to pick them up. Finally, I told them that if I have to ask them even ONE time to hang their book bags up they would lose out on movie night on Friday. Guess how many times I had to remind them after that? One time. One person lost movie night, one time.
4. School supplies If your school has “School Toolbox” they will send all of the supplies to the school for you. Plus they outfit another child with each purchase. If you have 2 or less children, it’d probably be fun to take them shopping to an actual store for their supplies. Otherwise, Amazon. Put everything in brown paper shopping bags, label them with your kids names and take them to meet the teacher night. It will be one less thing to deal with on the first day of school for yourself, your kids and the teachers.
5. Food I always start off the year with the best intentions. We will not eat cereal every morning. I will pack healthy, rounded lunches. I will prep dinner while the kids are in school. A couple of months in, we are having cereal 4 days/week. They are eating school lunch. I turn into a maniac about 5 pm everyday because I still have to get dinner ready. I’d beat myself up about this but you know what, doing it all is hard and I’d rather be happy. That being said, here are a few easy food preps for breakfast and lunch that truly have been game changers for me.
   • BREAKFAST
   • Egg muffins – You can use whatever toppings/fillings that your kids like. Make a huge batch, store in the fridge, reheat for about 20 sec every morning.
   • Waffles – we make huge batches on Sunday and store them in the freezer. Pop them in the toaster in the morning. Here is the brand we use. Everyone loves it plus it has actual nutritional value.
   • Kefir is a yummy alternative to juice in the morning. It is super good for your gut.
   • LUNCH – the best thing you can do here is get your kids involved with an assembly line style lunch box packing the night before. Here are the lunch boxes we like. I’ve had the same ones for 5 years and they still look new.
   • Boiled Eggs – get these freezer ice packs from Amazon
   • Crescent roll pizzas – make a big batch of individual roll-up pizzas this way and store them in the fridge.
   • Hummus or ranch and veggies – I use the smallest storage containers I can find to make a weeks worth of these dips so we can just grab and go. Pair them with carrots, cucumbers or whatever veggie your kids like.
6. One last hoorah I highly recommend getting the whole family together for one last fun summer day. Whatever is your jam; the beach, the boat, museums, movies, road trips. Whatever it is, celebrate the great summer you had and the new chapter that is starting.
7. Goals I like to find a few minutes to talk with each of my older kids about their goals for the year. Academic, personal, friendship, family, sports, everything. So far we haven’t written them down, it’s just been more of a conversation around what’s important to them. Yesterday I had a few minutes to talk with Fleet. He is entering a new level at school (Montessori is a little different that traditional school in that he will be in the same class for 2 years). We talked about the new academic challenges, things to look for in friends and time management. At the very least, his juices are flowing and I had the opportunity to encourage and offer a little advice. This would also be a great time to discover any anxiety your kids have and help them navigate that throughout the year.

I hope all this helps. How do you get ready for the upcoming school year? Comment below!