Let’s face it, we all want to start the new school year off on the right foot, but more often than not it just doesn’t happen that way. Between getting everyone ready for school and keeping up with a long list of extracurricular activities, by the time the first month of school is over it almost feels like a tornado has disrupted the once functioning home. There are a few ways to keep your groove going during the school year though. Luckily, most of these tricks won’t cost you a whole lot, so you can worry less about your budget and more about keeping the show running until the kids get to enjoy winter break. So, get ready to organize! Your kids and your free time will thank you for it!
1. Time Chart
If there’s one way to keep children from going wild during a schedule change, it is certainly a time chart. Summer has a way of getting children in a relaxed mindset, especially since they don’t have to go to school. By starting up a time chart, they will have to follow the new schedule in order to be rewarded. On the time chart, make sure you schedule in sleeping hours, chore time, homework time and even their free time. You can even have children check off the items they complete, which can be rewarded with treats, extra screen time or any other activities you would like to add to the mix. The more fun you make your chart the more interested your children will be, so use your imagination to spice things up. Time charts also work to help children concentrate on their work, which is perfect for getting them back in the mind set of school.
2. Set Up A Snack Bin
One thing that most kids want to do when they get home from school is to grab a snack. This can often lead to junk food overdrive, which makes them not very hungry for dinner. With a little bit of organization though, your child can be well on their way to eating healthier with little effort on your end. Many parents have started to use snack bins to help children make wiser choices when eating. The bin can be filled with items like fruits, cheese, vegetables, crackers, fruit snacks and so on. Each item can be labeled with a point value and each child can be given a certain amount of points per snack. This will show children that not all snacks are made equal and they should enjoy things in moderation. The snack bin is also easy to pull out from the refrigerator every day after school so you can worry less about whipping up a snack as well as the cleanup from snack time. You can always replenish the bin on the weekend, so kids will be ready to start the week out again.
3. Clothing Prep
When it comes to early mornings, not everyone is in the mood to get it in gear in time for school. This can make getting dressed a battle that seems like it will never come to an end. Luckily, you can take one major step to help make sure the kids are ready to go school every day of the week. If you have a closet organizer this trick will be easier than ever. Simply hang the children’s clothes up in advance so they can pull down a fresh new outfit every day. Shelving is even more beneficial though. With shelves you can place your children’s outfits as well as their socks and underwear into individual shelves. This will take lots of time out of the morning routine, especially when it comes to kids who need several wake up calls. You can even make this task a little fun as kids learn to pick out their own clothes and set them aside for the upcoming week.
4. Set Up Entry Way
Another major problem with the school rush is the entry way of the home often ends up a mess. When kids get home they tend to drop the backpacks, take off their coats and ditch their shoes. This could make your entryway a bit of an eyesore and sometimes even a hazard. Luckily, this area is a cinch to clean up and it won’t harm your budget if you work carefully. Hanging hooks on the wall is one of the best ways to remedy this problem. This will allow the kids to hang up their backpacks and their coats, which will instantly give the home a more organized look. If you can, find a cheap shoe holder to get the shoes out of the way. These can cost as little as $20 and will change the way your home looks and feels. Another option is to build locker inspired storage. This will add a cute vibe to the home while ensuring your kids school items are put away for good. The lockers can be painted to match your décor and the tops can be used for other storage like mail, keys or decorative items.
5. Apps
In this day and age, apps can be your best friend when it comes to so many things in life. One way to keep your life on track with apps is to actually use them to keep up with your schedule. Unlike calendars, apps allow you to go into your calendar and edit the information as it changes. You can also set up reminders to help you keep track of your child’s big assignments and so much more. There are also many apps to choose from when it comes to helping your child with their homework. No matter the level, you should be able to work up some pretty amazing explanations without having to have a lot of books around the house. There are even apps to help you keep track of your students’ grades, activities and parental events at your child’s school. In fact, many schools are even coming up with their own app to help keep parents organized and in the know.
6. Create Homework Center
There’s tons of distractions for kids when it comes to doing homework in the house. From the TV to their toys and siblings, it may be better to set up a homework center to make the children feel like they are in a school setting when they go to work on their homework. This can be easily done without spending a small fortune too. For instance, you can whip up a desk large enough for all the kids using an old door and some shelving. You can even make separators to ensure the children aren’t distracted by other’s work. Apart from that, setting up school supplies is another must for this area. You can use old recycling to store many of the items as well as children’s pencil boxes from previous school years. Another great option for the homework center is to add a special place for children to place their completed work so you can go over it before it gets handed in at school.
7. Food Prep
There is no argument about it, weekdays are pretty much chaos when it comes to everything. So, one of the best things you can get into is food prepping. This is also a great way to save money as you can make ready-to-go meals out of a select few ingredients. Of course, the time you will save doing this will be payment enough if you have a few minutes to kick back and relax every evening. After you finish your dinner every night, you can use the leftovers to create lunches and maybe even breakfast for the family, which saves quite a bit of time in the morning. You may find that this will also use up a lot of your leftovers, so you won’t have to worry about wasting as much food. Even if you don’t use leftovers for your children’s lunches, then you may want to go ahead and start the process of getting lunches together so the morning is as busy.
8. Incentive Board
If it’s hard to keep your kids motivated for school and chores, then an incentive board is sure to help you out. This board is filled with all of the items your child must do and a few extras to give kids extra things to do for more points or money. Every item on the board can have a point value, so when the child finishes up everything they are supposed to do they will earn a certain amount of points. These points can be used for prizes, but you can also require a certain number of points to be completed in order to have every day luxuries, like internet, screen time, dessert and so on. The board will help keep everyone in the house motivated, which is sure to keep everything running like a well-oiled machine. Incentive boards can be arranged based on your own needs, so get creative with it.
9. Pride Bulletin
Your children are going to bring home lots of great art and school work that they’ll want to show off to the world. So, you might want to make yourself a pride bulletin in order to give your children the boost of confidence they deserve. You can easily make your own amazing bulletin board, but if you’re in a hurry then you can buy one for a great price. The pride bulletin can be a great way to sort through your child’s school work too, as they won’t need to keep it all throughout the school year. When the semester is over then you can take down the work and put it in a special book so the children can remember their achievements.
10. Keep Lists
When it comes to staying organized during the school year, one of the best things you can do is keep up with your lists. You can keep a small tablet with you to jot down things when they come to you, or you can open up a word document on your phone to ensure you always have your lists with you. One of the major things to keep track of during the school year is groceries, because running out of the supplies you need can really set you back quite a bit. Another important list is your child’s assignments. Although it would be nice for them to entirely rely on themselves to get a project in, it’s not exactly likely. Thus, keeping a list of the big items is sure to help prevent you from working until midnight on a project due the following day. Other than that, you should keep lists for playdates, your child’s friends’ parents’ numbers and even your children’s teacher’s contact information.
The busy days of schools are sure to leave you scrambling if you’re not organized. These ten organizational tips should help you enjoy more of the school year without forcing you to go crazy over the mess. With a little organization, you may even feel like the school year is going a bit smoother than the years of past, which is sure to take some of the stress off of your plate.
