Of course children’s excitement brews at the thought of the new school year after a long summer break, but looking past that excitement is the reality that kids will be woken early, homework will be plenty, and parent letters and other paperwork will accumulate quickly. So how can we more efficiently handle the various tasks and emotions associated with the beginning of another year of school? My hope for you is that these tried and true tips will help ease into this transition. So here are some Tips for a struggle free start to the school year!
Two weeks before school starts I start to transition my children to an earlier schedule. I don’t know about your children, but mine like to sleep in. So it used to be that when the school year began they would be hard to wake up, and falling asleep in class, or coming home and crashing on the couch. So now two weeks before school starts I adjust their wake time to 7 am, and then one week before school starts to 6:30 am. This way when they have to wake up at 5:30-6:00 each day it isn’t as large of an adjustment. I also adjust their bedtime so that they are sleeping by 10 two weeks prior, and then by 9. The key is once school starts be consistent. It will be much easier to wake early if they are held to a regular schedule. If you are looking for an alarm clock that helps to naturally wake your child up this one from amazon has a light that gradually gets brighter starting 30 minutes before the alarm time. You can find it here: Sunrise Alarm Clock.
You already know the first couple days of school result in extra paperwork for you as a parent, so the best advice I have is to just do it. Fill out the paperwork and send it back right away, because anything else is just putting off the inevitable.
Kids don’t like homework. Duh, who does? My kids do love to learn though, so to try to ease them back into the routine, we do a bit of review from the prior year, and they also take some time to read. This gets their minds working on different things and fresh ideas before they start the new year.
The hurried mornings can be calmed by taking a few extra steps the night before. Have children get their clothes lined up for the next day. Have them get their backpacks ready so they are not searching for anything the next morning. That should really cut down on some of the morning stress.
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