Aug 05

Planning for Back to School

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Checklists, Quick Organizing Tips No Comments

It’s never a surprise when parents start to feel an extra sense of urgency come August every year… Summer is coming to a close, back-to-school shopping is around the corner, and then planning for back to school begins!

Consider this article a quick checklist with an added few of my tips to help you start this busy time of year as productively as possible. The goal here is to help you prevent some of the forgetfulness and stress that can happen when crunch time comes. These tips are very basic but are often underestimated as they are great time savers.

Let’s begin with how you can plan a successful return back to school!

Contact your children’s school for updates

You may or may not be on your school’s email list, but either way – sometimes schools share more information about the first day back to school than you might think.

This includes bus schedules, start times, finish times, upcoming pro-d days or special events, sign-ups for the PAC committee, other volunteer jobs, and so on. The more you know early on, the more at peace you will be with planning for back to school during this whirlwind time of year. And the less the school schedule will be a shock to your business schedule as well.

Get back in touch with your carpool partners

It’s not unusual that if you previously carpooled with someone to get your children to and from school, you have not spoken to them all summer. Well, now is an excellent time to touch base again! Especially since you now know the schedule for school.

Remember to keep in mind any after-school activities your child or their child might do; both parents should be on the same page with this. And what about your business travel times? Will those conflict with the carpool schedule? Do you know of your travel plans in advance enough to even bring that up? It might not be a bad idea to think about, especially if it has a chance at interfering.

Get these apps – (you’ll thank me later)

Download “Google Keep,” and one of either “Google Photo Scan“ or “Artkive.” These apps will eliminate the paper clutter that piles up fast in most homes. Check them out, use them for a month as a trial to plan for back to school and see if they’re a fit for you. These apps make it easy to share information and plan with other family members.

Google Keep is my #1 app to keep track of all my grocery lists. It’s also handy to capture items you need to buy from a specific store, plan out errands, books to buy or download, packing checklists, gift ideas, bits and pieces of information, kids clothing sizes, and what they will need for the upcoming season. You can add a location reminder and it’s easy to share lists/notes with family members, friends, and business clients. You can even add photos and use the handy audio feature with transcription. Google Keep is always within reach as it works on all your mobile and desktop devices. Set up is less than 5 minutes then you can start typing your to-do lists and unloading everything on your mind!

Google PhotoScan is the smartphone app I use to scan kids’ artwork, memorabilia, and art projects, like clay and pottery. Use a black surface as your background for best results when scanning items or odd sizes of paper. The app will scan whatever you want a photo of, save it to your smartphone, and from there you can sync it into your photo sharing app. (I use Google Photos as it costs a lot less than using Apple Photos)

Artkive is another handy app that will help you organize and capture your child’s artwork, schoolwork, and pictures of them in their activities. Get rid of paper clutter once and for all, and save yourself a lot of space in your home! And why not use it to organize your own childhood memorabilia? Organize by child and age, print quality books, frameable prints, or pillows for them to enjoy and celebrate these precious memories. Shareable with family and friends. Also check out their done-for-you “Artkive Concierge” service. Organizing memorabilia has never been easier!

Start planning childcare arrangements

Your summer childcare may have consisted of half or full day day camps, and it simply worked with your schedule as if by luck.

But will it work when the kids are back to school, finishing earlier, or enjoying their pro-d days off again? What about sick days and snow days – do you have a service on call for this? Now is the time to start planning for the back to school season.

The last thing anyone wants is to miss one or several important meetings because you don’t have your personal life in order. It’s also ill-advised to bring the kids to work after school most days. Even if you work from home, having “fresh-home-from-school” children running around and asking for late lunches, begging to go play outside, etc. – it will be a distraction. In-home childcare may alleviate some of this if you cannot take the time to pick the kids up and drop them off with a sitter.

Set some guidelines

One of the best ways to keep peace in your home is to have a calendar, schedule, and a routine. Summers are often chaotic with schedules all over the place and almost always void of any routine.

Because of all the freedom and travel in your itinerary, summer sports, tournaments, and so on – it’s just madness for even the most sane of families. Back to school is the perfect time for resetting a routine! We can all breathe again when routine is in place.

Even though it can be hard to get back into it, setting a schedule for before and after school will be very beneficial. Setting a routine is important not only for you but your kids as well.

Don’t forget the little things… checklists, checklists, checklists

Sometimes we forget just how much there is to do on an average school day (which also happens to be an average work day for most of us too). If you take inventory of these things early on it will be that much easier to make checklists for them so that they don’t become routinely forgotten by everyone.

Use Google Keep to create checklists for clothing items to buy for the fall, uniforms to order, shoe and clothing sizes, and morning routines. And just about everything else you keep in your head to remember while planning for back to school! It’s time to get it out of your head and into somewhere useful.

Here’s to your organizing success!

What are some of your must-do’s before September? Share with me below!

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Aug 16

Love0

Before and After School Checklists

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Home Organizing, Inspiration, Quick Organizing Tips No Comments

back to school routine

Making a list and checking it twice starts at Back to School!

Last post we released on Back To School Planning was a bit of on introduction on Back To School. The goal was to help busy, hard working parents like yourself get a head start on the year to increase productivity and decrease stress.

We’ve since had quite a bit of feedback on that post which really brought a lot of inspiration to us for future content. So to continue this thought process and follow through with some of our previous promises, we thought we we get into something a little more specific.

The before and after school routine. Some might think it’s easy to set and keep a routine in the mornings – but with an entrepreneur super mom on our team (Cijaye DePradine) we know that it only LOOKS easy unless you are really on top of your game.

The number one secret to success according to Cijaye is making lists! She lives by them. Not just because she has a high functioning A.D.D. but she also has two school aged children and a business to run from the break of dawn onwards.

Without lists — everything can be a distraction! So, as we said last time….

Don’t forget the little things – make checklists NOW

If you take inventory of all the little things you really do need to do to start your day properly – it will be that much easier to make them a part of your routine. And it’s always a great first step to make checklists for them so that they don’t become routinely chaotic for everyone. For example:

The daily before school schedule may consist of all the dress and hygiene tasks that are an absolute in everyone’s daily lives, but don’t forget to schedule breakfast (it’s the most important meal of the day) even if it’s a glass of OJ or water and some fresh cut fruit or bagels — breakfast is critical. Along with breakfast you and your child might need to take medications or vitamins.

Have a reminder list and doing this together as a team ensures that everyone is doing it. PLUS it gives you extra quality time together as a family.

Lastly but certainly not least, a “double check” rule should be in order daily as well. This “double check” rule ensures that each and every morning your child takes a look at his or her agenda, books, binders and bag to ensure that they have everything they need for the day. Kids tend to carry more of what they don’t need and less of what they do.

They are often quite forgetful as well. If they are forced to double check every morning – they will be more on the ball than anyone can hope for, I promise.

TIP: Make a reminder list for this in the evenings so that they know exactly what to look for in the mornings.

The after school schedule is definitely different. In many homes – the children are HUNGRY as soon as they walk in the door. If you hire an in-home nanny or sitter for this time, you might want to ask them to prepare light snacks/meals for the kids that will be ready upon their return.

If you don’t have a sitter and your children are not of age to do this on their own – it might be important to schedule yourself to step in here. If your child is of age, having a list to remind them which meals are acceptable after school and which are not may be helpful. (Afterall you don’t want your children eating a triple dose of sugar filled cereal mid afternoon – let alone any other time of day).

This way everyone simply goes on about their days and stays focused. Also, although some parents do not believe in chores, many do and in those homes, chores and homework are always a top priority. The challenge is putting them in order. Which comes first in your home is going to be up to you. But do make sure you schedule the time for each. It is important.

Finally if your children have after school sports or activities – make plans for this too. If you must arrange another carpool or two – do that. If it’s all on you – that’s okay – but just make sure you set your OWN schedule to make room for this. Your children will need to get their uniforms, dressy clothes or costumes on. They may need their water bottles filled and they will always need some sort of healthy snack in them before they go (if not dinner).

A good rule of thumb is to give yourself at least 1.5 hours between the end of your work and the beginning of sports to make it all run smoothly.

Of course this is just a small list of the many things you can do to keep your daily routine in check – but it’s all important. If you run a home business it’s VITAL.

back to school routines