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!