We may still be basking in sunshine but, before we know it, summer will be a distant memory and the hustle and bustle of another school year will be in full swing. Some parents eagerly look forward to September, while others start panicking about everything they need to do prior to the first school bell ring that heralds in a busy fall season.
August is all about ways to get your whole house organized for the best school year yet. Before you hit the mall, there’s much more to do than going through your children’s closets, praying you don't have to spend a small fortune on new clothes, shoes and sports equipment.
REW.ca spoke to Everything Organized franchise owner Kathleen Boland for her best tips ever to make the transition from summer to schoolroom as stress-free as possible.
“The end of summer is a natural time to refresh our homes, schedules, wardrobes and habits,” says Boland. “Back to school is ingrained in us to move from vacation mode to work mode. Go with it!”
Boland’s Top Five Back-to-School Tips
1) Get the Kids to Sort Out their Bedrooms
You can have the older kids help out with easy household chores – first off, getting their rooms ready for the fall school year. After they have gone through their closets and rid themselves of clothes, shoes and winter jackets and boots that they have outgrown, the rooms are then ready to have their windows cleaned, dirt marks washed off the walls, furniture dusted and floors given a good vacuum. (The end of summer is a perfect time to clean windows before it gets too cold outside.)
2) Create a Communication Centre
You will be inundated with school-related paperwork, so gather it all together in a designated communication centre. It will keep things under control and help you maintain your cool when looking for permission slips and forms.
Boland is a real proponent of the clipboard method because it provides each family member with their own clipboard in order to keep track of all pertinent school information.
Another great technique is to create a children's work station with hooks for backpacks and individual chalk message boards to communicate to each child what the day's schedule is, including homework and/or dance/sport/music activities, what special books or gear they need to pack, and any chores they need to do. This could be set up either in the hallway, mud room or in a games room.
Ensure that the most recent or pressing events are at the top of the list and then ongoing information to the back, such as allergy alerts for lunches. When using a traditional paper or wipe-board calendar, colour code each person's board so that it’s easier to review who is doing what, and who might be doing too much or too little. Alternatively, maybe you prefer a chalkboard calendar that is really handy and easy to clean.
3) Designate a Homework Area
Decide if homework will be done in bedrooms or supervised out in the open in a family friendly area. Set them up for success by having all their needs taken into consideration in a simplified and organized space with no distractions: paper, writing/drawing implements, calculator, eraser, and a dictionary/thesaurus for those without a computer. If your child has a lot of school supplies, you can buy heavy-duty plastic supply carts, or refurbish an old filing cabinet that is collecting dust in the attic. You can add shelves with dividers and a chalkboard on the side of it for easy access to homework deadlines.
Know if your child works best with white noise in the background such as their choice of music or a fan, or if they work best with silence to concentrate, and provide the best environment for them accordingly.
4) Time for a Chore Review
As children get older their responsibilities should grow as well. Let them to be working members of the family, showing maturity as their chores align with their age. Add on tasks that can challenge them such as cooking, or chores that take more effort to achieve such as lawn mowing or shovelling snow. The goal is that they are able to take care of themselves by the time they leave home one happy day!
5) Digital Diary Instead of Projects Everywhere
Does your house get overrun with artwork on walls, science projects on sideboards and a host of other school-related detritus, which you’re dying to clear out but need a way to record for posterity? A great idea is to start an annual digital diary for each child. Take photos or videos of those science experiments, certificates earned, music concerts and art projects. At the end of the school year you can create a slideshow that is tailored to each child and much easier to keep than a pile of craft papers and cardboard.The added bonus is that you can share it with family and friends!
