Even though it probably feels like the summer just started, a new school year is right around the corner! For kids, a new school year means another year filled with homework and extracurricular activities. For parents, it’s all about making sure your children are prepared. If you have children that are about ready to head back to school, here are a few tips for getting them ready for a new school year.

Getting Yourself and the Kids Ready for Back to School

Sleep Routines

You’ve probably heard this tip before, but that’s because it’s an important one! Most likely, your children stayed up a little later and slept in over the summer. This is not a good schedule for heading back to school. If you stick to this type of schedule for the start of the school year, your children will end up yawning their way through class. Instead, get your children used to an appropriate sleep routine ahead of time. Starting at least a week or two before the first day of school, send them to bed a little earlier everyday and have them wake up at the time they’ll need to when school starts. This will help prepare their bodies and minds for those early school mornings.

First Day of School Practice

You can get your children ready for a new school year by doing a practice run of the first day of school. In addition to a sleeping routine that has your children waking up in time for school, practice getting out the door on time as well. If your children will be taking the bus to school, do a practice run of your morning and see if you can get to the bus stop in time. If you’ll be driving your children to school, do your morning routine and figure out what time you’ll need to leave the house by in order to get to the school on time. Keep in mind such factors as packing lunches, morning traffic, and even school traffic. That parent drop-off line can get pretty long in the morning and no parent wants little Johnny to get a late slip.

Back-To-School Shopping

To help get your kids ready for a new school year, you’ll need to make sure they have the supplies they need. This might be a step you dread because those school supplies can get pretty pricey, but it’s a necessary one. Before doing your back to school shopping, get a list of supplies from each child’s new teacher. Usually the school hands out a supply list for each grade level, but some teachers add a few items they know will be needed in their classrooms. After you have your supply list, do a little planning. Find out where all the good sales are and see if any stores will price match. To help save some money, try to buy some supplies in bulk, such as folders, pencils, erasers, etc. This will help you save some cash throughout the school year as your children use up the essentials and you need to replenish. You can also save a trip to the store by shopping online for school supplies at places like Amazon. Even for preschool, the girls school supply list is pretty extensive and some of the supplies like diapers and paper are quite heavy. I prefer to have certain items shipped directly to my house.

Get Excited!

The best thing you can do to get your children ready to go back to school is to get them excited! A great way to do this is to make a school calendar. This calendar can include any important date or event, such as the first day of school or any extracurricular activities. Create a fun countdown calendar and watch your children get more and more excited as they count down to the first day of school or that special event.

Getting ready to go back to school doesn’t need to be a negative experience. Take some time to plan and get into a routine and you’ll be amazed at how easy that first day of school will be. What are some ways you get ready for a new school year?