How To Better Prepare For Back To School

Prepare For Back To School

Back to school came earlier than expected. Summer came and went by so fast. Although everyday seemed longer than the previous day, knowing that my kid’s going back to school gives me mixed emotions. In person-school started this week and we were ready as much as we could. Here I’m sharing some tips on how to prepare for back to school.

Practice Routines One To Two Weeks Before

Getting them ready for school takes time and practice. Unless your child had the same schedule from summer to school session, they need to get back in the routine. Practice preparation backpack/lunch/snack preparations the night before.

It’s best to have the set of clothes out on the bed for the next day as well. Sleep routines are also a need. I let my kids sleep a little later since it was summer time, but we are back to school schedule. They had to practice sleeping earlier and earlier each day until they managed to find the time that worked for us all.

Having breakfast planned the night before or early in the morning is also a good idea, especially if your’e in a rush. Something simple as an egg, toast, waffle, yogurt (gogurt), or croissants are something we have on our list.

Prepare Your Children

Returning to in person school after a year and half of homeschool/being home can be a bit exciting yet overwhelming for your little ones too. Have your talks with them on how to prepare for back to school. Teach and show them the ways of social distancing, hand sainting, keeping your masks on and off at times of need, and just knowing how to navigate through the classrooms.

The teachers will show them once the school starts but it’s always great to teach them in advance. I’ve reminded my daughter that the protocols we followed during the summer, go the same way. Masks must be on except for when eating or outside while social distancing from others. (You can’t expect a child to keep a mask on for 6+ hours straight)

Label Everything And Add A Little Extra

Be sure to label everything that belongs to your child. There may be multiples of the same and a misplace item can be easily found with a name on it. Be sure to extra masks in your child’s back pack so that they have backups just in case. Pack them a little extra snacks because kids get hungry at any given time.

They have extra recess besides lunch time so they can eat if they need to. Packing an extra set of clothes or even a cardigans/jackets helps because some classrooms have their air conditions blasted.

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Plan A Drop off/Pick up

This one can get a little tough depending on how the school system works. Before the pandemic, my son and I would always drop off my daughter and pick her up without too much chaos. Since the pick up time staggered it was a bit easier. Now, she gets off with the whole school and it was a bit chaotic.

Kids were being released all at once, parents were shouting and screaming for their children, and teachers were trying to monitor everything. I get that it was the first week, but it was a bit overwhelming.

When we drop her off, we all watch her walk through the gates of the school through their scanner system. During pick-up, I made sure to let me daughter know not to come out through the gates unless you see me or whoever is supposed to pick her up. My son and I get their extremely early because the parking situation is beyond expectations.

Unless you want to walk a mile from your car to the school, you have to get there a bit earlier tan expected. But I do remind her that if she doesn’t see me within 5-10 minutes, to either go to the office or to let a nearby teacher know that your mom/dad is not here.

Communicate With The School

Our district has an app where we can communicate with the school staff, including the principal and the teachers. We can personally message them through the app or respond to a general communication board. I was able to get all my information through the app on what my child needed for the school years.

They provided the list of supplies, what their daily needs are, and how to prepare for back to school during these circumstance. Contact to the school office if a system like this is not in place and the office personnel’s should be able to help you meet your needs.

Going back to school with the rise in the delta virus was nothing anyone can be fully prepared for. It’s with care and precautions that we take special care and be as ready as parents and children.

Children need that social interactions with their peers and teachers that zoom communications alone can’t do. It was a tough decision (not really much of a choice) but so far my daughter is a happy camper and that makes this mama happy as well. Hopefully the tips I shared here about how to prepare for back to school was helpful and useful.