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back to school preparation

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Going back to school each year is an important milestone that can be exciting with some organisation.

It is the time of year when the lazy post-Christmas feeling slowly ebbs away and before you know it, back to school is just around the corner. It sneaks up every year and suddenly, there is an endless list of preparation, shopping and scheduling to be done.

This can be overwhelming for even the most Zen and organised among us. So, if even the thought of back-to-school shopping has already got you panicking, don’t worry, we have compiled a handy checklist below.

Not only will this keep you sane and on top of it all but it will hopefully make the experience less daunting for the kids.

First things first

First, we recommend getting your hands on a 2022 diary that you can use exclusively for school. In this diary, you can track school events, carnivals, meetings and extracurricular activities and things you may need to re-purchase throughout the year. Keeping all school-related things in one specific organised diary can be helpful as it means you won’t lose essential events in your calendar or notes app on your phone.

Then, pencil in all of the following:

  • Pre-school doctors’ appointments
  • Sign up for any music classes or sports classes
  • Sign up for any school clubs your kids may want to be a part of so they don’t miss out
  • Sort through school uniforms and see if they need new ones
  • List down all important term dates
  • Draw up a daily morning checklist for lunches and bag-packing
  • Make a weekly school supply shopping list for lunch and draw up some meal plans
  • Sign up for any after school care programmes
  • Alternatively, make private arrangements for after school care
  • Book haircuts
  • New school shoe fittings

To keep things extra organised and ensure every day has a good flow, it can be good to set up a special “school zone” for the kids to get ready in. This could be in the hallway and is just a space where the kids can put their backpacks and take out their empty lunch bags water bottles when they get home.

Next, set up a study space or desk area that has an ‘inbox’ and ‘outbox.’ Set up two paper organisers or pigeonhole organisers where your child can put their school hands-outs from their teacher.

Additionally, now is an excellent time to start getting your kids to transition to earlier bedtimes and earlier breakfasts!

Keep the kids organised

We can tend to forget that each school year is yet another transition for kids and something that might be difficult. Keeping kids organised and prepared is a good way to ease stress for them too.

  • Lunch boxes and lunch bags
  • Metal re-usable water bottle
  • Backpack
  • Backpack name tags
  • School tote bag for when they want to take additional things to school such as library books or sports uniforms

Stationary

  • Pencils/pens
  • Rubber
  • Notebooks
  • Graph and grid books
  • Pencil sharpener
  • Glue stick
  • Ruler
  • Set of colouring pencils
  • Pencil case to store all of the above
  • Sticky back plastic for covering books

Extras

  • Sticky labels for books and belongings
  • Highlighters
  • Wrap and stick clothing labels
  • Sunscreen
  • Face masks and hand sanitiser
  • safety scissors
  • Math set
  • Pidgeon-hole organisers for home
  • Adhesive notes
  • Study cards
  • Decorative book covers
  • Laptop and USB hard drive

Lastly, the best way to tie this all together is to incorporate the kids. Have a fun school prep day to decorate their school notebooks with decorative paper and name tags. Then, sort the stationary and pack the pencil cases with everything they need. Make sure this is packed at least the day before school starts; the earlier, the better for your peace of mind.

Whether it is your first time preparing a little one for school or your sixth year in a row, there is always something that may fall by the wayside and it is important to not be hard on yourself. As organised as you may try to be, don’t stress if something gets overlooked, you aren’t super-mum and neither is anyone else.