Thank you to everyone who read and responded about my prior post! I am so glad that it helped so many of you! That is my ultimate goal.
If you follow along you know that our oldest started Kindergarten this month. Here are our top 5 things we did to get organized and prepare for back to school. (all pink words are clickable links to products to shop for)
1. Study Space
#1 on the list is a proper study space. We wanted a space for him to practice all those numbers and letters with little distraction (no toys). The finished product is simple but organized.
- Table and chairs – I love this one because it comes with a connection for a paper roll.
- Lazy Susan tabletop organizer is a MUST!!!!
- Portable carrier for all things messy (to hide from my two-year old) for markers, glue, paint
2. Rise and Shine
Summer had us on a leisurely, living to “have fun” kind of schedule… So we slowly transitioned to a school time sleep schedule. During this transition my son requested an alarm clock (genius ideas already). I thought it would be one of those things that he “has to have” but forgets about in a few days…but I was wrong! He loves it! He is learning so much about time, numbers and his schedule. He sets his alarm every night and can’t wait to hit the button in the morning when it goes off!!!!!
- Alarm clock – I got a cheap one because I wasn’t sure if he would use it. But he loves it! I got a cordless one and its simple and great! They come in multiple colors.
- But this is one I want to get. I love the slowly wake up feature that goes off 30 minutes before the alarm.
3. Clothing/Backpack Organization
If you read my last post you know that I bought a 5 drawer container to keep in our mudroom. Each drawer has an outfit for school for each day of the week. I plan on filling the container every Sunday.
- Sunday funday will now consist of outfit prep for the week
- 5 drawer container for the weeks clothes (see my last post for more details)
- clothes – I am buying exactly 5 uniform shorts, socks and pants for the containers.
- Special Spot for backpack – We show him where it should go and it will be his responsibility to keep it there. (easy way to practice good behaviors)
4. Lunches
I have talked to so many parents who say how much of a nightmare it is when they go to pack their child’s lunch and realize their lunch stock is gone, out of ziplock bags and so on. I can totally see how this can creep up on you. For the sake of my sons little tummy I plan on being a lunchbox ninja! So I am creating an organized space for lunches and lunchbox gear. I linked all the lunchtime products on my previous post. So this is post is just showing you our lunch stock space. I also plan on penciling it into my schedule to buy in bulk at Costco at least once a month for lunchtime snacks.
- see previous post for lunchtime products (lunchbox, ice packs, water bottles)
- buy snacks in bulk
- lunch shelf in pantry
- notes for lunchbox
- Storage to hold all lunchbox containers and water bottles
5. How we added a little Something special to the experience
- special breakfast – happy face pancakes for example (we will use the protein powder cakes so he doesn’t have a sugar crash at school)
- special day plate
- special book the night before
- write a surprise sidewalk message
- We did a personalized first day of school sign. You can buy personalized signs for them to hold here.
Hopefully you had an easy transition back to school! Prior to completing our back to school organizing must haves I was feeling like we were all over the place. We made it a family effort to prepare and it was a fun experience. The goal for our back to school prep was to make sure our mornings run smooth and we are not all over the place once school does start. It felt so nice that we were prepared for study space, morning schedule, school outfits, lunches and making it a special experience so we could soak up the important moments. Shop more of our school items below.
