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For us school is starting in just two weeks, for others school has already begun. There are some things I like to do to prepare my children to go back to school. Below is a list of my top 7 ways to prepare my children for school:
Back on a Bedtime Routine
My children have been on “summer” hours for the past two months. They have been going to bed later and sleeping in later. I like to start instituting a normal bedtime routine, the same routine that will be followed for school days, at least a week or two before school starts up again.
Get back into Learning Mode
All summer long my children have been out of learning mode. I like to start massaging their brains a little bit by going through workbooks and starting a review of things they have already learned.
Read Daily
Reading is an important part of our daily routine. Even the 4 year olds who cannot read will sit and look at their books. They are great and making up the works by looking at the pictures or may even have the words memorized if it is a book we have read to them often enough.
Building New Relationships
Some children are shyer and more reserved than others, which may make them have a harder time making friends. Talking to your child about this and discussing coping mechanisms with them will help them get through this period of time.
Create a Study Area
Have a designated area in your home where you child can work on homework. Preferably this is a place where they can concentrate, and be close to you so you can monitor them and be available for questions. For us, we use the kitchen table. It is centrally located and large enough so they can spread out their homework.
Practice the Morning Routine
A couple of days before school begins, start waking your child up at the time he/she will need to wake up for school and then do a run through on breakfast and getting dressed. This will allow them to get a feel for how much time the have or do not have in the morning.
School Supplies
Start getting all your school supplies weeks before school will begin. Not waiting until the last minute will allow you to look for good deals, and since you are preparing weeks ahead of time – you are less likely to be stressed. For school supplies, you may want to check out the AT&T Back to School Sweepstakes. Each week AT&T is giving away a “must-have” back-to-school device to five winners, now through September 16th. This week is a Samsung Galaxy Note. Enter here to be one of the lucky 5!
About Jeana
Oh yes, study areas are so important! Especially an uncluttered one…which I don’t see very often. LOL
Those are great tips! I didn’t want my kids to fall behind this summer, so we joined the summer reading program from the local library which kept the kids reading daily! So that is one less habit we have to get back into.
The one thing we’ve had to chance this last week is when they get up, no longer turning on the TV. During the summer I let them watch cartoons until Mommy gets up and we can start our daily chores. But come school, they need to be spending their time getting ready for school and eating their breakfast instead of watching TV. So we’ve started a new routine of not having TV until after lunch.
Amber – those are some great ideas you’ve listed as well! I’m sure you’ll get great results.
Great tips. It can be a tough adjustment to get back in the swing of things after all summer off. :)
These are all great tips. I think creating a study area is so important. Heading over to enter the sweepstakes now. Wish me luck!