Back to School Organization
5 Back to School Organization Tips + Free Printable
I can’t believe that it's August already and kids are either already back in school or they are heading back to school soon. This is always a busy time of year that includes a lot of change. That change can bring on stress and anxiety, and if our home environment is chaotic it only intensifies those feelings even more.
This is a time of year that I like to reset my home. This means that I like to sort through the kids' clothes and shoes and edit out what no longer fits. I go through their artwork/school work from the previous year and make room for more coming in. I go through my pantry and remove anything expired and make sure snacks for school lunches are ready to go. I also sort through school/homework supplies and restock what's needed.
I realize how chaotic home can get with kids and wanted to share a few tips to help bring some order back into your home for this time of year. I recently established an after school routine with my kids to get them involved in the process of maintaining order in the home. They each have “jobs" to do when they get home from school that helps to instill responsibility and life skills in them even at ages 7 and 4. I’m also sharing a FREE printable for these jobs that you can use in your own home that I hope you find useful!
5 Tips to get organized for back to school
Create a drop zone for backpacks
If your kids are like mine they walk in the door from school and immediately drop their backpack, shoes, and coat all on the floor. Having a designated area for where the backpacks go can help eliminate some of that. Make it easy for them and use hooks at their level that make it easy for them to do themselves. Don’t over complicate where you can establish this zone or place these hooks. My kids each have hooks behind their bedroom door for their backpacks and jackets.
2. Establish a system to manage all the artwork and papers that come home.
Kids bring home A LOT of papers. Whether it's their artwork, school work, projects, permission slips, teacher notes, or snack calendar, it needs to be addressed sooner rather than later to prevent it from piling up and you forgetting it was your week to provide snacks. Establish a system to keep what is necessary and discard what isn’t immediately. Where are you keeping their artwork, and the permission form you need to send back?
My kids each have a basket to collect their artwork and school work in throughout the school year. At the end of the school year I sort through it and I select my favorites to keep and store them in my kids' school memory bins. And for the important papers that I need to address, I use a paper sorter for each kid placed next to their artwork basket.
3. Create a shared family calendar
If it's not on my calendar I am not showing up. I am in the season of life that is extremely busy. I am a mom of 2 school aged children who are both active in sports outside of school, a small business owner, a household manager, a wife, an auntie, and a professional organizer which means I live by my color coded calendar in order to keep all the parts moving.
With everyone having different schedules it's crucial that we have a shared calendar so that when my girlfriends want to get together for dinner, I can easily see what my availability is that day.
You can establish either a digital shared calendar (there are a million to choose from, Cozi is my favorite) or a family command center that includes a wall calendar. My friend Christina owns a business that makes beautiful custom acrylic wall calendars. I’ll link her IG here. Because I'm Type A (duh, I'm a pro organizer) I have both! I like using the wall calendar for everything “family” related. Birthdays, birthday parties, “no school” days, holidays, vacations, etc. I use a digital shared calendar for all other appointments (doctors, hair, dentist, etc), sports schedules, school schedules, bills due, and work schedules.
My biggest tip for a shared calendar is to enter important dates from the school calendar into your shared calendar for the entire year. That means in August when you receive it, you are inputting christmas break and presidents day or teacher appreciation week in that calendar. Don’t forget to add dates that you signed up to volunteer or bring snack. I promise that your future self will thank you for doing this so you are not forgetting important dates or scheduling things when the kids have a half day at school or no school at all.
4. Make lunches the night before
I think as parents we know it's crazy town in the mornings trying to get the kids ready, yourself ready, and out the door on time. Eliminate the amount of things you need to do in the morning to make things a little easier on yourself. Everytime I make lunches the night before, I am so grateful the next morning that I only need to throw it all in a lunchbox and go. This can be applied to anything that you need to do in the morning to get you out the door. If your kids don’t wear school uniforms, selecting what to wear the night before can also help free up some additional time.
5. Establish an after school routine
Kids thrive off of routine and structure in fact, they prefer it. It provides them with a sense of control and stability. Additionally, chores or “jobs” as we call them in my house, makes them feel valued, included, and responsible. Children who do chores exhibit higher self esteem, and are better equipped to handle adversity.
I recently established after school jobs to get my kids involved in maintaining order within our home. This is something that I created with my kids. I asked for their ideas on things they can help with when they get home, and this is what we came up with. These are posted on our refrigerator for my kids to refer to, and the graphic gives them a visual of the next task. If your after school routine looks a little different or if the jobs you want your kiddos doing differ from these, then change it up and customize it to your household. This is a customizable form where you can change the jobs to meet the age appropriateness of your child(ren). You can even take it a step further and laminate it or use a sheet protector and a dry erase marker to check off the completed tasks.
This time of year is hectic, and chaotic. That part is never going to change, however there are some things within your control that can have a big impact on your mood, stress levels, and well-being. It is my hope that you found this to be helpful and that including your kids in the process of maintaining an organized home not only instills life lessons in them, but takes a little bit of the load off of you.