Today starts a new school year. Yup, summer has finally ended for our little kiddo. We met his teachers last week and he was really looking forward to going back to school although he was vocal about the first day of school being awkward. He’s now in 8th grade and this is his last year in middle school. Where did the time go? It’s really hard to believe that he’s now in the 8th grade! But what can I say? Time does fly so quick!
I must admit, I was anxious about school starting and I actually woke up earlier than I used to the last two nights. We’ve been sleeping late and getting up late too during the summer, but I did make plans to make transitioning to back to school easier for us and it actually worked. So it is definitely safe to say that our first day of school wasn’t bad at all.
So here’s the back to school routine that really works for us:
Going to bed early. Kids need to have at least 8 hours of sleep. Our son needs to get up at 5:30 a.m. to catch the school bus at 6:00 a.m. So for him to have at least 8 hours of sleep, he is already in bed at 9 o’clock in the evening.
Preparing his clothes the night before. Since he only has 15 minutes to get ready, I prepare the clothes that he’s going to wear to school the night before. I used to pick the clothes myself, but now I need to ask him what he wants to wear before I lay it all out because he already has his own preferences. Sigh… the changes that comes with age.
Setting the alarm clock. This is a must especially at the beginning of the school year where we are still adjusting to the new waking up hours. But usually after a few weeks, we get used to the new schedule and we normally wake up before the alarm even goes off.
Ready to go at 5:50 a.m. I tell my son that we are going to leave at this time. The bus is expected to arrive around 6:00 a.m. but there are times that it arrives earlier than expected. Been there, done that. So to make sure that we don’t miss it, we give allowance just in case.
And after this first day, there are additions to this routine. Here they are:
Doing homework assignments before dinner.
Have his school backpack all set and ready for next day.
It’s a little weird that our son is not home now bugging me. 🙂 I can’t wait for him to get home and tell me stories of how his first day in school went. Snapped these candid photos before we met his teachers.
How about you? What’s your back to school routine?
Our school routine can best be classified as controlled chaos. LOL. We start out with a game plan, but about 1/2 the time it descends into chaos.
We have another week left of the holidays….I think we need to get back into a routine…
Eek at the early morning starts….I think it’s bad that I have to get up at 7am. I don’t think I would fancy getting up at 5.30am. That’s practically the middle of the night. hehehe x
Holy cow, that is an early wake up call for schools. As a teacher I knew that so many students were still half asleep when they got to school and needed more rest. Wish schools pushed back the start time in the mornings!
It is a good idea to have a routine with kids – and back to school is one of the crazier times! Looks like you guys got it down!
Both of my girls have graduated high school. One just started college and the other is continuing graduate school so we don’t have back to school routines anymore.
Preparing the clothes the night before! I have to add that to our routine! We always spend too much time in the morning picking up the perfect outfit.
I have to admit this is a great back to school routine. We used to start the routine of getting up and going to bed about two weeks before school started when my boys were in school. Thanks for shairng your routine.
Nice, what a wonderful routine. I am so thankful taht my son is always excited for school.
Preparing clothes the night before is a huge thing for us. I never want to be late so we try to prepare the night before whatever we can.
So hard to believe that back to school is right around the corner. I know my kids do really well if we can start our routine back up before the school year starts up.
5am?! Oh no, I wouldn’t be able to survive that. We get up at 7:30am to start getting ready to school here, lol.
We cheated and sent the kids off to band camp early in August so they did most of the heavy lifting of getting them back into a routine.
We have been trying to get back into routine this week since my daughter starts school next week. So far ughhh lol….. We will get back on track, eventually lol
My oldest just started school this week. It has been going smoothly, so far. Hopefully, that continues and it becomes routine. Hope your son has a great year at school!
Hard to believe my son starts next week! Summer went by so fast! Loved your post!
My daughter is grown up and done with school so no more morning routine for us. When she was in school we prepared as many things as possible the night before so we could grab and go in the morning.