Not all of us are gifted with the organized gene. Even if we are, it doesn’t always kick in. Here in Southwest Florida, our kids school starts in 10 days and open house, where we meet teachers and should bring our supplies, is only 3 days away. Am I ready with supplies, uniforms and all the one off’s that they will need? NOPE! I am so unorganized this year, it’s messed up. But don’t fret, you’re not alone. If you’re going to be running around like a chicken without a head, as I will be this week, join me in the last minute shopping, crazy driving from store to store and modeling sessions in your home that must happen to be ready in just a few days.
Print the school supply list from the school’s online website.
Some of our local stores, like Walmart and Target, have these handy dandy towers of supply lists from the schools for you to grab and shop. However, every time I go to the store where they have lists, my kids school is all ran out. So what easier way than just printing it from online.
Mark two evenings for shopping this week and forget cooking, take out it is!
Leave room for one night where you won’t have time to cook, clean or do anything other than get prepared for the upcoming school year that is LESS than a week away. Go school shopping on full blast mode, stop at 5 different stores as you’ll still want to find the best deals and spend the least amount of money as possible. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to check off your list in one to two nights.
Modeling show at home on your dirty carpet or tile, because remember you can’t get to cleaning this week.
Gather all the clothes from last school year and have each child ready to try on, off, on, off, on, off, countless shirts, pants, shorts, skirts, sneakers, etc. There won’t be any clapping or cheers, just a bunch of chaotic yells, of something like, “move it, stand straight, sit down, stand up, next!” You’ll hear a lot heavy sighing and whining so make sure to have some background noise, either their favorite television show playing or some music to lighten the mood. I highly suggest something fast and groovy to drown out the annoyed grunting sounds coming from the kids who will probably act like trying on clothes is the most horrendous torture. Make your list of what you need to buy after determining what can be re-used and what needs to be bought. I tend to buy 2 shorts, 2 pants and 3 shirts.
Which book-bag will win you points and get the kids excited to walk the halls at school this year?
Do a quick research online as to what is in style for book bags. My son, 9, is past the cartooney ones, but my 6 year old can’t get enough of them. Make a mental list of the top 5 that would be acceptable to the child to carry for the next either half or full year IF they’re not shopping with you. We all know that the book bag suffers most of any school supply so if you’re lucky to get one that lasts a year woohoo if not it’s ok. Pick a cartoon that your child will love and if you have to sell it to em as to why that one’s the best, tell them that the one you found was extra special because it was all alone on the book bag rack and it now has a special friend, your child! 😉
Get your child’s lunch bag and food containers.
These get so messy and dirty, make sure the lunch bags are still acceptable for this school years use. Otherwise add this to your shopping list. Also think of the top five designs or cartoons of the year. Think Pokemon, Secret Life of Pets, Ice Age, Ghost-busters or any cutsie generic no color no design one.
Inspect your child’s mane.
Check kids hair, do they need a haircut or trim? Are you the hairstylist at home? I practice on my daughter all the time but not my son. Make sure they are ready for school with proper hair length or hair trims. Make appointments if needed.
Organize all your supplies, ready to transport to school.
Now that you’ve done the shopping, check off the lists and put all your supplies nicely together into one bag or two for each child. I like to put my kids names on stuff because I’ll be darned if I won’t get credit for all this running around we did. Did you forget anything? Zip loc bags in different sizes, tissue paper, hand sanitizer? Make sure to have $100 cash during open house for books, sweaters, planners and after care deposits. At least here we need to be prepared to pay for all of these things during Open House.
Immerse your child into a deep study of next years work in just 5 days.
Did summer fly by? Did you not get to all the summer work you thought you would? Well it’s not too late; you can still push a three month study plan on to the kids. They’re young and able, they will survive. Start implementing daily work for a minimum of 2 hours a day. Remind them that the nightly homework is around the corner so it’s not a complete shock when real school starts. This is going to be easy compared to what’s to come 😉 And if only 30 minutes a day, something is better than nothing.
Are your kids staying up till after YOUR bedtime? Change that now!
Make them go to sleep early for at least a week before school starts no more sleeping after 10 p.m. Try to get them little gremlins to bed by 8:30pm or 9pm at the latest. If you can get them down earlier, then dang-it you rock!
Last but not least, give them a roaring back to school speech.
Give kids ultimate speech about back to school, putting their best foot forward, making new friends, respecting the teacher and students, being a leader and self-starter when it comes to homework and projects due and let them know you’ve got their back. Way back, as far as possible because dang it, hours of homework again! Lol just kidding… kiss the babies, the future of our nation!
I hope all of you unorganized moms, because I know I’m not alone, find what you need. We were lucky enough to find most of our stuff at Target. Wishing you all a fantabulous new school year, to students and parents alike!
I absolutely love this article! So helpful and a great way to prepare for the new school year!