It's Almost Back-to-School Time!

The first day of school is coming up in just over a month. A new school year, full of struggles, arguments to get homework done, tearing my hair out because he just won’t put on his pants in the morning… And, best of all, celebrating his progress, achievements and growth. First grade was a year of leaps and bounds in terms of his academic progress. His method of learning is very similar to mine. It may look like Greek to him at first, but once he understands something, he doesn’t lose it and he flies from that point on. He’s a smart little boy, and I’m so proud of how well he does in school.

I found this great article today, The 31 BestBack-to-School Tips for 2013, and I wanted to share it with all of you. Some of the tips I read will be really beneficial for us this school year, and some of them don’t really apply to us.

Some of my favorites include:

Celebrate the first day – Start a first-day-of-school tradition, such as making their favorite breakfast, going out for ice cream after school, or slipping an encouraging note in their backpack.

Choose brain food, not junk food – I’m just as guilty as some other moms are of slipping my son processed cheese and cracker packets as a pre-dinner snack, but peanut butter on whole wheat crackers or a smoothie would be so much better for him – not to mention he loves pressing the button on the Ninja blender.

Create a home gallery – They suggest stringing up empty picture frames with clothespins glued to them so you can rotate artwork, graded tests and school projects. I don’t know about you, but I’m personally convinced that schools are singlehandedly responsible for deforestation with the INSANE amount of paperwork that comes home in my son’s folder every day. This is a good way to allow him to choose what to display while letting me recycle a bunch of the stuff he doesn’t so I can avoid the Leaning Tower of Handouts on my side tables.

Expand attention span – This focuses on reading aloud, or having your child read aloud to you, a book every night. This allows their attention span to get back into the groove of remembering details.

Schedule playtime before homework time – This is one of those, ‘of course, why didn’t I think of that’ type tips. My son is 7, and he’s got enough energy, if it could be harnessed, to power a skyscraper. It makes sense to let kids burn off that energy to help them focus better on their schoolwork.

Make a morning checklist – I can’t tell you how many times last year I wondered if CPS would be called if I allowed my son to just go to school in his underwear because it was such a hassle to get him to dress every morning. The checklist idea puts them in charge of getting themselves ready, and they can feel it is an accomplishment rather than a chore and can help motivate them to take on more responsibility in the future.

Take an a.m. breather – I have done this sporadically in the past, but I have always enjoyed it. Setting aside 5 minutes to crawl into bed with your child and snuggling them quietly can be a very peaceful way to start the day that benefits both of you. My son is a cuddler, so this suits us to a T. Tweaking this for you and your children’s personalities and relationships shouldn’t be too difficult.

These are just a few of the great tips in the article that I think will work for us this year. However, I encourage you to check out the article, because there are plenty more tips – such as making them more responsible for their allowance, downloading apps to keep track of after-school engagements, and exploring ethical dilemmas with, ‘what if’ scenarios – that I’m sure will hit home for you and your child or children. After all, as a parent you know that anything that will ease the school year turmoil is one small victory on the way to winning the war…